The Waste Land
♧ Five main parts of the poem " The Wasteland " :-
The most important poem of the 20th century and the central work of the modernist poetry, The Waste Land published in the year 1922 by T. S Eliot in 434 lines. The Waste Land first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of Eliot's " The Criterion " and in the United States in the November issue of " The Dial." The poem is divided into main five parts.
The poem is based on the major theme of " Sexual Perversion and spiritual degradation."
" So far as we are human, what we must be either evil or good; so far as we do evil or good, we are human; and it is better, in a paradoxical way, to do evil than to do nothing at least, we exist." ( Baudelaire - 1921 )
1) What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzche's views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling mytho-historical answer to the contemporary malaise?
 |
| T.S. Eliot and F. Nietzche |
Nietzsche was a German philosopher, essayist and cultural critic. His writings on truth, morality, language, aesthetics, cultural theory, history, nihilism, power, consciousness and the meaning of existence have exerted an enormous influence on western philosophy and intellectual history.
" The Ubermensch " is a concept in the philosophy of Frederic Nietzsche. In his 1883 book " Thus Spok Zarathustra " Nietzsche has his character Zarathustra posit the Ubermensch as a goal for humanity to set for itself. Generally Ubermensch means, " Overman " , " Superman " , " Superhuman. " Nietzsche introduces the concept of Ubermensch in contrast to his understanding of the other worldliness of Christianity.
♧ Death of God and creation of New Values :
Zarathustra present the Ubermensch as the creator of new values to banish nihilism. Nietzsche diagnosed the Christian value system as a reaction against life and hence destructive in a sense. " God is dead " means that the idea of God can no longer provide values. Zarathustra ties the Ubermensch to the death of God. While the concept of God was the ultimate expression of other worldly values and their underlying instincts, belief in God nevertheless did give meaning to life for a time. Through this point what I want to say that human being should do their work through keeping faith and hope in their hearts and continuing their lives in some trouble and hard situations but if human beings follows blindly the path of God means they only sit without doing nothing then that will be problematic. They must do efforts. In modern time also in this toughest situation men can not sit keeping in mind that God will come and do everything fine and ok. To come out in this situation the hard work and effort must require which can be done by only human being but not by God. This concept Nietzsche very beautifully described through Ubermensch.
On the other side T. S Eliot talks to look backward into the past because any how past is connected with the present time. " The Wasteland " by T. S Eliot is also trying to compare the myth or past incidents with the contemporary time's issues. For that he used various myths in his poem.
♧ What are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' lead us to happy and satisfied life? or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?
The cycle of life is based on these three layers given by Freud.
But on the other side T.S Eliot has used many myths in his poem " The Wasteland " there is nothing wrong in being regressive because people learn from the past. If people have done something wrong in the past they can recover or learn that not to repeat the same things in present. Eliot gave example of the myth in the context of the present.
3) Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred?)
T.S Eliot used various allusions to the Indian thoughts in " The Wasteland." Like,
♧ Buddha's Sermon
♧ River and Mountain
♧ Thunder
♧ Three DA
1. Da - Datta ( Be a giver )
2. Da - Dayadhvam ( Empathise )
3. Da - Damyata ( Self Control )
♧ Shantih :
The poem complete with the word " Shantih." He used the word in the context of the peace of the world.
References
Mcleod, Saul. Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development. www.simplypsychology.org/psychosexual.html.
No comments:
Post a Comment