the wasteland

T.S. Eliot wrote “The Waste Land” using a different type of poetry style and organization than was typical at the time. It follows the flow of its own themes, jumping from time to time and place to place as quickly as a thought comes and goes. Eliot uses opposites juxtaposed with each other without transfer to emphasize his themes. The poem is a mythic experience of kings, queens, and heroes. Eliot also uses this …

…fulfillment in sight. The entire world felt the sorrow of war and its crimes. The Waste Land’s” message in universal; it exists in no one place or time. It is the depression and decay possible in every generation. There is an underlying hope that the restoration of society and individuals will arrive. In Eliot’s time this hope was almost nonexistent; in our society the hope is slightly greater simply because it remains possible.