Death By Water By T. S. Eliot: Literary Analysis

Thomas Stearns Eliot, famously know as T.S. Eliot, was born on September 26, 1888 in St. Louis Missouri, the youngest of six children. His father, Henry Ware Eliot, was a successful business man and his mother, Charlotte Eliot, was a teacher, but after her marriage she began to write poems and submit them to newspaper. T.S. Eliot was educationally advanced due to his mother being a teacher and as a teenager he produced eight issues of his own magazine called “The Fireside”. The magazine consisted of gossip, theater, jokes and fiction. When he graduated Smith Academy, he could have gone straight to Harvard University, but since he did not enjoy companionship with people his own age, his parents forced him to spent a year at Milton Academy. In …show more content…
Eliot show society how they can break free from the decay of society. For example, the protagonist speaks of Phlebas the Phoencian who was able to leave the degradation of society because of baptism. Baptism is seen as no longer being a part of sinful nature and the acknowledgment and acceptance of Christ. This shows that Phlebas is separated from the decay of Christ and is not affected by the sins of society because he has baptized himself. It also states that he no longer hears and has forgotten “the cry of gulls, and the deep-sea swell/ and the profit and the loss” (IV, 313-314, Eliot). This is because he is no longer a part of the corrupted world. In addition, the protagonist then tells the reader that we all require the “Living Water”. This shows is showing the reader that in order to be free from a degrading society, one must go through spiritual cleaning which is only available through “Living Water” or baptism. This also shows that if we do not get baptized, we will never be able to fully experience life because our sinful nature has not died yet. T.S. Eliot then concludes with the protagonist surrendering to the “Living Water” and leaving the corruption of the world. It is in this passage that Eliot shows that this is the only way society may be free from suffering with the corruption of the …show more content…
Eliot made it like this, he established the standard for modern poetry. For example, parts of the poem are in different languages such as: Latin, French, German, Hindi, Greek, Italian, English and Sand Script. The reason Eliot uses different languages in his poems is to lead the reader to some puzzlement and challenge the western mind. Eliot believed that the western society was intellectually lacking, so he carelessly switches languages to bring attention to this intellectual lacking. This also shows Eliot breaking the conventions of more accepted and traditional ways of writing poetry. In addition, “The Waste Land” is also abstractly long; it is about 450 lines long. The poem also has no defined meter or form, uses vague mythological references without reason and he includes fragments of several other works in his poem. In conclusion, the result of Eliot creating his own way of writing, he is able to introduce modernism and experimentation of the arts to society providing a new way to see art, especially in poetry.
“The Waste Land” seems to be a composition of seemingly incoherent ideas and fragmented thoughts, but it ends with the protagonist finding peace. Peace is what Eliot wants for man and society because after World War 1 the western world is in chaos and confusion and Eliot sees this and tries to provide them with change. Therefore, he is the most influential writer in the 20th century by introducing