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The Waste Land by TS Eliot: UGC NET JRF English | Last minute revision

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot - UGC NET JRF Summary

The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

UGC NET JRF – Section-wise Summary & Key Concepts

📘 Overview

  • Published: 1922
  • Movement: Modernism
  • Form: Fragmented free verse, multiple speakers, allusions
  • Themes: Spiritual barrenness, disillusionment post-WWI, search for redemption
  • Influences: Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance, James Frazer's The Golden Bough
    • Eliot dedicated this poem to Ezra Pound

I. The Burial of the Dead

  • “April is the cruellest month” – Subverts traditional view of spring
  • Multiple voices and memories of Europe, especially post-war decay
  • Madame Sosostris performs a tarot reading – hints at lost spiritual guidance
  • The “Unreal City” – a haunting version of London
  • Spiritual dryness and existential fear dominate

Characters:

  • Marie – nostalgic aristocratic voice
  • Madame Sosostris – symbolic fortune teller
  • Stetson – war-time acquaintance

Terms & Allusions:

  • “Unreal City” – modern inferno
  • Tarot symbols – the drowned Phoenician Sailor, Belladonna, etc.
  • Echo of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

II. A Game of Chess

  • Lavish room scene with a neurotic upper-class woman
  • Fragmentation of romantic/sexual relationships
  • Shift to working-class pub chatter – Lil & Albert’s relationship
  • Emphasis on decay of values and empty chatter

Characters:

  • Upper-class woman – possibly based on Eliot’s wife Vivien
  • Lil & Albert – working-class couple with deteriorating relationship

Terms & Allusions:

  • “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME” – pub closing time, symbolic urgency
  • Shakespearean echoes – Cleopatra, Ophelia

III. The Fire Sermon

  • Narrated by Tiresias – seer across genders and time
  • Explores themes of lust, emptiness, moral decay
  • Scene of typist and clerk – mechanical, meaningless sex
  • Alludes to Buddha’s Fire Sermon – “Burning burning burning”

Characters:

  • Tiresias – central modern witness, both male and female
  • Typist & Clerk – symbols of modern disconnection

Terms & Allusions:

  • “Sweet Thames” – pastoral echo of lost beauty
  • Allusions: Buddha, St. Augustine, Spenser, Mr. Eugenides

IV. Death by Water

  • Describes the drowned Phlebas the Phoenician
  • Highlights mortality, decay, and uselessness of wealth
  • Water as both destructive and cleansing

Character:

  • Phlebas – drowned sailor, symbol of death and forgotten youth

Terms & Allusions:

  • “Consider Phlebas” – warning about pride and materialism

V. What the Thunder Said

  • Apocalyptic vision of war, drought, and chaos
  • Journey through desolate mountains and collapsing cities
  • Final wisdom: “DA” – Give, Sympathize, Control (from Upanishads)
  • Ends with “Shantih Shantih Shantih” – peace mantra

Characters & Figures:

  • Implied: Christ, Buddha, Fisher King archetype
  • Narrator is a spiritual seeker

Terms & Allusions:

  • “DA” from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
  • “These fragments I have shored against my ruins”
  • “London Bridge is falling down” – cultural disintegration

🧠 Key Character Summary

Character Significance
Tiresias Unifies fragmented perspectives across gender and time
Madame Sosostris Symbol of pseudo-spirituality in modern age
Marie Represents nostalgia and lost innocence
Lil & Albert Show the decay of lower-class family relationships
Typist & Clerk Illustrate shallow modern sexual relationships
Phlebas Symbol of mortality and forgotten glory
Fisher King Mythical figure representing the land's and soul’s suffering

🧾 Unique Terms & Techniques

  • Unreal City – spiritual deadness of London
  • Mythical Method – Modernist juxtaposition of past and present
  • Objective Correlative – Emotions externalized through images (e.g., drought = spiritual dryness)
  • Polyvocality – Use of multiple narrative voices
  • Allusions – Multilingual and cross-cultural references
  • DA – Datta (Give), Dayadhvam (Sympathize), Damyata (Control)
  • Shantih Shantih Shantih – Peace that surpasses understanding

📚 UGC NET JRF Tips

  • Memorize key quotes and who speaks them
  • Understand mythological references and Upanishadic elements
  • Know Eliot’s other critical writings – esp. Tradition and the Individual Talent
  • Compare with Joyce’s Ulysses for mythical method

📝 Important Quotes from The Waste Land

Quote Speaker / Context Section
“April is the cruellest month...” Narrator (possibly Tiresias or an anonymous voice) I. The Burial of the Dead
“I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” Tarot-reading voice (ambiguous) I. The Burial of the Dead
“Unreal City, / Under the brown fog of a winter dawn...” Narrator describing London post-WWI I. The Burial of the Dead
“HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME” Pub bartender’s cry; echoes urgency II. A Game of Chess
“Those are pearls that were his eyes.” Quoted from Shakespeare’s The Tempest I. The Burial of the Dead (Madame Sosostris)
“The typist home at teatime...” Descriptive voice (Tiresias) III. The Fire Sermon
“Burning burning burning burning...” Reference to Buddha’s Fire Sermon III. The Fire Sermon
“Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead...” Anonymous narrator IV. Death by Water
“Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” From the Upanishads – the Thunder's voice V. What the Thunder Said
“These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” Narrator (possibly Eliot’s own voice) V. What the Thunder Said
“London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down...” Echo of nursery rhyme – collapse of civilization V. What the Thunder Said
“Shantih Shantih Shantih” From Brihadaranyaka Upanishad – mantra for peace V. What the Thunder Said (closing lines)
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