The Waste Land Thinking activity 

 Introduction:-

     Hello readers, today I am present among you.  Taking the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.  This poem is known as Global Poetry.  Because it refers to different religions and different countries.  In a country where different types of literature are written, the literature is used in this poem.  He was a good critic.  This poem of his has also been in a lot of discussion.  And a lot of critics have commented on it.  Indian culture is also represented in the poem The Waste Land.  This poem was written in modern times  in the 20th century.  This poem has been in a lot of discussion and we will discuss in this blog  how different aspects of it have been portrayed by different critics.

     This blog is constructed as an answer sheet exploring ideas, concepts and arguments to three questions asked by professor Dilip Barad in a blog- T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land'. 

T. S. Eliot:-

     T.S. Eliot, in full Thomas Stearns Eliot, (born September 26, 1888, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.—died January 4, 1965, London, England), American-English poet, playwright, literary critic, and editor, a leader of the Modernist movement in poetry in such works as The Waste Land (1922) and Four Quartets (1943). Eliot exercised a strong influence on Anglo-American culture from the 1920s until late in the century. His experiments in diction, style, and versification revitalized English poetry, and in a series of critical essays he shattered old orthodoxies and erected new ones. The publication of Four Quartets led to his recognition as the greatest living English poet and man of letters, and in 1948 he was awarded both the Order of Merit and the Nobel Prize for Literature.More information.

"Thae Waste Land" :

     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.  Published in 1922, the 434-line. poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of Eliot's The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. It was published in book form 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".More information.

1)   What are your views on the following image after reading 'The Waste Land'? Do you think that Eliot is regressive as compared to Nietzsche’s views? or Has Eliot achieved universality of thought by recalling mytho-historical answer to the contemporary malaise?

Who is Nietzsche?

     Friedrich Nietzsche, (born October 15, 1844, Röcken, Saxony, Prussia [Germany]—died August 25, 1900, Weimar, Thuringian States), German classical scholar, philosopher, and critic of culture, who became one of the most influential of all modern thinkers. His attempts to unmask the motives that underlie traditional Western religion, morality, and philosophy deeply affected generations of theologians, philosophers, psychologists, poets, novelists, and playwrights. He thought through the consequences of the triumph of the Enlightenment’s secularism, expressed in his observation that “God is dead,” in a way that determined the agenda for many of Europe’s most-celebrated intellectuals after his death. Although he was an ardent foe of nationalism, anti-Semitism, and power politics, his name was later invoked by fascists to advance the very things he loathed.more information.

     Life is a long process. It changes over time. Life goes on with time, which we know as the time cycle. The belief that man has evolved since ancient times and has lived this way since then has been very prevalent. Maybe when did humans originate? Which could not be said for sure. It is said that man gradually developed himself and today stands in modern times. This time is known as Mind Power, Age of Knowledge. Man has been progressing slowly in his life in this way. What is left behind is known as history. A lot of literature has been created in the past. The use of which future people learn from it and try to make their life better. And the mistakes that have been made in the past should not be made and what should be thought of as a remedy in the future now comes from the old literature. So here are the arguments of both T.S. Eliot and Nietzsche. Does both speak of progressivism and regressivism.There is a difference between the two. So we will discuss about that.

     Nietzsche's was a good philosopher in his time. He has given many different experiments on philosophy. And a lot has been written in literature too. They were thinking from a completely different point of view. He was saying that one should identify oneself. In times of contemporary crisis, one should bring out one's faith and self-respect. That is the reason for our reconciliation. He said that one should believe in self-understanding and dig deep within oneself to solve the problem of contemporary crisis. He said that we should keep moving forward and face the problems along the way. We do not need to look back in the past. No need to look into historical mythology. The solution to everything can be brought by simply isolating oneself and awakening the self-knowledge within oneself. He talked about self-identification. That's when any man can become a Superman. As we know, there are a lot of people in the society. He is considered a normal human being in the crowd. But he will need a lot of skills and knowledge when it comes to becoming Superman. For this, one has to go in solitude and recognize the power within oneself and attain enlightenment. He did not believe in religion and was told to have faith in himself.

     In opposition to this, Eliot states that everyone should know the literature of history and myth. He has included many religions and many languages ​​in his poetry. He has also included mythology and modern literature. So that his literature has become world literature. "In times of contemporary crisis, thoughts from the past come to us," he said. So we can live a progressive life in the future using poetry, legends, mythological elements. To make the future better, we have to walk past the experiences of the past. Eliot's gives a concept of how mistakes made in the past, or those that have fallen a little in the past, can be made better in the future. Compromise can be found through thinking. Mythical historical religious thinking can find a solution to future problems.

     So we can conclude that it is also right that problems of contemporary crisis' solution is in faith and self but, the level of faith and understanding of self must be necessary. It comes from reading of mytho-historical and religious thought. Eliot achived that unversality of thought.

2)Prior to the speech, Gustaf Hellström of the Swedish Academy made these remarks:

Who is Gustaf Hellstron?

     Gustaf Hellström, (born Aug. 28, 1882, Kristianstad, Swed.—died Feb. 27, 1953, Stockholm), Swedish realist novelist, journalist, and literary critic.More information.

➡️ what are your views regarding these comments? Is it true that giving free vent to the repressed 'primitive instinct' lead us to happy and satisfied life? or do you agree with Eliot's view that 'salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition'?

     In my opinion Freud's ideas of ancient instincts are more appropriate than those of T. S. Eliot.  Freud states that the biggest reason is the change in modern culture. He says that we should liberate primitiveness.  And should live our lives freely.  Living life freely is the real joy of living life.  Life should not be lived in a stereotype, it should be lived in a different way.  The word emancipation is associated with religion and culture.  So there are some limitations and policy rules.  People of every religion, religion gurus give certain types of policies to live life.  Modern man, on the other hand, has discomfort and discomfort.Some religions say that strict adherence to rules and regulations is the key to salvation.  And in front of it Eliot  talks about the preservation of cultural tradition.  It shows that old traditions are satisfactory in human life.  He can do anything to satisfy his needs.  Man is an animal with hunger and lust.  Man can satisfy his hunger in any way.

     The salvation means the experience of happiness and the end of sorrow.  Every man wants to be happy in his life.  He is living his life with some kind of liberation.  Which is illustrated by Freud.  Man should live his life freely in which he emphasizes on individuality.  But in order to live in a society, a person must also maintain a personal balance.

     Eliot, on the other hand, says that man's salvation lies in his cultural preservation. He says that we should believe in the culture we are in and follow it.  Which will help us to live life and remove the chaos that comes in our life. Eliot says that one should preserve and preserve one's culture.  Because in the opposite times our culture saves us.  It is our culture that makes our mark.  I am Indian, I belong to this religion.  Which have different cultures of different countries.  That person can be identified from his culture.  That's what T.S.Eliot says.  Culture must be preserved and followed.  Even in India many festivals are celebrated which are subject to culture.

3) Write about allusions to the Indian thoughts in 'The Waste Land'. (Where, How and Why are the Indian thoughts referred?)

     Indian references are used in TS Eliot's The Waste Land poem.  In which Indian contexts are indirectly described. Some of them are as follows.

1) The Thunder:

In Upanishad the Prajapati spoke the message of salvation through thunder which called “Akashvani”. Here Eliot also give reference to Thunder to convey that now the solution of all problems will be given by Thunder, that is the reason he gave name to his 5th part of poem “What the Thunder Said”.

"Rock and no water and the sandy road

The road winding above among the mountains"

 Climbing a painful mountain pass through pain and agony and after that you reach destination the feeling of Air is Shantih.

2) The Fire sermon:

     The fire and sermon is name of sermon given by Buddha. Gayasisa is the place where buddha preaches the fire sermon about achieving liberation from suffering through detachment from the five senses and mind, by that Eliot also wants to convey a message tp stay detached from all body and sense's desire.

3)Holy river Ganga

"Ganga was sunken, and the limp lives, waited for rain, while the black clouds, Gathered far distant, over Himavant....."

     The river Ganga is known as the holy river in India. It is known for its purity.  There is also a belief associated with the river Ganga that bathing in it washes away the sins of man. So T. S. Eliot's  mentions this holy river in his poem. He says that many sins have increased in western countries.  Religion perishes.  So like this river Ganga it needs it to sanctify it all.

4) Three Da's:

  ➡️Datta

 ➡️ Damyata

 ➡️ Dayadhvam

     This idea is taken from the Eliot Upanishad.  Is taken from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.  These three are used differently.  Which is connected with the mythology Brahmaji.  In which he talks about how his three sons walk the path of peace.  There is a belief that such words can be heard from the sound of thunder in the cloud.  It has different meanings. It is useful in life.  Every man's life becomes better if he follows this.Dattta means the giver (Almighty God), Damyata means self control and Dayadhvam means sympathise. Eliot puts great force in these three Da's that we should follow to atains spirituality.

5) Shantih Mantra:

     Every man needs peace in life. So life is surrounded by satires. In which man cannot get peace all the time. Peace mantra is mentioned in Indian culture. The mantra is as follows.

      At the end of the poem in T. S. Eliot's The Waste land poem he uses the words Santi Santi Santi.  This means that the ultimate goal of what a person does in life is to find peace.  As far as the stages are shown in the poem, it all ends peacefully. T.S. Eliot probably wants to say that.  The reality that puts an end to sorrow by gaining knowledge and experiences peace through happiness is called peace.  In which following Da Da Da taken from  Eliot Upanishad is the only way to get peace in life at last.  Thus T. S. Eliot ends his poem in a happy way.