T.S. Eliot first published The Waste Land in 1922 after World War I had concluded as commentary on the chaotic nature of modern Europe during the war and thereafter. The Waste Land is a complex and intricate poem that weaves between speakers and a plethora of different languages. The Waste Land also alludes to esoteric texts that Eliot seems to have an intense desire to return to. Eliot 's fragmented poem juxtaposes polyphonic voices and allusions to literature as a means to isolate the contemporary audience and then, to force the reader into a sense of disorientation that Eliot believes mirrors the disorganized state of post-war Europe.
In The Waste Land, Eliot intentionally places a difficult task upon the reader to find one stable speaker, …show more content…
Eliot continues to further the outside knowledge needed by his audience thus, creating a separation between the audience and the poem. In the finale of the second section, “A Game of Chess,” Eliot alludes to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet when the two women at the bar are leaving for the evening, the woman declares, “Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.” (172). The line is an allusion to Ophelia’s character who drowned herself after Hamlet had accidentally murdered her father, Polonius. When placing the woman’s farewell against Ophelia’s death, the meaning is shifted, the woman’s “Good night” now develops a darker and cautionary tone rather than a simple ending to an evening out with friends. With Ophelia in mind, the women in the bar are expressed as unhappy and dissatisfied with their existence, unable to find meaning or fulfillment. Eliot’s main qualm with post-war modern existence is that the modern people are stuck in a catatonic state, unable to find meaning in their lives after living through a deeply traumatic time period. The women in the poem can be seen as figures of modern existence with the poem mirroring how Eliot perceives his …show more content…
Philomel was subjected to intense sexual violence by her sister’s husband, Tereus, however, Philomel is able to transform herself into a nightingale and escape the torment of her abusers. In the poem, Eliot is referencing the painting of the Philomel scene in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which hangs above the mantel in the room of a woman who seems to be of high wealth and status. The transformation of Philomel is critical to Eliot’s comment on the turbulent state of modernity, when Philomel transforms to “yet there the nightingale,” Eliot is using Philomel’s transformation to remark upon the past. The entirety of “A Game of Chess” is about sexual abuse and violence against women and the image of the Philomel above the mantel is the transformation of something horrific happening and the ability to transform something terrible into something beauty, like a painting. Eliot’s intense desire to return to a prior place in history before the effects of the world had ravaged the world is seen here with the image of the Philomel. Philomel is able to relinquish the horrific
In The Waste Land, Eliot intentionally places a difficult task upon the reader to find one stable speaker, …show more content…
Eliot continues to further the outside knowledge needed by his audience thus, creating a separation between the audience and the poem. In the finale of the second section, “A Game of Chess,” Eliot alludes to Shakespeare’s play Hamlet when the two women at the bar are leaving for the evening, the woman declares, “Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.” (172). The line is an allusion to Ophelia’s character who drowned herself after Hamlet had accidentally murdered her father, Polonius. When placing the woman’s farewell against Ophelia’s death, the meaning is shifted, the woman’s “Good night” now develops a darker and cautionary tone rather than a simple ending to an evening out with friends. With Ophelia in mind, the women in the bar are expressed as unhappy and dissatisfied with their existence, unable to find meaning or fulfillment. Eliot’s main qualm with post-war modern existence is that the modern people are stuck in a catatonic state, unable to find meaning in their lives after living through a deeply traumatic time period. The women in the poem can be seen as figures of modern existence with the poem mirroring how Eliot perceives his …show more content…
Philomel was subjected to intense sexual violence by her sister’s husband, Tereus, however, Philomel is able to transform herself into a nightingale and escape the torment of her abusers. In the poem, Eliot is referencing the painting of the Philomel scene in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which hangs above the mantel in the room of a woman who seems to be of high wealth and status. The transformation of Philomel is critical to Eliot’s comment on the turbulent state of modernity, when Philomel transforms to “yet there the nightingale,” Eliot is using Philomel’s transformation to remark upon the past. The entirety of “A Game of Chess” is about sexual abuse and violence against women and the image of the Philomel above the mantel is the transformation of something horrific happening and the ability to transform something terrible into something beauty, like a painting. Eliot’s intense desire to return to a prior place in history before the effects of the world had ravaged the world is seen here with the image of the Philomel. Philomel is able to relinquish the horrific