Abstract: The Waste Land is a famous English modernist poet and literary critic Thomas? One of Eliot's most famous works. When Eliot wrote The Waste Land, it happened that western civilization was in crisis after World War I, and people lost their faith and their spirit was empty. This paper attempts to sort out an important theme in The Waste Land from Eliot's obscure images: despair.
Key words: Eliot; Wasteland; picture
The Waste Land is one of the most famous works of thomas eliot, a famous English modernist poet and literary critic. When Eliot wrote The Waste Land, it coincided with the crisis of western civilization after the First World War, when people lost their faith and their spirit was empty. This paper attempts to sort out an important theme in The Wilderness by interpreting Eliot's obscure images: despair.
Key words: Eliot; Wilderness; image
The Waste Land is a poem full of images and irony, in which the spiritual desolation of post-war western society is a classic scene in western literature. The whole poem is full of despair and desolation, which is divided into five chapters. The title of each chapter implies an element that dominates this chapter. ? The funeral of the deceased? 、? The sermon of fire? 、? Death in the water? What are these three chapters? Earth? ,? Fire? ,? Water? As the dominant image. In ancient society, it was generally believed that the four elements in the world were water, fire, earth and air. ? Gas? It is air, but in the wasteland created by Eliot, is it gas? It is the only lack, which shows that the predicament of modern western society is like the lack of air in human existence, which makes people feel suffocated from time to time. At the same time, this sense of suffocation runs through the whole article of The Waste Land. ? A game of chess? With what? Ray's talk? It contains two relative and complete themes: secular and sacred. Eliot connects these themes and shows readers the whole picture of the wasteland: its gods, its secular scenes and its natural environment.
Are you online? Earth? In this image, Eliot chose many words to express barrenness and desolation, such as? Land of the dead? 、? Blunt roots? 、? Rocky. 、? Dead trees? Wait a minute. What are these lands? Dead? , suggesting the passing of western brilliant civilization and the desolate status quo. Eliot used this image to express his right? This soil? Doubts about whether it can breed new life.
Chapter one? The funeral of the deceased? Zhong You? Earth? Elements lead to a series of opposing themes, such as life-death, rain/snow-sunshine, memory-forgetting and so on. But ironically, these opposites are misplaced and absurd. Spring is cruel and dreary, and winter is warm and full of vitality. Such misplaced irony expresses the absurdity of the wilderness and embodies the disorder of people's spiritual world. There is a direct description of this confusion in the poem, right? Fantasy city? Description of. ? Fantasy city? It means that this is a city that represents people's spiritual world, but people in the city live a mechanically numb and lifeless life.
In the second part? A game of chess? In this paper, the opposite theme is transformed into body-spirit. Images related to the senses constitute the main content of this part of the picture. The description of the woman sitting in the chair uses a lot of words to arouse the sense of pleasure, showing readers a colorful material world. However, such a seemingly wonderful scene is extremely frivolous and empty, and it is also a reflection of Eliot's desperate carnival of the post-war generation. Is it mentioned in chapter 2? The dead lost their bones here? . From common sense, people will rot after death, and what they lose should be flesh and blood, leaving behind bones. However, the dead people who lost their bones here are ironic. Bones symbolize spirit, and the dead who lose bones mean the loss of human spiritual world.
The third chapter is a meaningful chapter, among which? Fire? There is an element? Dark fire? Meaning of. ? Fire? The scene didn't suddenly appear until the end of the chapter, creating a kind of tension that flowed under calm and finally broke out, which was very graphic.
Chapter 3 all the scenes are gloomy, such as the parting by the Thames, which was sung twice? The fairies are gone? , suggesting that Eliot has been lost in western culture? Muse? Have balls? Can't help it? Sigh. At the same time, the description of Tiresias is very similar to Sybil in Shi Hua. Both of them have lost their youth and beauty, but they can't die. They can only live in aging bodies day after day. The images of Tiresias and Sybil have a deep sense of despair in their poems, symbolizing the embarrassing situation in which western spiritual civilization has lost its vitality and struggled painfully.
In the fourth chapter, Eliot established an image about water, which is flowing and fluctuating, so this short chapter is full of information about? The ups and downs symbolize. ? Fall together? ,? Old? With what? Youth? ,? Profit? With what? Loss? ,? Seagull? With what? The abyss, like the ups and downs of the moon, has ups and downs, gains and losses. Eliot warns people here that everything will decline when it is prosperous, and modern western civilization is no exception.
The fifth chapter not only shows a sense of urgency, but also brings a little hope of waiting. Mentioned at the beginning? There is no water here, only rocks? Water is the source of all things, and modern western society urgently needs water that can nourish new vitality. ? People can't stand, lie down or sit here ? This absurd but vivid picture vividly shows the embarrassment that people's spiritual world has nowhere to be placed. In poetry? A third party who has been walking beside you? ,? Wearing a brown cloak and a headscarf? , suggesting this? Third party? It could be Jesus. Eliot used it in chapter five? God? The image of Jesus, as mentioned above, later spoke to people? Ray. . ? Ray. Mentioned in the words? Keys? With what? Door? Echoing people knocking at the door in the second chapter reflects people, right? Savior? The desire to come to the wilderness. Meanwhile, ray? It brings rain to the wasteland, and the rain will nourish this spiritual wasteland.
Although the main tone of The Waste Land is despair, Eliot also expresses his urgent hope for a new life in the last chapter. London Bridge collapsed, collapsed? So eager to shout. Like all intellectuals struggling in the chaotic post-war life, Eliot waited in despair? Rain? Arrival, wait? Wasteland? It is full of vitality again.
References:
[1] Thomas? Elliot. Wasteland [meters]. Beijing People's Daily Press, 2000.
[2] Li Junqing Eliot and The Wasteland [M]. Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 2007.
[3] Chen. A Study of Metaphor in Eliot's Poetry [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2008.
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