The Waste Land

Ceremonies in "The Waste Land" Ceremonies are prevalent throughout T.S. Eliot’s poem "The Waste Land". Eliot relies on literary contrasts to illustrate the specific values of meaningful, effectual rituals of primitive society in contrast to the meaningless, broken, sham rituals of the modern day. These contrasts serve to show how ceremonies can become broken when they are missing vital components, or they are overloaded with too many. Even the way language is used …

…poem he gives us hope with the ritualistic chant of, "Shantih shantih shantih" (l. 434) which translates (according to the notes) as The Peace which passeth understanding. Ceremonies are prevalent throughout T.S. Eliot’s poem The Waste Land. The contrast between rituals that contain too little and rituals that contain too much show just how broken the waste land is. The actual literary tools that Eliot uses helps give the poem an apparent broken feel.