Abstract
Eliot’s poem The Waste Land is a pilgrimage in quest of an answer to the problem of desire—universal as well as personal—especially deviant sexuality, immoral behavior and their consequences. The traditional tags on the poem such as “a poem about Europe” and a poem about the “disillusionment of a generation” serve only to blinker the reader against its universal and spiritual dimensions. From the epigraph to the very concluding line of the poem, through numerous references and allusions to literary masterpieces and religious texts ranging over history, Eliot addresses the question of desire—craving-- in view of the essentials of Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. Thrashing out the problem in the light of St. Augustine’s Confessions on burning and Buddha’s Fire Sermon on its remedy, Eliot preaches Datta , Dayadhvam and Damyata as the key virtues for the attainment of Shantih or “the peace that passeth understanding.” Thus the poem becomes a pilgrimage of Eliot across the spiritual landscape of the world. Keywords : expiatory pilgrimage, desire, homoeroticism, confession, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Buddha’s Fire Sermon
Highlights
The Waste Land has traditionally been labelled as “a poem about Europe” (Jean-Michel Rabate 221), a poem that presents the “disillusionment of a generation” (Kenner, 1949, p. 421), a poem that expresses the “despair and spiritual bankruptcy of the years after World War I” (Bloom, 1999, p. 40), a metaphor of the “cultural infirmity of Europe after the Great War” (Ross, 1984, p. 134) and the like
The Waste Land is a quest that Eliot undertook across the spiritual landscape of the world seeking an answer to the problem of craving and its consequences
Reminiscing Dante’s trip through the Purgatory, Eliot takes his readers on a tour across the literary and spiritual history of the world pointing to them instances after instances of human predicament including that of his own, which is the direct consequence of craving, especially deviant sexuality and immoral behavior
Summary
The Waste Land has traditionally been labelled as “a poem about Europe” (Jean-Michel Rabate 221), a poem that presents the “disillusionment of a generation” (Kenner, 1949, p. 421), a poem that expresses the “despair and spiritual bankruptcy of the years after World War I” (Bloom, 1999, p. 40), a metaphor of the “cultural infirmity of Europe after the Great War” (Ross, 1984, p. 134) and the like. 421), a poem that expresses the “despair and spiritual bankruptcy of the years after World War I” This paper points out the inadequacy of such views and illustrates how the poem, while being the poet’s meditation on the tragic consequences of craving --personal as well as universal-- deviant sexuality and sexual excesses, explores the possibilities of salvation. From the very beginning to the end of the poem, Eliot draws examples of craving, mainly sexual offences and immoral behavior of people from multiplicity of sources and from different times and places in human history, and using symbolic images, references and allusions. Eliot concludes the poem by inviting the attention of the reader to the wisdom of Eastern religions, Buddhism, as a possible way to salvation
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