Theme and Form in T. S. Elopt's "The Waste Land"

T. S. Eliot의 "The Waste Land"에 나타난 주제와 형식

"The Waste Land" is Eliot's best known poem. It was first published in 1922 and became a famous poem in modem poetry by the 1940's. The poem is a statement of his personal experience with spiritual crisis, this simple outline is complicated and universalized by being set within the structure of 'the Fisher King legend'. The fisher King legend was studied by Miss Weston in From Ritual to Romance and Sir James Frazer in The Goldon Bough which traced the vegetation myths. It explained the cycle of the seasons in relation to the death and rebirth of a god. The god died in the winter with the death of the vegetation and was reborn in the spring with the rebirth of the vegetation. Sir James Frazer reaced these ancient rituals within the Christian world. He indicated that the death and rebirth of Christ falls within the pattern of this ancient ritual. Also Miss Weston transformed that ancient ritual into Christian terms, and connected it with the Quest for the Holy Grail. Eliot used not only the title, but the plan and a good of the important symbolism of the poem from these two books. "The Waste Land" is a difficult one because of the numerous interruptions in the narrative. On the superficial level, the story covers a 12-hour period in a day. It is also in "the stream of consciousness." It might be called the internal monologue; that is, "the free association of ideas in the mind of the narrator," Eliot experiments with both the idea of time and with the stream of consciousness, He employs a number of quotations and allusion from the Classic literature. So, his technique in "The Waste Land" consists of the juxtaposition of the present with mythcism and religious symbolism derived from the past. The structure of the poem is built out of the contrasts in time. The poem illustrates his conception of the past as an active part of the present. "The Waste Land" has "a symphonic structure" composed of five parts, which are linked by the repeated themes. The theme is the death and salvation of the Waste Land. It is drawn from the Fisher King myths. Moreover, he has absorbed into the structure of this poem the language, phrases, and associations of other writers. It gave the poem the universality both of theme and of pattern. Also, his intricate and fine techniques added the universality to the poet's personal material. At last, the verse pattern of the poem follow the same basic structure as the thematic patterns. Again in symphonic style, the verse varies from section to section. The interruption of real time is associated with the flow of consciousness. Though the poem is a complex structure, there are the interweavings of a great deal of ideas into a simple, brief statement. By these poetic techniques the poem manages to have good harmony and unity between the thematic pattern and narrative structure. "The Waste Land" therefore, became the greatest poem in the 20th century modern world.