I have read The Waste Land before, but that was quite some time ago. I have a feeling that I am just as confused as I was the first time I read it. It seems to require a lot of contextual reading that may have been common knowledge for the intended reader, however I do not think we have had that same background experience with literature. Some of the passages did reference works that I have been exposed to, but I still  do not fully comprehend their connection to one another. 

After reading some modernist and WWI poetry, fragmentation and confusion seems to be a common theme. This may represent an overall feeling that people felt during and after WWI, especially those who experienced war first hand. I also notice focus on humanity and its origins, a possible cry for a lost culture. It also seems there is a quest for true origin through reference itself, each reference links to another and has you scrambling trying to track a single source of meaning. The historical references almost seem to trap the reader with its legacy.