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The Waste Land Poem Analysis

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Recommended: Culture the 1920s in america

Mad Men and The Waste Land depict two modernist themes: decay and apathy – the depiction of these two themes are different in each work. The Waste Land is a post-WWI poem that depicts a pessimistic approach on how people ought to live – focuses on European culture. Mad Men is a TV show that explores American culture and takes place during the beginning of the Vietnam War. After thorough scrutiny of the two works, it appears that war is the major cause of the challenging and onerous nature of the modernist period for many people. In The Waste Land, a common English idiom (signifying the closing of a pub) “Hurry up please, it’s time!” is used to show men drowning their sorrows in alcoholic beverages (Eliot, 35). Similarly, the second section of The Waste Land, “A Game of Chess” depicts ennui and decay; showing men of that generation seeking solace in alcohol due to the difficulty of modern life. In Mad Men, Donald Draper and Freddy Rumsen …show more content…

The office then starts to melt, signifying Draper’s weakness and surrender (Vermeulen & Rustad, 342). Subsequently, he starts to fall past buildings showing images of marriage, women, families, and work – the women appear lustful due to their provocative clothing. The surreal images make the audience question Draper’s character and his submission to women. In The Waste Land, the poem attempts to make modern life transparent despite the existence of chaos and fragmentation people face. In an implicit manner, this work delineates the chaotic and fragmented form of society comprising of multiple religions (Alison, 160). In addition to this, The Waste Land also shows several characters experiencing extreme stress and anxiety. “Speak to me…what are you think of? What thinking? What? I never know what you are thinking” (Eliot, 37). Succinctly, The Waste Land is a modern poem that explores human psyche and culture by focusing on how language

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'Flames and Dangling Wire ' just like 'Meatworks ' portrays Earth as a kind of hell, where humans have destroyed what good parts there are about nature. "There is fog over the hot sun" emphasises the waste of humans and humanity that wastes not only nature but themselves. The hot sun would make the dump smell terrible, but they are still inside the car at this point. "A water bird lifts above this swamp as a turtle moves on the Galapagos shores" is a strong simile; a direct comparison to a prominent issue. However, nature will prevail and go above humanity, even if humans treat the earth like an experiment or their playground.

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The poem, Useless Boys,is one that portrays a feeling of indignation, rebellion and finally, understanding by two boys who grew up with bitter views of their fathers’ onerous jobs. The narrator believes that the only reason his father stays at his job is for the money. In his naivety the son does not realize that at times living selfishly is the way things have to be. Sometimes commitments are made in a self-sacrificial and cowardly manner. No matter how “wrecking” his father’s career, he stays in order to provide for his family.

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The essay will consider the poem 'Practising' by the poet Mary Howe. It will explore how this poem generates its meaning and focus by analysing its techniques, metaphorical construct and its treatment of memory. The poem can primarily be seen to be a poem of missed opportunity. In this way is comes to form, alongside other poems of Howe's a study about a certain kind of loss and the recuperative efforts of memory, alongside the certainty of the failure of this recuperation. The paper will begin by giving a context to the poem with regard to Howe's life and work and will then proceed to analyse it directly, drawing attention to how it can be seen to fulfil this thesis about its content and meaning.

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Wasteland is a documentary by Lucy Walker that depicts the lives of selected garbage pickers in Jardim Gramacho – a massive dumpsite found in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. The film is about Vik Muniz’s 2-year journey back to his home country seeking to give back to an impoverished community through making images out of an unusual material – trash. The film featured 7 garbage pickers from the landfill, and each has a story that brought them to their current places. One unique thing about the whole creative process is that the pickers themselves became part of it. Vik imagined that as they work on their own and each other’s images, the pickers will not only show themselves to a broader world that is for now comfortably oblivious of their existence, but also see themselves differently (Fuchs, 2010).

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In society, people should be ethically responsible with helping people. People act ethically responsible when one is in need of assistance because they let their sympathetic feelings of compassion take over their intentions. Ethical responsibility is a duty or obligation to ensure the individual’s well-being through specific commitments; such as saving someone from a certain tragedy. One piece of evidence from the text that demonstrates the sudden acts of ethical responsibility is “Can the Law Make Us Be Decent” by Jay Sterling Silver. Though many may argue that Silver’s argument is invalid, most will agree that his argument is in fact agreeable.

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In the beginning of The Great Divorce (Lewis, 1973), the narrator finds himself in a desolate place: a never-ending city of gray buildings and deserted houses. While this description appeals our visualization of how hell, represented by the city, might appear, Lewis (1973) also uses the landscape to paint an emotional understanding hell. As stated by one of the narrator’s acquaintances, “the trouble is, they [the citizens] have no Needs” (Lewis, 1973,

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The Valley of Ashes describes the hopelessness and poverty that many faced throughout the decade of the 20s. It is described as “a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat…where ashes take the forms of houses… of men who move dimly… already crumbling through the powdery air.” The description shows heavy contrast from the mansions

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Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.

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This location shows how the aspiration has been perverted into something terribly dark and sinister. This is the desire of wealth at any price and also the ideal that cash will cause you to happy. “This is a depression of ashes- a fantastic farm wherever ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke…” (Pg. 26). this quote shows the results of the fashionable materialistic society of new york.

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On the chance that one is born in to a world of godless gloom, without religion and no path to salvation, a bleak and heavy hopelessness is bound to be engrained in the way of the land. T.S. Eliot paints a picture of a woeful world of despair where the “hollow men” live solely with religious reverie and of salvation in slumber. By joining literary methods of imagery, tone, and diction in his poem, “The Hollow Men,” the hopelessness is visible all over the whole poem, and is established as the poem’s theme with the utilization of the previously mentioned literary techniques. First, T.S. Eliot employs the poetic instrument of imagery in “The Hollow Men,” which performs the purpose of conjuring the sense of hopelessness to the audience to express the hopelessness of the world. The imagery presented paints a prospect of perishing and purification.

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