How Has T.S. Eliot Influenced Modern Poetry?

Twentieth century is a curious mixture of the traditional and the experimental, of the old and the new. It is complex and many sided.

There appear different schools and movements during the per

modern poetry is written. Among these schools and movements Impressionism, Imagism, Surrealism etc. The Impressionists sex convey the vague fleeting sensations and feelings by means of my images and metaphors. The Imagists aim at replacing vogues descriptions of the Romantic-Victorian poetry.

T.S. Eliot as a Modern Poet:

Modern poetry is marked by stark realism which is the product of revolt against Victorian tradition and the influence of science. Modern poets look at life without the spectacle of romance and paint it with its ugliness. Realism is also seen in poetic forms and style. They break away from the highly ornate and artificial style of the Victorian period and use the style appropriate to everyday speech. They use colloquial diction, speech, rhythms, free verse and prosaic words. "Imagism did modern poetry a tremendous service by pointing the way to a renovation of the vocabulary of poetry and the necessity of ridding poetic technique of vague and empty verbiage and dishonest and windy generalities. The revolt is best exemplified in the poetry of T.S. Eliot.

Discuss the Role of Tiresias in T. S. Eliot's “The Waste Land”.

The Waste Land is a rich, dense mosaic with five sections, and in view of its 'rich disorganization' it needs a protagonist, or at least a point of view. The spokesman of this point of view is perhaps Tiresias; in fact he is the seer of The Waste Land.

Is Eliot a Religious Poet?

T. S. Eliot in his treatment of the central theme of The Waste Land, may be regarded as a defender of the moral imagination, with roots in religious insight and in the continuity of civilization

Eliot a Religious Poet:

In the poem we find the references of the waste lands of Fisher King, King Oedipus, and of Biblical waste land. Because of sensuality and

sinfulness, the kingdom of Fisher King suffered from drought and famine. To get rid of this problem, Fisher King hoped that one day a knight would go to the Chapel Perilous. King Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. For this sex-crime, his land suffered from epidemic and famine. Then he was advised to offer penance for his inner purification. It is mentioned in the Bible that the land of Ammaus became barren and dry on account of the idolatry of the dwellers. Prophet Ezekiel told them to worship God and to give up idolatry so that The Waste Land may become fertile.

What Role does the City Play in Eliot's Poetry.

T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land is the most influential poem in our modern age. In this poem city plays a very important role. In the poem Eliot clearly points out the aridity of the modern urban civilization.

Role of the City Play in Eliot's Poetry:

In the poem Eliot describes the barrenness of city life in modern civilization. He describes London as an "Unreal City". The figures who inhabit the unreal city are like the inhabitants of Baudlaire's 'Paris', are like those in Dante's 'Limbo'. The dead routine of the office-goers shows the futility and the emptiness of civilization. The city dwellers have no faith in any religion. The offices and factories in London begin at nine, which is the time of Christ's crucifixion. It indicates that when business life begins, Christ is no more. In the modern civilization, the world of commerce is entirely different from the world of God. Business and spirituality cannot go together.

How the Poem "The Waste Land" Constitute a Coherent Whole.

The Waste Land has generally been criticized as lacking structural principle. The work has been regarded by some people as a collection of some separate poems. But on a careful study of the poem it has been found that there is a thin and subtle thread which runs throughout the poem and gives it a sort of unity.

Comment on the Theme and Structure of "The Waste Land".

Eliot's place in the history of English poetry is secured chiefly on the basis that he has evolved a new poetic technique. His approach to poetry was new and revolutionary.

Theme and Structure of the poem The Waste Land:

The mythical technique is the most striking aspect about the poem The

Waste Land. The purpose of the poem was to depict and to convey to the reader the ugliness, the desolation, the emptiness, and the aimlessness of modern life especially in relation to the modern man's attitude to sex and to religion. Eliot conveys this through the uses of various myths.

T.S. Eliot's Use of Myth in “The Waste Land”.

T.S. Eliot was the most eminent poet of modern age. He handles the theme of his poem masterly. In “The Waste Land” he uses mythical method to show the relationship of the present with the past.

Accordingly, Eliot uses a myth as the organizing principle in structure in “The Waste Land”, and he draws the myth from two sources: Sir James Frazer's book, The Golden Bough, and Miss Jessie Weston's book, From Ritual to Romance. He takes his mythical matter from Frazer's cultivation rituals and Miss Weston's Fisher King and Grail myths. 

What Eliot’s Vision of the World is as Expressed in “The Waste Land”?

"The Waste Land" is a very important land mark in the twentieth century literature. The poem reveals the disillusionment caused by the First World War. It vividly illustrates the complexity and machine like activity of modern man comparing with the glorious past of spiritual and moral highness.   

 

Eliot’s vision of the world is as expressed in "The Waste Land":

Sex is an important aspect of life. It is an expression of love and means of procreation. But today, sex has been perverted from its

proper function and is being utilized for animal pleasure. It has become a source of moral degradation. For instance, we find in the poem the picture of three Thames daughters who live on being the objects of sexual enjoyment in exchange of money. The mechanical sex relationship is also found in the love affair of the typist girl and her boyfriend. Not only has that Eliot also drawn the picture of a homosexual relation exemplified through Mr. Eugenides. Eliot observes that the whole Europe is destroying by the fire of sex. He sums up it by the words of St. Augustine: