T.S. Eliot's Mythic Landscape, Symbolism, and The Post-WWI Atmosphere In "The Waste Land"

T.S. Eliot stands as one of the most significant poets in modernist poetry. He is free-handed to criticize his time and defines criticism as inevitable as breathing. “The Waste Land” was published in 1922 which is the modern age after WW1. T.S. Eliot depicts the atmosphere, desolation, and helplessness of the post-war period through symbols and mythological references.

The very title "The Waste Land" itself is a brilliant method, employed by Eliot to emphasize the state of post-war desolation and fragmentation. It has an idea of nothing being beautiful again. "April is the cruellest month" (1). This line shows the effect of disappointment on humanity by reason of so many people killed. Normally, April represents “birth” but in this poem, there is a negative perspective of April being used. 

He uses the imagery of broken life and broken humanity. "Dull roots with spring rain" (4). Similarly, rain and water are negative here. These fragmented images come together all through the poem and give a meaning which is characteristic of modernist poetry. At the beginning and the end of the poem, there is “memory” and “desire” which are “past and “future”. He desires his past life. As a result of the war, people lost their urban life and innocence.

References to the real places “Starnbergersee” and “Hofgarten” remorise his memories and desire to return to the urban. In the poem, we see a repetition of everyday life, no possibility of knowing the new truth, losing the joy of life, no communication, and how life is about strategies like during the wars. 

“Under the brown fog of a winter dawn”(64). Fog is a symbol in modern poetry meaning something covers. People do not see and look at each other anymore like neither dead nor alive. 

In "The Waste Land" we can clearly see mythological patterns. One of the mythical references is “The Fisher King”. “I sat upon the shore /Fishing, with the arid plain behind me / Shall I at least set my lands in order?” (431-432-433). Eliot utilizes the myth of “The Fisher King” to represent his morally desolate society.

The Fisher King serves as both the guardian and the living manifestation of his lands, yet a wound leaves him powerless, this is interpreted as a moral wound, and his realm infertile.

The events revolve around a king aspiring for redemption and the desolate kingdom he governs. At times, he is depicted engaging in the activity of fishing. There is no sign of hope.

In the Waste Land, only the anguish and decay of society and its values prevail. Eliot here defines how exactly European society was after WW1. He is duty-bound to guard the “Holy Grail” in the mist.

Additionally, the question that will release and heal the king from his current state is as mysterious as the moral wound he suffered: Whom does the Grail serve? It symbolizes the personal reflection of the meaning of life. Eliot tries to convey the loss of the joy of living due to war and the ensuing chaos by presenting us with this symbolism.

The other allusion is “Tiresias”. In the myth, we witness the transition of this mythological character from male to female. This symbolizes in the poem as “past” and “future” also signifies transformation and change. It represents the alteration of the cycle, the disappearance of past remnants, and the process of renewal. Eliot uses this symbol for transformation and embodies a sense of cohesion or completeness that is absent in the fractured, post-war world.

“I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives” (223). Tresias is blind but also sees the future. In fact, the content of the poem is essentially derived from what Tiresias sees.

In conclusion, Eliot uses myths as a form of allegory for the modern world. He uses huge symbols to reflect on situations at that time. The poem is fragmentation, moving away from concepts of wholeness and not linear.

The poem includes lots of allusions to Dante, Chaucer, and others. “For Ezra Pound/ il miglior fabbro.(2) We also see many different voices. All of them are modernist poetry features.