Touching The Waste Land.. Part 5

First, I would like to share that I covered all the needed topics in four earlier posts. But what I would like to move from is the images and narrative of the long poem to help discover why exactly T.S. Eliot used what he did in the poem.

When I was looking back over the Wasteland again I seemed to gather a few different thoughts from the thoughts I had earlier. I looked over two books I got from the library for extra reading. The two books were Modern Critical Interpretations: T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, and Broken Images a Study of The Waste Land. I believed to have received more information from the Broken Images book. What I liked about this book was that instead of just saying the logic behind the different stages of the poem, it explained the emotions Eliot was putting the reader through. One particular piece from the book that I felt was important was the few paragraphs that said as follows:

"Even when the superficial or narrative character of an incident in the poem can be clearly discerned, usually the feelings that is evokes are neither simple nor easily categorized. Eliot was by and large not interested in depicting simple emotions. He was most fascinated with those depths of feelings into which one cannot peer. More precisely, he concerned himself with clusters of feelings or with extraordinary emotions."

This paragraph helps open up the mind of the poet who writes with strong images. For me I use a lot of strong images in my poetry because I believe it creates tension, feeling, emotion, textures, layers, and different voices with just the painting of opposing images. To me without images the poem would be dry, and bland. Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot have never been concerned bland or typical. Plus like I said in past post, he was one of the first modernist poets. He basically created the genre in my eyes.

More and more I see that The Waste Land is a huge extension from the life of Eliot. He undoubtedly placed the scenes and events in a particular order that created a decaying, or somber feel to the entire poem. Events from his life fueled the fire of the making of this poem, possibly parts that entailed his wife, and the looming foreseen death of their marriage. I feel this is true by the religious vibes, and the recovering images including women.

Again from the book, Broken images some complex emotions from the text would be "fear in a handful of dust, the awe of "looking into the heart of light, the silence", and the tarot cards. The tarot cards seemed really important; they give the feeling of reading the future and possibly changing it. But one of Eliot's key insights were emotions are rarely, if ever, simple. Then straight from the book on page 45<: If analyzed, they spread out through the mind, and their ramifications become lost in the darkness of the unconscious. The search for motives behind emotions can never be complete.> He was trying to capture some of the most difficult moments in the life of an individual and place them in the poem; that isn’t an easy task.

The Waste Land is an extension from Eliot's unconscious mind. He just let it go and continued to write through the layering of different images, and meanings. Eliot helps complete this layering by referencing different stories, and common knowledge of the time. I liked what the writer, Robert L. Schwarz, of Broken Images said on page 48<>

T.S. Eliot never expected this poem to be easy on the reader. I think he put a lock on the door, instead of keeping it open. He wanted to see how bad you wanted to kick the door in, and when the door started to crack he opens it; he opens it to an empty room. The journey of the poem is important not any particular destination along the way. Then again back to "A Game of Chess" this part shows the alienation within the bond of marriage. This again supports the earlier idea I had about the death of the marriage he experienced. The duchess is a form of Vivien Eliot. Plus I believe that this poem is more or less a collage of memories from the eyes of Eliot that he possibly repressed or just signs of regret, and fear that he experienced along his life.