Modernist Experimentation in The Waste Land

Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is maybe a prime instance of the experimentation in poetic approach occurring for the duration of the period encompassing the Modernist movement. Loathed and adored by critics and students alike, the complexities of approach, language (or languages), subject matter and the sheer length of the function have contributed to the poem’s status as a definitive example of “Modernist” writing. Along with Pound, Williams, Woolf and Joyce as properly as countless other folks, Eliot’s function clearly illustrates the Modernist idea of portraying objects and conditions as they are, and not as they appear, without having explanation and employing techniques previously rubbished or certainly, previously untried, such as the practically prose-like contents of the poem, and reliance on cultural consciousness to bring about understanding of the meaning of poetry written in a stream of consciousness style. “The Waste Land” exemplifies experimentation with style and structure not necessarily purely for its personal sake but as a genuine step towards advancing a genre which for centuries had been bound within self imposed restraints of meter and accepted poetic constructs.

The poem is composed in 5 sections. This in itself is not a startling new invention, but the differences in between every section exhibit possibly the most basic of the “new” methods Eliot employs. The alter of narrative voice and of scene in every of the components is confusing, strange, complex, challenging to follow and groundbreaking. The confusion is further compounded by changes in narrative voice, and in locations scene, in the midst of a section, even, sometimes, in the middle of a line. In the really initial stanza the reader is left unclear as to who is speaking to whom. We are presented with numerous alternatives Marie is talking, describing a conversation in the past Eliot is addressing the reader in the final line Eliot is describing in the third person a conversation in between Marie and himself. This final choice appears plausible in that Eliot claimed to have met and talked with the Marie in question, the Countess Marie von Wallersee-Larish of Austria, and however each of the other interpretations still tends to make sense in the context of stream of consciousness. Eliot leaves the situation open to interpretation, and this notion runs throughout the poem.

In a way, for that reason, Eliot troubles a challenge to every reader, not to comprehend what he is writing, but to interpret and scavenge what they can for themselves. This was a key idea in modernism. Alternatively of spoon-feeding his readers verse detailing his thoughts, Eliot cuts out the middleman, as it have been, and rather merely lays his thoughts upon a banqueting table and invites the reader to assist themselves. It is precisely this lack of clarity which tends to make the poem simultaneously fascinating and repelling to readers. In this way there is one thing of a automobile crash aesthetic to his operate. Whilst the language is lovely, new and complex, it holds within its structure and even its word order a sense of horror and dread for anyone wishing for an straightforward study. Eliot makes the reader work for every shred of understanding, and it is this technique which inspires such obsessive passion for “The Waste Land”, and such devoted hatred for it.

Till the draft versions of The Waste Land were published in 1968, critical interpretation of the poem was restricted to believing the poem to be a view of society, or a view from within society, in post-Great War Britain, a bleak analysis of the future of that society and a pessimistic view of life, adore and art in such a climate. Whilst this interpretation is surely nevertheless relevant, because 1968 examinations of the poem as an entirely autobiographical operate have also turn into accepted. It would appear that the very first interpretation of the poem is far far more relevant to the modernist context with which this essay is concerned, but the later analysis need to still be addressed as it is undoubtedly a pressing issue as to just how much of The Waste Land is applicable only to Eliot’s life. This notion in itself is intrinsic to the modernist tactics Eliot is employing – the use of private impressions and perceptions to convey a message or to simply exist in their personal proper.

Nonetheless, as an observation of society verging on the voyeuristic, at instances it would appear that Eliot is bent on illustrating the new and confusing nature of modernity. He calls into query society’s class, moral values and sexual behaviour, as nicely as addressing gender conflict and variations all through, a theme he claims in the notes to unify employing the hermaphroditic figure of Tiresias in III. The poem links these attributes to a single another and presents scenarios where they are demonstrated, for instance in the lines 139-172. Eliot depicts a pub scene, opened with a discussion of an abortion (illustrating morality and sexual attitudes in between the sexes) run by means of with suggestions of infidelity (gender conflict, sexuality and morality) and pointed references to sex. Here then, is a barbed satirical portrait of the “lower classes”, just 1 microcosm Eliot uses to create up a image, perhaps a criticism, of society as a whole. The intrusion of a capitalised voice throughout the pub scene is without doubt a new method. As usual, no explanation for its source or purpose is provided – it is left to the reader. It serves as both the voice of the landlord, the voice of time and/or death, or the voice of a returning husband waiting for his wife to “perform her duty”.

There is another vignette at 215-256 in The Fire Sermon, observed by none other than Tiresias himself, whose entrance at nearly specifically halfway via the poem is surely no accident, offered his significance to the unification of the poem. The sexual nature of this vignette is utilised to expose weakness in the middle “white-collar” classes, of whom T.S. Eliot was a member – he certainly associates himself with the ‘hooded horde’. This certain section is uncomfortable in its close observance and the scathing tone of Tiresias’ narrative.

Eliot’s sense of unease regarding the “modern” planet is apparent all through from the tone of the poem. Modernism permitted him to use juxtaposition to extremes – from the really very first he sets the tone of the poem with “April is the cruellest month.” April is springtime, a time of birth and renewal in the natural planet, but right here, in this Waste Land, it is recognised as being the supply of suffering in that when born into the globe, the fate of all creatures is to endure and die. This morbidity is developed and maintained by similar topsy-turvy pictures, all of which have been previously not possible to justify in old poetic types and tactics.

And however all through the confusion and the conflicting descriptions and narrative designs, the poem remains very clearly one particular function, and each and every component relies upon all the other people to fulfill its purpose. With no one particular section, the poem would not make sense. Eliot achieves this using references to other sections throughout the poem, and makes use of the exact same adjectives time and once more in diverse contexts to achieve a subconscious impact upon the reader. This manipulation of the subconscious was definitely a modern day thought. The modernist movement was at times closely connected with psychological study conducted entirely separately from, but of interest to, the writers involved. The reality that psychology is yet another field of study altogether virtually guarantees that awareness of this level of manipulation in poetry was unheard of, and however it is neither clumsy nor apparent to a casual reader. Utilizing such a new idea to hold together the quite fabric of the poem not only rises to the challenge of “doing something new” but also inherently communicates a sense of newness and weirdness to the poem, which manages to accomplish its aim of holding the poem with each other as a cohesive whole. This is somewhat of a new twist on an old method, an extension of classic approach such as repetition or alliteration – an abuse, an evolution of poetic strategy for the new age.

The poem also wallows in a geographic structure. There is a sense of location all through the poem, a sense of weird, twisted, altering and unfamiliar terrain, perfectly recreating the uncertainty of a changing, modern planet. The desolate landscape frames society’s downfall as depicted, and the poem takes a journey structure which unifies the poem and enables for the scene changes Eliot makes use of. This use of connections tends to make the poem structurally powerful and aids it hang with each other under scrutiny, even as a back up to the internal referencing pointed out earlier.

The most exceptional issue about “The Waste Land”, and the cause of most of the apprehension regarding this specific poem, is the frequency and complexity of its allusions. Though poets and novelists alike had been employing classical references to associate their poetry with a “golden age” or merely to make a point, specifically throughout the neo-classical obsession of Romantic and Victorian poets, by no means just before had such a range of influences, sources and significance been utilised to such bewildering impact. This use of allusion is key to the debate more than the intention of the poem. Such is the obscurity and personal nature of some of the associations that several have been led to think the poem could be purely autobiographical. Though the poem is packed with classical allusions it takes from Eastern and central European cultures just as easily, numerous of the confusing, perhaps seemingly unnecessary parts are closely linked to Eliot’s own life (mentions of Margate or the sea refer, it would appear, to Eliot’s time spent recovering from mental illness in Margate.) Even utilizing Eliot’s notes to “decode” the poem is unlikely to be productive, offered that despite the fact that he was asked to supply the notes, it is tough to glean the depth of the reference’s meaning merely from an attribution to a certain book or religion. It feels like the require to realize can by no means be fully happy without reading each and every book Eliot ever read, as nicely as these in the notes, and this is the essential to the frustration many readers really feel while reading “The Waste Land”, and however is also the key to preserving the poem’s air of elusiveness, and in impact, the essential to its modernity, and its location in a modernist canon.

Possibly “The Waste Land’s” intrigue is rooted in the struggle apparent inside its lines, that of a poet grappling with new ideas and ideals, and however generating a poem which flows and requires on a life of its own seemingly effortlessly. There are points in the poem exactly where Eliot seems perhaps to have dispensed with strategy, and indeed sense altogether, by introducing references and notions so obscure and private as to have rid himself of the want for a reader, and yet it is the inclusion of such painstakingly researched references which also invites us to conclude that each and every word in the poem is there simply because it is supposed to be, and is not the result of a wandering mind or pen.