Ts Eliot the Waste Land
Jessica Joy
T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”
Final Paper
Eliot imparts to us the Grail quest’s influence on “The Waste Land” in the notes:
“Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance (Macmillan). Indeed, so deeply am I indebted, Miss Weston’s book will elucidate the difficulties of the poem much better than my notes can do; and I recommend it (apart from the great interest of the book itself) to any who think such elucidation of the poem worth the trouble.”
Indeed, much of the poem reflects the story of the Grail quest itself; when confronted with a prosperous land turned into waste as a result of the wounding or ill health of the Fisher King who presides over the land, a hero begins a quest which ultimately must restore the king to health in order to “free the waters” (R2R) and restore the land itself. As the hero must heal this desolate wasteland which was once a happy and lively place, so too are vestiges of happier times painfully remembered among desolation and despair throughout “The Waste Land,” seen even in the opening of the poem:
“April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory with desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.”
Eliot immediately declares April--a month generally associated with sorely missed warmth, regeneration, life, and beauty--the cruelest month, stirring life in an otherwise dead land and thereby invoking painful memories of a happier and more prosperous time which one cannot help but miss and desire deeply when confronted with a trace of it. Eliot goes on to claim that “Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow,” suggesting that at least when the land was utterly dead it left its inhabitants numb to the pain of what they’d lost. Still other happy memories haunt the land that has now turned into waste; Eliot
T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”
Final Paper
Eliot imparts to us the Grail quest’s influence on “The Waste Land” in the notes:
“Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance (Macmillan). Indeed, so deeply am I indebted, Miss Weston’s book will elucidate the difficulties of the poem much better than my notes can do; and I recommend it (apart from the great interest of the book itself) to any who think such elucidation of the poem worth the trouble.”
Indeed, much of the poem reflects the story of the Grail quest itself; when confronted with a prosperous land turned into waste as a result of the wounding or ill health of the Fisher King who presides over the land, a hero begins a quest which ultimately must restore the king to health in order to “free the waters” (R2R) and restore the land itself. As the hero must heal this desolate wasteland which was once a happy and lively place, so too are vestiges of happier times painfully remembered among desolation and despair throughout “The Waste Land,” seen even in the opening of the poem:
“April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory with desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.”
Eliot immediately declares April--a month generally associated with sorely missed warmth, regeneration, life, and beauty--the cruelest month, stirring life in an otherwise dead land and thereby invoking painful memories of a happier and more prosperous time which one cannot help but miss and desire deeply when confronted with a trace of it. Eliot goes on to claim that “Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow,” suggesting that at least when the land was utterly dead it left its inhabitants numb to the pain of what they’d lost. Still other happy memories haunt the land that has now turned into waste; Eliot