The waste Land
T.S.Eliot complcted ‘The Waste Land’ in the autumn of 1921, and with the constructive suggestions of Ezra Pound about the structure of the poem ,the present draft of the poem , which was published in 1922, has become a classic. It is also, more importantly, the symbol of a whole age, signifying a new kind of poetry and a poetic revolution in modern English Literature and culture. The poem is a masterpiece of innovative poetic design and embodies an entirely new and original poetic technique. Eliot’s view that every generation should make a poem in its own image is not merely an aesthetically satisfying ‘raison d’etre’ for the composition of ‘The Waste Land’, but [it] is also a way of recognising and valicitatin different …show more content…

Whatever may be the poet’s view, it seems that in his poem, he is dealing with the theme of futility, frustration and the physical and spiritual barrenness of the 20th century western civilization and this is related to the myth of the Waste Land, as shown by Jessive Weston in her book- “From Rituals to Romance”. Miss Weston deals with the legends about quest for the Holy Grail [the cup used by Christ at the last supper] for the regeneration of blighted region of the fisher king. The fisher-king is rendered impotent either through physical sickness or maiming. The curse is to be removed by a questing knight who asks the meaning of various symbols which are presented to him in the curse of his visit to a castle. In original legend, the sterility is primarily physical, whereas in Eliot’s poem, it is primarily spiritual. In ‘The Waste Land’, a number of symbols have been used by T.S.Eliot, but there are two basic symbols- ‘The Waste Land symbol’