Concetti Chiave
- Tiresias, a character from Greek mythology, is central in "The Waste Land," reflecting both male and female experiences and symbolizing the fragmentation of post-war society.
- Eliot contrasts the fertile and glorious past with the sterile modern world, mirroring the breakdown of historical, social, and cultural order caused by war.
- The poem employs a blend of poetic styles and a stream-of-consciousness technique, reflecting the chaotic nature of modern life akin to Cubist art.
- Eliot engages readers through the "implication" technique and "objective correlative," using combinations of images and symbols to evoke emotions.
- The mythical method, shared with James Joyce, uses myths like the Holy Grail and the Fisher King to contrast modern life's emptiness with spiritual quests.
Tiresias - The Waste Land
The speaking voice is Tiresias, a Theban prophet taken from the greek dramatist Sofocle. T.S. Eliot chooses Tiresias because Tiresias in his life experienced strange events, first of all he experienced blindness, he also experienced double sex, he was man and then he became a woman, so he experienced the male side and the ferale side of humanity. For this reason, Tiresias will suffer a lot when he will see the women he observes, this because he understands women's feelings.Tiresias will also be the same character who plays the role of the knight, in search of the Holy Grail around the devastated London of the first world war.
All this fragmentary world that Eliot describes at the end has the contrast between fertility and sterility, the fertility of the glorious past, compared and contrasted with the sterility of the present modern world. The fragmentation of
this poem reproduces the breakdown of the historical, social and cultural order destroyed by the war. He also tried to repeat the same situation, because he was strongly convinced that past and present exist simultaneously in the Waste Land, and there is a continuous shifting in time and space, caused by the free association of ideas and thoughts. This is exactly the same for James Joyce.
(in our mind, ideas are never separated from what happens before, and what is going to happen, so in our mind past, present and future coexist simultaneously and there is in our time a continuous stream shifting in time and space).
There is a fragmentary mixture of poetic styles; it's a way to reproduce the chaotic modern society Eliot was living in (this is also typical of Cubist images).
The technique of implication and the objective correlative
T.S. Eliot tried also to share his writings with the public, he tried to involve the reader, he tried to require the active participation of the reader with a technique that he called implication: he tried to share his ideas with the reader
using the objective correlative.
What is it?
Eliot was strongly convinced that it was impossible to comunicate emotions, but thanks to the objective correlative it is possible.
In which way?
The poet uses a combination of images, symbols, situations, events, and in this way he evokes emotions in the reader.
Example: "stubborn winter": this is an objective correlative used by Eliot to evoke emotions in the reader.
The mythical method
(Also James Joyce used this method)As concerning this method, we can say that Tiresias is a character used by Dante, because T.S. Eliot made an important and relative use of myths, so the mythical past appears also in the situations of the present.
T.S. Eliot also uses the quest for the Holy Grail, so he contrasts the meaninglessness of modern lite with allusions and references to the Arthurian legend. This search for the Holy Grail represents the search for spiritual salvation. The Celtic myth has something to do with the myth of the Fisher King: the Fisher King is about a king who was firstly rich and fertile, but then he was shot in the thigh and because of this terrible accident he lost his fertility and became sterile. As a consequence of his sterility, all his land became sterile as him. So, he was waiting for someone who could help him to become fertile again, and also his land. This is a celtic legend that T.S, Eliot used in his works.
Domande da interrogazione
- Chi è Tiresia e perché T.S. Eliot lo sceglie come voce narrante in "The Waste Land"?
- Qual è il contrasto principale descritto in "The Waste Land"?
- Come T.S. Eliot coinvolge il lettore nei suoi scritti?
- In che modo Eliot utilizza il metodo mitico nel suo lavoro?
- Qual è il significato del mito del Re Pescatore nel contesto di "The Waste Land"?
Tiresia è un profeta tebano che ha vissuto esperienze straordinarie, come la cecità e il cambio di sesso. Eliot lo sceglie perché rappresenta sia il lato maschile che quello femminile dell'umanità, permettendogli di comprendere i sentimenti delle donne.
Il poema descrive il contrasto tra la fertilità del glorioso passato e la sterilità del mondo moderno, riflettendo la frammentazione dell'ordine storico, sociale e culturale distrutto dalla guerra.
Eliot utilizza la tecnica dell'implicazione e l'oggettivo correlativo, combinando immagini, simboli e situazioni per evocare emozioni nel lettore e richiedere la sua partecipazione attiva.
Eliot fa un uso significativo dei miti, come la ricerca del Santo Graal, per contrastare l'insensatezza della vita moderna con riferimenti alla leggenda arturiana e al mito celtico del Re Pescatore.
Il mito del Re Pescatore rappresenta la ricerca della salvezza spirituale, con il re che diventa sterile e attende qualcuno che possa restituire la fertilità a lui e alla sua terra, riflettendo la sterilità del mondo moderno.
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