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RMinetto - T.S. Eliot Modernist Poetry and Metaphysical Poetry - The Burial of the Dead
by - (2012-04-02)
Up to 5B - T.S. Eliot Modernist Poetry and Metaphysical Poetry
The first section of the poem The Waste Land is The Burial of the Dead. The title has three level of meaning. The first one is linked with death, the second one is taken from an anglican religious service called the order for the burial of the dead, and the third one refers to the burial of the effige of a king or a god, a pre-christian rite. In this way T.S.Eliot creates a parallel between pre-Christian time, cristian time and contemporary time.
The drammatic monologue begins with "april is the cruellest month". Mr Eliot is inspired by Goeffrey Chausser who wrote "April is the sweetest month", so he decides to turn upside down Mr Chausser's lines to make understand there is no regeneration. In the land only lillacs come up, that symbolize the desolation of the land and remind death.
The winter keeps warm, it isn't associated to the cold because Mr Eliot refers to poeple who stay inside the house to feel protected and don't want to face problems. Then the image of the snow is used : the snow that covers the land is forgetful and doesn't bring life. Mr Eliot, using the image of the snow refers to the poeple who doesn't fought for an ideal; in Modernist time, indeed, people lost all the believes and the values and feel lost. In Middle ages, the source of culture, instead, poeple had ideals and the religion gave everything a meaning. In summary, in the first scene there is an atmosphere of dead, everything seems lifeless and Mr Eliot, using words belonging to nature, takes tradition and turns it upside down. Besides, he uses the drammatic monologue in order to convey the fragmentation of poeple's life in the 20th century and he proceeds by the juxtaposition of scenes kept together by the same atmosphere of desolation and also by antropological intertextual links.
The second scene is about some poeple who are by an Austrian lakeside and a sudden rain surprised them but soon as it finished they go on walking. Mr Eliot still refers to ciclic transformation of the season and also he wants the express poeple's lack of awareness.
After the line in german, experts supposes Mr Eliot refers to the countes Marie Lary whose diary was probably found by Eliot when he went in Provence. However, the first part is made up of intertextual quotations so that the poem recalls a collage techinique and join a lot of characters that seem to have no roots. There is, indeed, a juxtaposition of momories without a logic and a chronological reasons. In this way, Mr Eliot wants to represent the human being of his time, who can't be a hero because he hasn't ideals, and for this reason he can be only an antihero. As a consequence the reader is in trouble because he has to give a meaning and to do this he has to possess all tradition and he has to set the relation between his time and the culture of reference.
In the next scene there is another intertextual use of cultural sources. Mr Eliot uses a metaphor that compares human being, who is trying to hold on to the values, to the roots.
The drammatic monologue begins with "april is the cruellest month". Mr Eliot is inspired by Goeffrey Chausser who wrote "April is the sweetest month", so he decides to turn upside down Mr Chausser's lines to make understand there is no regeneration. In the land only lillacs come up, that symbolize the desolation of the land and remind death.
The winter keeps warm, it isn't associated to the cold because Mr Eliot refers to poeple who stay inside the house to feel protected and don't want to face problems. Then the image of the snow is used : the snow that covers the land is forgetful and doesn't bring life. Mr Eliot, using the image of the snow refers to the poeple who doesn't fought for an ideal; in Modernist time, indeed, people lost all the believes and the values and feel lost. In Middle ages, the source of culture, instead, poeple had ideals and the religion gave everything a meaning. In summary, in the first scene there is an atmosphere of dead, everything seems lifeless and Mr Eliot, using words belonging to nature, takes tradition and turns it upside down. Besides, he uses the drammatic monologue in order to convey the fragmentation of poeple's life in the 20th century and he proceeds by the juxtaposition of scenes kept together by the same atmosphere of desolation and also by antropological intertextual links.
The second scene is about some poeple who are by an Austrian lakeside and a sudden rain surprised them but soon as it finished they go on walking. Mr Eliot still refers to ciclic transformation of the season and also he wants the express poeple's lack of awareness.
After the line in german, experts supposes Mr Eliot refers to the countes Marie Lary whose diary was probably found by Eliot when he went in Provence. However, the first part is made up of intertextual quotations so that the poem recalls a collage techinique and join a lot of characters that seem to have no roots. There is, indeed, a juxtaposition of momories without a logic and a chronological reasons. In this way, Mr Eliot wants to represent the human being of his time, who can't be a hero because he hasn't ideals, and for this reason he can be only an antihero. As a consequence the reader is in trouble because he has to give a meaning and to do this he has to possess all tradition and he has to set the relation between his time and the culture of reference.
In the next scene there is another intertextual use of cultural sources. Mr Eliot uses a metaphor that compares human being, who is trying to hold on to the values, to the roots.