Sara's Reviews > The Waste Land

The Waste Land, Eliot’s masterpiece, is a poem filled with allusions and references to everything from Shakespeare to Buddha, and one that cannot be quickly read nor easily understood. It is considered one of the most important of the modernist poems, and rightfully so.

Written in 1922, in the aftermath of World War I, Eliot explores both the loss of life, its meaning, and the resultant changes in society and values. There is cynicism throughout the poem, and ultimately hope expressed in the final section–a looking back and a reaching forward.

Eliot shows us detailed examples of people lost and leading empty, meaningless lives. There is a lack of morality, a turning against the natural order, a lack of faith in the future and a discarding of the lessons of the past. The masses walk through their days with hedonistic fervor and no feeling. The Waste Land is complete, and the waste is personal.

The conclusion seems to me to say there is a way to overcome, not only endure, but thrive, however that way requires something of each individual. It requires, per Eliot, “giving” “sympathizing” and “control.” And, it seems to me Eliot tells us that it also requires faith; a faith in something larger than self. The result of such a faith being “inner peace”.

This is the third time I have studied this poem, and each time I feel I have grasped a tiny bit more. I would imagine that I could read this a dozen more times and not have digested it all. It took Eliot three years to write it, so it deserves the time and effort, but to know it in all its complexity, you need to read another dozen works, Dante, Shakespeare, the Bible among them. This edition contains Eliot's notes, criticisms by other prominent authors, and reference materials from Eliot's bibliography.

I believe Eliot wanted us to work for his meaning, because I think he wanted us to understand what had been lost and that it would not be an easy thing to recover.