Understanding Poetry | The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

The Waste Land is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. The 434-line poem first appeared in in December 1922. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruellest month", "I will show you fear in a handful of dust", and the mantra in the Sanskrit language "Shantih shantih shantih"

Eliot's poem combines the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King with vignettes of contemporary British society. Eliot employs many literary and cultural allusions from the Western canon, Buddhism and the Hindu Upanishads. The poem shifts between voices of satire and prophecy featuring abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location, and time and conjuring a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures.

==============================

Resources

Nick Mount Lecture:
   • Nick Mount on T.S. Eliot's The Waste ...  

Mr. Huff's Literature Class:
   • T.S. Eliot  

Schmoop.com
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/p...

==============================

Music

Anxiety - Kevin MacLeod

5 Emotional Covers - James Bartholomew

The Way - Zach Hemsey