The Great War was undoubtedly one of the most impactful events in the twentieth century. It was a war that forever affected the course of history. In itself, history is composed of developments or regressions in societies and cultures, which are in turn built up of aspects such as literature. The literature of a society strongly conveys its important themes. Consequently, in the aftermath of the Great War, it is clear that this conflict affected British society significantly in several ways, as evidenced in the time period’s poetry and the lives of the poets. In T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, a poem on Europe after the Great War, there are themes present of a general discontentment in and decline of British society due to the events of the
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Along with the idea of existentialism becoming a common philosophy portrayed in literature, came distraction from this seemingly meaningless life in the form of wild activities. People in society were simply trying to forget the painful realities they had endured. They were also, in a sense, rebelling against the culture and government that had brought the country into war in the first place. In essence, “the war had made many Europeans simply give up on their own societies” (MacMillan). People were moving away from traditionalism towards, in a sense, types of hedonism. This societal transition is portrayed in Eliot’s The Wasteland; “What you get married for if you don’t want children? / Hurry up please it’s time” (164-165). In these lines, Eliot tells the story of two women drinking until closing time in a bar. He is showing a clash between traditionalism, in this case a wife having lots of children for her husband, and a newer modern movement in which, in this case, the wife seems to rebel against this by taking birth control pills. Generally, as shown in The Wasteland, in British society, traditional ideas slowly begin to be rejected as individuals sought ways to live out an apparently meaningless
Along with the idea of existentialism becoming a common philosophy portrayed in literature, came distraction from this seemingly meaningless life in the form of wild activities. People in society were simply trying to forget the painful realities they had endured. They were also, in a sense, rebelling against the culture and government that had brought the country into war in the first place. In essence, “the war had made many Europeans simply give up on their own societies” (MacMillan). People were moving away from traditionalism towards, in a sense, types of hedonism. This societal transition is portrayed in Eliot’s The Wasteland; “What you get married for if you don’t want children? / Hurry up please it’s time” (164-165). In these lines, Eliot tells the story of two women drinking until closing time in a bar. He is showing a clash between traditionalism, in this case a wife having lots of children for her husband, and a newer modern movement in which, in this case, the wife seems to rebel against this by taking birth control pills. Generally, as shown in The Wasteland, in British society, traditional ideas slowly begin to be rejected as individuals sought ways to live out an apparently meaningless