Loss of Traditional Value and Spiritual Emptiness in The Waste Land

Abstract

The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot came in an era of heightened anxiety. The loss of traditional values was the cause behind this spiritual emptiness. The industrial advancement and technological developments which were considered as the progress of the country, actually brought with it a spiritual uncertainty within the society. The poet depicts the diseased society after the First World War. One of the after-effects of this war upon European society was spiritual and moral chaos. The poet asks ‘What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish?’ (Eliot, The Waste Land, 1922) thus the poem reflects the disillusionment and the bareness of the post-war generation. The present paper aims to analyse the reason behind the loss of traditional values, and how spirituality can be restored in the 21st century.