What is the message of The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot?

One of the main themes of The Wasteland is religion and how the modern world is not impacted as much as it once was by it. Religion no longer is a driving force in the modern world, and Eliot makes many biblical references in The Wasteland, using religion as a way to get away from a wasteland.

What is the theme and structure of the poem The Waste Land?

The central theme around which the poem revolves is the birth-death, re-birth. However there is some kind of forward movement. In the beginning, the poets refers to the desert and rock but at the end there are clouds and the hope of rain. The poet makes a vow in the end that he shall start with his self-reform.

What is the allusion in The Waste Land?

Eliot references William Shakespeare many times in this poem because, well, Shakespeare’s the man, isn’t he? More specifically, Eliot alludes to the plays The Tempest (48, 191, 257), Antony and Cleopatra (77), Hamlet (172), and Coriolanus (417).

What idea is brought out in the ending of the poem The Waste Land?

Much of this final section of the poem is about a desire for water: the waste land is a land of drought where little will grow. Water is needed to restore life to the earth, to return a sterile land to fertility.

What is the theme of hope and despair in The Waste Land?

Throughout “The Waste Land,” TS Eliot sticks to the theme of lost hope. He specifically defines this in the lines 331-359 through allusions, extended metaphors and spacing techniques. TS Eliot conveys several other themes within the poem. These themes can include deception, confusion, and many more.

What does The Waste Land teach us?

The Waste Land can be viewed as a poem about brokenness and loss, and Eliot’s numerous allusions to the First World War suggest that the war played a significant part in bringing about this social, psychological, and emotional collapse.

Who is the protagonist of the poem The Waste Land?

Tiresias, the blind prophet
The only one major character in Eliot’s epic poem. The chief protagonist of The Waste Land is Tiresias, the blind prophet who figures prominently in Greek legend. The plot of The Waste Land, such as it is, is narrated by the “voices” of this hermaphroditic seer with his dual consciousness – masculine and feminine.

Who is Tiresias in The Waste Land?

He was an ancient Greek prophet who got punished by Hera for separated two snakes copulating. He was turned into a woman for seven years. Can’t escape earthy things, like to die but cannot. During that time, he was the most well known prostitute.

How many allusions are there in The Waste Land?

This poem sounds over intellectual because of the excessive use of allusions as he has used more than hundred allusions referring to more than 30 writers.

Is The Waste Land hopeful or pessimistic?

Eliot shows the breakdown of western civilization after World War I in The Waste Land: the breakdown of family, sex, and society as a whole. This pessimism is inherent in Eliot’s work and is typical of post-war literature.