Modern world - a closer look

After thoughts on - Elliot's Wasteland

Elliot’s wasteland is a strange epiphonic moment where he observed his society around and noted down all its trivialities. All corruptions and degenerated values, sexual perversity, zombie like existence of its citizens – all threaded ever since centuries. He meditates upon issues of past and present and after a thorough reflection of a degenerated life he offers his own remedy. It is a rhetoric poem with visuals, myths, classic literature and modern realities all tied together penetrating into each other – becoming participants in an unreal city which could be any of the modern metropolitan like London or Paris or which could even be Jerusalem.

So the vision begins with the theme ‘burial of the dead’ which could be a burial of both fertility god or any burial in a Christian church. Whatever diva death takes it is always followed by a rebirth in a natural cycle. The month of April ensures such a rebirth when earth revokes from sleeping winters into a new beginning of spring. Where leaves all dead covered under the icy layers of time once again get ready to see on trees – their new springs. It is such a month of celebration but not in the modern wasteland. The modern wastelanders avoid this month and they are still caught in the memories and desires of winters where they had hibernated into warmer places and were all doped in pleasures akin.

The narrator of poem is Tiresias who represents humanity and he is indulged in a conversation with a German princess who denies anything to do with Russia and laments the arrival of spring. she is a rootless creature who is completely detached from her family, life and loves to travel around. A globetrotter by nature she misses her cousin with whom she might have got intimate in winters on mountains because there she felt free to get into any kind of sexual pleasures. Shower of rain is something to get protected from for her as she was unaware of rain’s regenerating powers.

Tiresius then describes the spiritually barren wasteland around which was dry and directly under a scrunching sun. There was no shade for the wastelanders except probably the red rock which represented either spirituality or Christian church. Shade of red rock was different from man’s shadow which is behind him in morning and ahead in evening, symbolizing death which is behind a new born and awaits its meet with the person once a person reaches his old age. He mentions man’s most natural fear – fear of mortality – fear of turning to ‘a handful of dust’.

Then happens further description of the wasteland with its prior most corruptant – guilty love. Tiresias brings forth two such cases both from mythologies. One was a youthful love out of Tristan and Isolde – a love story by Richard Wagner, where Tristan dies waiting for his beloved near a sea but she never appears despite of calm waves and a clear sky. Another instance is of a hyacinth girl who awaits her lover who at one moment of passionate intensity long back had even lost his senses for her love. But now, he denies to even know her. Both these cases highlight the futility of sex without marriage. They talk about degrades sexual values and their ill-effects upon modern wasteland where emotions have turned to momentary sensations and there is no loyalty, no responsibility.

And then comes an eternal symbol of tarot cards which Egyptians used to use in order to forecast the rises and falls of river Nile, the source of life and fertility. However in the degenerated modern times, tarot card are used to perform an illegal function of fortune telling. Madame sosostris, a modern fortune teller is sick and fears law due to which she performs forbidden fortune telling in the secrecy of a degraded city.  Some of the tarot cards she offered probably to the narrator ‘Tiresias’ are symbols of Elliot entire poem in crux.

 First card is of a drowned Phoenician sailor who represents fertility god whose sculpture was drowned every year in the river. However this time there is no possibility of revival. Modern wastelanders have simply denied making any efforts for the dead god’s rebirth. They have rather become indifferent to both religion and the need for their spiritual regeneration. Belladonna, the lady of the rocks represents a modern lady who has the power of a seductress . she is good at playing game of chess , i.e , the game of seduction between men and women. Third image has a man with three spades that is king fisher himself. Three staves of ‘trishool’ are the three fold paths of mankind’s generation which is also Elliot remedy for spiritual revival, i.e., to give, to sympathize and to control. Picture of a wheel symbolizes the cyclic degenerated lives of civilizations and civilizations, the circles of life and death and the people’s futile will to control their own fate. It also brings forth the zombie like life of modern wasteland where people get up, go to work, come back to gulp something, get into some sexual intercourse and sleep off only to repeat the same cycle again the

next day. It is also symbolic of the cycle of seasons and the flux of life and death. Then appears the one eyed merchant representing further degeneration of modern cities. Earlier sailors used to carry both religion and sexuality from their lands , but now one eye represents sex without religion , i.we lust. One such sailor even invited Tiresias to a cheap hotel later in the poem to get into a homosexual one night stand – later in the poem. Another card which is blank is symbolic of the religion that merchant used to carry but it is no more visible to the modern wastelanders. They can’t understand the spiritual significance of the merchant or the religion which he carries. Card having a hanged man represents both the dead fertility god and Christ who is crucified. Christ or religion is instead hooded and madame sosostris can’t identify him. the last card with a crowd running in circles become the miniature of London or any such modern city where people live a cyclic dead life of following their routine works being indifferent toward their life or religion.

And then he creates another unreal city like London where the people are zombie walking up across

the mountain over London bridge. The brown fog around symbolizes their obliviousness to religion, spirituality or even their own existence. They are kind of sleep walking – round and round in the cycles of everyday life only to die one day. Every morning at 9 a.m the church bell tolls calling them to church’s shade. But they deny to listen any of it. they walk in their own sway. 9 a.m is also the time when Christ was crucified. But the hour means nothing to them except their office time.

There amidst the rows of robots he suddenly identifies one as his friend. Stetson he called him, wasn’t he the same he had met far back in mylae in a  Punic war . And here one transcends through time. Making wars of all times – connected in one eternal rhyme. And he asks, whether the corpse he had buried long back is safe or if it had begun to outshine. also, to keep him safe from dog as dog is man’s friend and may dug that corpse out in no time. Corpse represented the dead religion, dead fertility god or truth and dog was human conscience. Allegory of dog with his digging nails and man’d friend was from woolf and foes from Dante's inferno’s time. And here connects inferno with London and paris – all same – in same rhyme.

Towards the end of this section he calls Stetson a hypocrite and his brother.  And here all differences get even further. Spiritual degeneration is omnipresent and he and Stetson along with every wastelander are equally responsible. There is an essential sameness of human experience of all times.

And here begins the second scene further opening the previous box. Out emerges the game of chess with a beautiful lady in lavish frock. And the scene of his room is well describes. Aromas and perfumes, pictures and light. A chandelier with seven candles burning so bright - Mixing that shimmer with her jewels’ light. There is a cupid all carved upon her mirror, another behind its wing with an eye on shiver. And there on a mantel piece was an antique of a golden bird too- symbolizing the change of philomel in her suffering’s lieu. The bird was once a princess who was raped, her own brother in law – king jereus to be blamed. But god turned her into a golden bird – out came she to sing her hurt. Alas modern-land can’t understand the song she sang. Alas, it was but a jug jug frozen in that ivory stand. And hte fire beside had colourful flames too, creating a smoke with window’s wind’s rue. There the carving upon the fire place – of a dolphin came to life. Those colorful stones – such lavish sight. The satins and jewels all bring the picture of Cleopatra in rape of the lock’s architecture.

The lady instead is from a modern city. So used to satins and all its artificiality. The constant knocks of wind under the door. Made her lust for the arrival more. There out of ecstatic excitement, there were her hair – right on stand. And came the man much awaited. She had bad nerves that night, she said to her lover. ‘speak to me something’ she said with a quiver. She inquired about her thoughts and silent presence. What is it you always thing with such mental absence. The lover painted a sordid scene of rat’s alley and bones and dead men in scene. Lady gets horrified with the picture. There happened hamlet’s Gothic structure.

What is it that noise she asked . nothing but the wind was her lover’s response. And there upon nothing they emphasized. Like in Alice in wonderland ‘nothing’ was not personified. ‘ those were pearls in his eyes’ said he to act intelligent. Lady knew its empty rent. She warned him that if he won’t speak then she would take a city sneak – just the way she was, open hair and half dressed blouse. She asked about their further steps of action. What would they do tomorrow, would there be any attraction. But he brought again the boring mundane life, the same morning showers, the same human plight. And mentioned that they would wait for a knock at the door – may be for death or may be some surprise guest in store.  The theme basically remains the same – the mordid life – everyday the same game. Man was the living proof of a modern man. Hollowed words – without stem. And people like him were all under spiritual degeneration -  All given to imitation with no creation. And they all lived a hollowed life - Repeated unions, repeated strife.

And then arises another cloudy vision.this time from lower horizon .a club scene with narrator now a lady – talking to her friend – lil – a sick lady. She warns her again and again out of her own mouth. There in the club she told her about her approaching spouse. Albert who had been fighting in the war since four years. Albert is now coming home after many years. And there she tells lil to gear up and look good. As Albert has suffered alot and must have some time – good .that lil looks ugly , sick and old now .that Albert would be wooed by some other lady somehow. Lil mentions the abortion pill chemist had referred. The thing to be blamed for her looks so daggered. And her friend scorns that she should be ashamed- for looking so ugly and letting her child get killed. That what were marriages for of not to borne children. That Albert deserves some kind of fun. Lil frustrated with her friend replied, if Albert would get another wife , then she would know whom to thank, and she was aware of her degraded rank. The backdrop had again reminders of time – with a waiter’s constant final line. ‘Hurry up please its time. Approaching Death was the symbol of passing time. And there it ends the club scene along with second section. Good night sweet ladies – a hamlet’s extrapolation.

And then enters Buddha’s fire sermon – the scene where he preached that world was a lust game .that all around was fire of lust. And world is burning in it with sex and thirst. And thence enters another scene of tiresius beside a river bank. There he wanted to write about city’s ship – on the verge of sank.

There the scene is of a winters where suffers gaiety has left and all of its summer splinters. Men and women during sunny times, came here to get into their useless sexual persuels and now have left for some other rhymes. The rich sons have not given their numbers to those young girls of modern times. But it doesn't matter after all. its a business – this sex in recent times. No cigarette cases or floating clothes or other such wastes in the river Thames. Yes they have left – them with their games. Here the poet sites beside Thames and leman and other such river banks – connective rivers from centuries, building temporal stands.

But the scene is same – gothic with elements sordid. Rat alleys, broken bones and clattering teeth in the background. The degraded life of modern wastelanders. Approaching death was the sheer reality. Degraded city, decayed artificiality. And a rat approached with its slime belley , while tirius was fishing expecting regeneration in his alley. While dead bodies and rattling sounds, with rats behind and clattering ground – was consistent presence there in background. And there he heard those horns and motors. After short intervals – those sudden splutters.

And there comes Sweeney  with horns on his motor, with dark desires to meet Mrs. Porter.listening to those children singing chorus in a church long back, had sir Parcifal been full of lust. The same degradation is here teleported. Mrs. Porter – a brothel keeper with sweeney all flaunted.  She with her daughter are shown washing their feet, not with plain water but that soda of street. Alas these modern times where artificiality is so preferred. That to appear fair and better complexioned , soda water they preferred.

And then we enter back to narrator’s life. Tirisius once meeting a Smyna merchant at one time. There the Syrian merchant of tarot card revives. There the death of religion outshines. The merchant  even invites tirisius – out for a one night stand in some cheap hotel. Modern cities degrading to such cheap stupor – homosexuality – with sex having no life’s stupor. Pleasure the only principle of life. Pleasure the reason for this eternal strife.

Sexual perversity is further enhancified when there enters the typist – an icon of their time. She works from morning till the closure time. And then she gets up to reach back to a tedious rhyme. The time when even sailors return to their homes. There the typist meets her daily chores. Poor room, poverty yelled, right with one divan and tin plates so gelled. She washes her clothes and hangs them on windows, she piles her clothes and eats in the same square meadow. There on that divan she lies all tired. There enters the lust – carrier – a clerk all wired. Tiresius claims to have seen it all – both being a man and as a woman installed. There he sees the clerk trying to seduce, failing which she shuns her muse. There he attacks right into the act, there she does nothing to react. She lets him do whatever he wants. There upon her he finally kisses a patronizing faunt. She sighs a breath of relief as he leaves. And a little walk here and there to get her thoughts released. An animal intercourse had just happened without feelings the girl for a moment looked a t ceilings. And then she tied her hair like a robot, and there played her gramophone. Imagine the foolish girls’ obliviousness to religion, not a moment spent in reflecting, no regrets to shun. In goldsmith’s vicar of wakefield the lovely lady had committed suicide. There in modern world there is no guilt ride. But sexd is like a daily activity. The same monotoneous routine with the same aritificiality.

The music of gramophone teleports tirius to queen victoria’s street. There he reached the end of thames street. That was the land of poors , the place where fishermjen lived. The same place where played mandolin with some fishermen to sing. There he had heard those tragic tales, the songs of those poor girls in rhythmatic wails. And then tirius returns to his present time - The polluted river and its darkened rhyme. There he once again lost in visions of past. The time when queen Elizabeth sailed with leicester  with a blast. The ship was adorned with red and gold. There it sailed as the wind did bore. And yet Elizabeth was leicestor’s mistress. The same perversity, the same mess. Antony and Cleopatra qenter yet again, some other time, but the same rant.

Each girl had the same plight – lusty city and no will to fight. All had been undone somewhere or the other. all had sanf together and then in different flutter. The first was raped in Richmond and kew in a boat . the second was raped in london’s street Moorgate. Her own lover had raped her and then had regret. But he couldn’t have understood her feelings. He after all had different way of dealings. The third was yet another rape case. in yet another picnic place. margrate sands the place was called. In neglitude and povert her life crawled. the one who ravished left to not return but she with her life had nothing to return. Her life was a big nothing and so was of others. The song of their rape they together sang.

And there ends this section with st. Augustine’s sermons. Here he mentions the root cause – sexual perversion. The sexual perversity and religious decline – the degenerated modern land with its fecundity beside. The miseries of poors and high class too. The game of chess with fire sermons in lieu.

And there tirius transcends to the time of a phonecian sailor – plebas was his name – who had died in sea’s squalor. Long back phonician sailors had skilld to catch the rhyme of sea waves. Their rise and fall was a language they used to tell. But here in this degenerated modern land, phlebas had forgotton all about the divine hand. So waves one day gave him a shock. A current of waves came like a rock and dragged him below the sea. There his materialistic persuels got free. all his desires along with boned got chutned and churned in the sea’s dome. There he lived his entire life line – only that it was in reverse order this time. From youth to old age he saw amidst waves. How he died with his ill-doings and fate. And lost was his body along with whirlpool- there ended his earthly drool.And this is shown as a lesson – for those of us who try to control our fates. One must have that faith in god and his doings. Depending on religion is always better than our own ill-doings.

With this appears the last section of picturesque and one reaches crucification phase. There he was arrested with torch lights and and frostly silence. At the call of his release, There was on roads a sudden violence. So Christ was crucified and yet he had not died. He was alive in the hearts of his followers. But now there are no such stirs. Faith is dieing, so is the Christ. The one who didn’t die then is now dieing.

The spiritually barren modern wasteland  has other attributes too. It is rocky and dried and has no water for relief from loo. This takes one to king quester and his journey. In search of holy grail to chapel perilus had he went. There the was was dry and rocky. There was no water even the wind was cracky. Their sweat had dried in scrouching sun light. Wherever one saw, there was no water in sight. They wished for water without any rocks. Or even with rocks but with water in ample stock. But when they reached the church above, they found Nothing but a four walled room with dusty storm. Even the bones out of those graves were peeping, there the wind there that dryness reeking. A distant jug jug of cicada and his jarring sound – further tortured their ears as it seemed like water’s sound.

And then a sudden shift brings forth Christ's two disciples who were walking once to the biblical wasteland – Emmaus. The first deciple hallucinated a third image beside. But none he found whenever he looked to his partner’s side. Again and again he asked about that presence. That hooded brown figure that in direct vision had absence. But he found none – so to speak in body. And yet there was Christ as somebody.

 There we return to modern wasteland. With many wastelanders walking in deadly stand. The people are uprooted from their roots and family. The a woman cries so silly.was it Mother Europe herself crying for the plight of her daughters and sons? Was it the old woman crying at the death of Christ or her fertility god in shuns? There seems to be a city in the dusky hours of evening right at the top of the mountain. And yet at times it is visible at times it is abstract and without a stem. All towers of churches seem to be falling down. The towers represent religion and all that it had as its sound.  No religion, no authority, rootless waste land with its artificiality.

The wastelands are all linked – may it be Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandrian , Vienna, London or any such street. Every wasteland was decaying with same heat. These  city people had neurosis and hysteria. Imagine a woman playing music on her own hair stands in media. At night, there seem to be strange creatures – bats with baby faces are their features. They try to crawl, fly, lean down some darkened wall. There are buildings all upside down. Bats represented the decayed generation. Upturned towers were decayed religion. Though there were church bells heard still, but each was equally ignorant of its fill. There are empty wells and cisterns that sing any song now. They represent sterile religion and decayed spiritual sound.

Here tirisius takes his readers- all the way back to the journey of  king quester. There along with open graves was a cock who crowed loudly. Symbol of a dawn arriving stealthily. The dawn was  a carrier of hope – hope of regeneration , a reconstructive hope. And there those empty clouds suddenly caused a thunder. Possibility of rain hence got slender. A mild breeze brought rain along, there was spiritual regeneration’s first sound.

From one rain we reach to another which had happened long back in India as a miracle. There once upon a time was a dry drought without a rhyme. Even the ganga had gone dry and lifeless. There was no water left anywhere else. Though Himalayas had some black clouds. But they seemed all empty shrouds. Ans there was no pain and with no water were they all in sheer pain. So the men and beasts of the jungle sat together, they those prayers to god they mutter.

Prajapati the lord of thunder appeared . da da da the thunder hence outleared. The three sounds had huge meaning in them. Data dhayadhvam damyata were the three stems. To give, to sympathize and to have self control – all three had their own roles – to bring a spiritual regeneration in their land – there with reviving rain splashed on dry sand.

And here Elliot finishes his poem with a remedy to his problems. Their he holds the three fold path as its stems. That to give completely is important along with empathising with others. And if one loses one’s control than he can reach to his destiny neither. For modern wasteland – spiritual regeneration is required. Through the three fold path is that state acquired. So the poem of London Street traveled through countries and time, and there they found their solution in Vedas in rhyme.

 written by - Mystical Wanderer