A Qualitative Analysis of the Poem “The Waste Land” to Investigate Spiritual Sterility, Moral Degradation of the Post-war Modern People and the Path of Salvation

Nazmul Haque,Fahmida Pervin

doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.10n.5p.77

Abstract

This paper’s overriding concern is to analyze the moral degradation, spiritual sterility, fragmentation, damaged psyche of humanity, the disillusionment of early twentieth-century post-war modern Europe and of course the path of salvation that are enormously manifest in the Thomas Stearns Eliot’s poem ‘The Waste Land’. In the question of regeneration or salvation, Eliot in this poem instructs the morally and spiritually sterile modern man to follow the Indian philosophy, Vedas and Upanishads, the storehouse of knowledge, relief, and source of spiritualism, redemption and salvation. And also he concludes the poem with the sense that if they practise them in their life as instructed, there will be nothing but Shantih, shantih, shantih (peace and tranquility) in their life. This paper thus attempts to dissect how the poem develops exerting the acute sense of spiritual infertility, moral degradation, sexual perversion, meaninglessness in the human relationship of the post-war-devastated and dysfunctional world and concludes with the instruction of the path of salvation.

Highlights

This paper’s most prominent aim is to investigate how the poem ‘The Waste Land’ comes to grips with the fact of moral degradation and spiritual sterility of the wastelanders after the first world war shock and the way of coming out of this critical situation
This is because, all these negative aspects were brought into this poem ‘The Waste Land’ as the literature is the imitation of real life (Abrams, 1971)
All sorts of negative aspects were brought into this poem ‘The Waste Land’ as the literature is the mirror of real life

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This paper’s most prominent aim is to investigate how the poem ‘The Waste Land’ comes to grips with the fact of moral degradation and spiritual sterility of the wastelanders after the first world war shock and the way of coming out of this critical situation. T.S Eliot’s poem ‘The Waste Land’ was published in 1922 after World War I that took a heavy toll on the people and exerted a negative impact on the society. The time with no stirring of life, little activity, the hopelessness of life or forgetfulness of strenuous effort to stir up All these things aforementioned are very much welcoming to the spiritually dead modern people. This very phrase ‘ Fear in a handful of dust’ can be traced in John Donne’s prose: “...what’s become of man’s great extent and proportion, when himself shrinks himself and consumes himself to a handful of dust; ...” (Donne,1923)

A Qualitative Analysis of the Poem “The Waste Land” to Investigate

METHODOLOGY

Findings

CONCLUSION