Saturday, February 2, 2013

Allusions in The Waste Land

We all know that T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is full of historical allusions, from Roman history, to medieval history, to the events of his day. The allusions he uses usually have so many meanings which adds to the confusion caused by his writings  There are so many ways that one can interpret these allusions, which emphasizes the fact that he wants the reader to interpret the poem for themselves.There are so many ways to look at all of these things. Take the tarot cards as an example. One could look at it as a comment on the Grail myth and the fact that society needs its "Perceval" to heal the Fisher king (the man with three staves), or one could look at it as a comment on Aldous Huxley's Crome Yellow. Both ways provide meaning, but that meaning is different in each case. Eliot fills his poem with so many other allusions and he leaves it up to the reader to make his/her own interpretation, adding to the timelessness of the poem.

1 comment:

wkuehne said...

I completely agree with you Tyler. Elliot's specific use of allusions makes The Wasteland timeless. I think that Elliot's allusions also educate his readers on events ranging from classical mythology to geography, to social injustice. His use of allusions does not funnel his readers into one of Elliot's predisposed opinions either. By using facts, such as allusions, Elliot is using a very scientific way of arranging information that is not persuasive, albeit little poetry is written for persuasion.