Assignment

Topic:
Discuss Eliots reverence for tradition in the light of

The Waste Land

Submitted to:
Mam Rabia Faiz

Submitted by:
Mehwish siddiqa 101

Laraib Zafar 124

Maleeha Arif 132

Sana Rafique 140

University of Sargodha
Department of English
Introduction to T.S Eliot and his age
Thomas Stearns Eliot enjoyed the life span of more than seventy-five years, and the years of his
literary production extended over a period of forty-five years. He is one of the greatest 20th
century poets.

This great poet had a complex and many-sided personality, because he was a classicist and
traditionalist, a great thinker, a great innovator, a mystic, a critic and a philosopher.

Eliot said that a great poet in his writings represents his age and this is applicable to Eliot
himself. His Waste Land has been called the epic of the modern age. Eliot presented it in a
series of pictures that portray the picture of contemporary civilization. Without understanding the
age of T.S Eliot it is not possible to understand its poetry. As, it was the era of 20th century there
prevails urbanization and the evils attached to urbanization. The industry was becoming modern
and more technical, there was spirit of questioning and reasoning and the patterns of
relationships among humans were changing rapidly.

The First World War changes the pattern of family relationships and increased tensions and
frustrations. There was a collapse between old values and new ideals. A lot of books were
coming to the market but there was decline in the quality. The ancient culture of the people
presented in folk-song, dance, rustic craft, etc., has been destroyed and low quality books take
their place. Cinema of that time, the famous literature, full of criminal stories or the stories of
love, gives advantage the people for their commercial purposes .Vulgarity, coarseness and
brutality increase due to all this. The relationship among the humans have been coarsened and
cheapened: man has become incapable of pure and insidious emotional responses. Further, the
cinema, the television, and the cheap novel, have nurtured a kind of day-dreaming and the people
remains away from the reality and lives in a world of fantasy. Many people live in their fantasy
that is created by those cheap novels, cinema and television This lowering of tastes has had bad
effect on art and literature.

There was occasional revival of the Christianity. Due to science and rationalism the grip on
religion was weakening. Youth revolted against the old tradition. Several experiments are being
made in the field of music and other fine arts, and literature, but this is a symbol of the break-
down of cultural continuity rather than of cultural strength.
Views of modernists about tradition and how Eliot differs:
In his essay Eliot opposes the different views then current in England. He complains that there is

no room left for tradition modern age and because of this the poets are considered in remoteness

from one another they are falsely presented as rootless individuals as Gertrude Stein also coined

the term Lost Generation for present age because in modern age people are far behind from

their traditional values. But different modern poets have contradictions in their thinking from one

another. Some have a view that we should move back towards our history and origin while on

the other side some said we should make it new. Ezra pound was the first who introduce this

term make it new, and this is also the slogan of many modern poets. But on the other side Eliot

talks about requisite nature of tradition, he talks about the significance of tradition. He said that

we should not confuse our self with repetition, with servile imitation of the work of the past.

Tradition also does not mean a blind devotion to the manners of the previous generations.

Tradition cannot be inherited it can only obtained by hard labor Eliot said that tradition can only

obtain by those who have historical sense. He realized that past exist in present and present and

past form one simultaneous order. This historical sense is the sense of timeless and temporal and

it is this historic sense which make writer traditional. A poet or writer who has sense of tradition

is fully aware of his own generation of his place in present and he is also aware consciously

about his relationship with writers of past. Actually tradition presented the accumulated wisdom

and experience of ages and because of this its knowledge is significant for really great and noble

achievement. Further emphasizing the significance, Eliot said that no writer has its value and

worth in segregation, to recognize and judge the real worth of an artist and his work we compare

it with work of past. But Eliot also has a view that tradition is not static and fixed it is constantly

changing and becoming different from what it is the relationship between past and present time
is not one sided they both are interlinked with each other the past directs the presents and is itself

alters and modified by it. Thus we can say that the whole European literature therefore an

organic whole, a structural system which is varying frequently. But at the similar interval it is

always complete. The past is constantly being reworked by present. Tradition must not be

perceived as a one way street it consist in an interchange of past and present, the past provides

guidance to present and the present changes the past and provides it a new value and

significance.

Eliots reverence for tradition in the light of The Waste Land

T.S Eliot introduces a new poetic form in The Waste Land as he stated in his essay Tradition
and individual Talent. Eliots form of poetry is based on the work of various poets and it was
also a reaction to the work of those writers whose attempts failed on the similar poetic ideas. The
Waste Land expresses the tender feelings of life after World War I, in a more successful way
than any other poems of that period, because Eliot uses techniques in this poem. Eliot combines
different techniques, genres and creates such a tremendous work in the form of epic. The Waste
Land captivates the attention of the reader as Eliot uses literary allusions.

Eliot emphasizes that past works should be included when you are writing a poetry. Eliot states
that no poet has its own complete meaning alone his significance is until he has relation to the
dead poets and to their works of poetry.

Eliot felt that the strong connection with the past is acceptable to the reader and they are more
interested. So, he decided to create a work that deals with the sentiments of Post-World War. But
only to imitate the older works of the poets was not enough it should have some enthusiasm of
the modern age. And there should be The Individual Talent that gives some distinctive features
to the modern work.

After Eliots essay on Tradition and Individual Talent his poem The Waste Land was published
and contains philosophy of the both works. Eliot uses allusions in his work and these allusions
add meanings to the present and helps reader to recognize the past.
Eliot differs from other poets because he makes the use of images and allusions in his poetry that
are a part of our literature. Eliot makes use of allusions by combining the abstract ideas and
imagery. And they are represented in such a way that a reader easily interprets the classics and
have clear understanding of them. Eliot uses a very skillful technique he does not describes the
experiences or feelings but refers to the Tradition and produces images and leaves free to the
reader to interpret as in The Waste Land.

The flower that is described in The Waste Land is lilacs it is represented as the symbol of hope
in the poem. There are several allusions used in The Waste Land when reader searches for those
references he explores much about the older traditions. One of the most important and powerful
reference is its epigraph. That also describes one of the major themes of poem. In which the
character of Sibyl of Cumae is described, who had been granted eternal life without eternal
youth, Eliot recalls in the mind of the reader an entire mythic legend to ponder and bear in mind
while reading the poem. The Sibyl is a metaphor for society, who, through foolishness and pride
fall into a situation without resolution.

Eliots vision of the world in The Waste Land is one where no future is known except that
it will be known. Like the Sybil, death is not a solution, and regeneration is only an unknown
possibility, so the lament of the Sibyl becomes the lament of a civilization whose very structure
has been fundamentally changed. The change comes not only from war, but by an outdated class
structure and adherence to old ways. While the Sibyl wishes only to die because of a grave
moment of stupidity and pride, the modern world, having made the decision to wage war, does
not have the option to simply quit, nor does it have the ability to return to where it was before. So
a cyclic and natural series of events is impending. All of these sentiments are based on the simple
two-line epigraph.

"The Fire Sermon" of The Waste Land adds even more to the sense that the future is unknown by
depicting a confused mass of conflicting images centering on Tiresias, the old man, and the
typist who engage in an odd, yet non-intimate foreplay as he watches in voyeuristic fashion.
Tiresias, who had "suffered all" by experiencing life and sex as both a man and a woman is
helpless in his situationhe cannot see his fatelet alone alter it. The image of Tiresias creates
discomfort in the reader since the situation is a unconventional of prostitution, nihilism, and
trans-sexuality. By simply referring to Tiresias, and placing him with a typist and pock-marked
man, Eliot brings a wealth of perception to a few words.

References:

Eliot, T. S.( 1963) The Waste Land. New York.