Basic statements of The Waste Land by J S Eliot

The title of the first section of ‘The Waste Land' clearly indicates what it is about. The first line "April is the cruelest month" probably refers to the introductory line in the Canterbury Tales. Unlike Chaucer, who creates an optimistic atmosphere with the beginning of spring, Eliot turns the reader's mind to the dark and gloom. This section of a poem can be defined as a dramatic monologue. The four speakers are eager to find their audience, but see only dead people. The reader gets an impression of being trapped in a crowd with no familiar face. The final episode of the first section broadly hints to the modern city, a true wasteland.

The title of the second section "A Game of Chess" is derived from Thomas Middleton's seventeenth century play. This section brings into focus the higher and lower society classes. It begins with the description of a woman sitting on a chair that is "like a burnished throne". Some details indicate an unhappy romance or marriage like the "golden Cupidon" who hid "his eyes behind his wing", the portrayal of Philomela's rape, and some others. I suppose that in this section Eliot described modern city residents, who are neither dead nor alive. The chess game is the essential game of the wasteland, based on strict strategies, with no feelings or emotions involved. The only intercourse is accomplished through a set of distinct movements on a checkered board.

"The river's tent is broken". This opening line of the third section creates the image of a seasonal death and the collapse of an agreement. The section focuses on the dangers of lust. The image of fire, which appears in numerous portrayals of Hell in Christian art, is compared here with the sexual drives that lead men and women to commit sinful acts. From the typist to the last anguished woman, lust inevitably brings sorrow, which is a quintessential feature of the modern world. Eliot seeks to bring to light his London with the decease of the senses. He draws the conclusion that sex has replaced love and nonsensical physical contact has substituted real emotional relationship.

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