Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN: 0974-0066

A DEEP REFLECTION OF DISORDER AND DECAY IN “THE WASTE

LAND”

Dr. Purnima Bhardwaj

Assistant professor (English) in Govt. P. G. College, Bisalpur Pilibhit U.P.
Dilkesh Kumar
Research Scholer (English), C. C. S. University Meerut U.P.

ABSTRACT-
The term ‘The Waste Land' is a pivotal and grievous abstract idea of the modern era which holds much
structural complexity, obscurity and despairing tone to reflect the embody many of the cultural and intellectual
issues of the present age. A well known literary personality of 20th century , T.S Eliot published “The Waste
Land ” in 1922 after The Great War. The postwar disillusionment of 1920s led many literary figures to voice
out the predicament and moral dilemma that modern life faces. T.S Eliot was one of the eminent figures who
was able to depict the crisis time and connect then existing panorama with the modern age . To quote Harold
Bloom, The waste land can be read as “a testament to the disillusionment of a generation, an exposition of
the manifest despair and spiritual bankruptcy of the years after world war I”. Eliot is a stern realist acutely
conscious of manifold problems as well as a visionary who looks at life beyond the limits of time and space. A
vivid of the uncertain world and the insincere manner of the mind is portrayed carefully in The Waste Land ,
which refers to the spiritual and intellectual death of the modern world which is in the verge of decay. The
poem displays the disillusionment, hopelessness and cynicism of modern life and the world where tension,
anxiety, depression, unrest above all an extreme decay of morality . The purpose of this paper is to highlight the
social, cultural and moral decay of modern civilization due to the commercialization of life where everything is
for sale. Exposing a picture of mundane waste land that symbolically suggest the spiritual death of modern men
,and is expedition of “human failure and of perennial quest for salvation ”.
Keywords- Commercialization, futility, predicament, spiritual death, moral decay, verge, mundane,
disillusionment .

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INTRODUCTION - Human Civilization has gone through many stages of drastic changes to be in the present
form. Some were productive, while others were catastrophic. But still, humans as a species survived and
flourished on the surface of the earth. But the story doesn’t end here. In this process of change, there are many
hurdles to be crossed. One pandemic of recent origin is COVID- 19, which has caused the whole world into a
standstill and created many cracks in many sectors of society. As we see that there are some unseen forces in
the world in which some are man made and some are natural. But the journey of life is not easy to survive.
Especially when man is quite materialistic and life will be totally mundane. There is a struggle since ages
between man and nature and some unseen forces which made human life more complicated.
About hundred years ago, such arduous time came in the world, which the world faced as the most
catastrophic and destructive world war l . It proved to be such a murderous atomic bomb for human civilization
which shook the foundation of the contemporary and upcoming human life. It, erupted like a capsule in the form
of war, which pushed the world into the pandemonium of the infinite. Contemplating the fragmentation of life
prevalent in every stratum of the contemporary society, T.S. Eliothas presented such a wonderful collection in
the form of “ The Waste Land ” , which not only reflects the chaos of that time but also attacks the hollowness
of the modern world. Eliot interprets this theory of the mundane activities of modern men in the second part of
the poem:
“ I think we are in rats’ alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.” (L.115)
Before starting my paper I would like to throw some light on that personality who changed the world’s
scenario and provide a new perception to all literary scholars, academicians, philosophers and
transcendentalists. That brilliant personality was Thomas Stearns Eliot. He was a British essayist, publisher,
playwright , and a social critic. He was also one of the most well known twentieth century poets like James
Joyce, Ezra Pound and many more. He was born on 26 September 1888 Missouri. He was born in United States
but moved to England in 1914 when he was 25 , later he started to live there. He got British Citizenship in 1927
at the age of 39 , renouncing his American citizenship.
Eliot (1888-1965), a leading light of the modern English verse; was a peerless poet, dramatist, critic and
philosopher who contributed immensely for the glorification of the self and the society: crossing the
geographical and national boundaries of the globe. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ (1922) was published before
hundred years on the theme of decay, corruption and fragmentation of the culture and civilization; regret,

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individual-disorganization; and awareness to the truth of life and way to the bliss is threadbarely relevant for
now-a-daystoo. Literature is the mirror, reflection and reality of society which expresses powerful personal and
impersonal feelings and thoughts of subjective and universal appeal. A writer , the most sensitive part of the
society, is successful in the assertion of the veins of humanity, may express in the literary forms of poetry,
drama and prose in a variety of styles; and Eliot is a peerless prolific writer of the twentieth century. His
outstanding employments of the far-fetched imagery , symbols, and myths have differentiated the writings of
the author, who has been striving by his poems for the purification of the pollution in humanity in which striking
has been his contribution in alarming from current and upcoming decay of the culture and civilization among
the people of the world , as F. R. Leavis has remarked “ Vision of desolation and spiritual drought. ”
The world has been facilitated massively and unceasingly from the past-hundred years, but yet there is
no change in the conditions felt by Eliot before one century. Avariciousness of the modern age has been
replacing the existentialism; day by day increasing the inhumanity under the cloud of mirage of scenario.
Individual-disharmony, family-breakdown, social-disorganization on the earth are common while was planned
for mirth and rapture forever. Corruption stirred the notions of the poet, who reveals his restlessness for mending
the buildings of humanity, and tries to make it well-furnished by the ornaments of the virtues: self-control,
charity and contentment .
‘The Waste Land’ is one of the most viable, relevant and astrological texts of the world. It considered
as a fundamental modernist text, which describes the modern world, or what the narrator terms as ‘the immense
panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history’ The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot is one such
poem that depicts the consequences of this pandemic long ago. The impact of the First World War and its after-
effects must give the poet an impulse to compose this poem. Many of the section of The Waste Land was
achieved in the search of finding apt symbols for an experience that cannot be told. These symbols were later
deciphered with the passage of time. Thus, The Waste Land is regarded as an important social document. The
poem is also studied a self-expression of an age of emotional sterility and is haunted by fear. His presentation
of the ‘Unreal City’ is very powerful, showing the sense of spiritual emptiness which leads to fear and hysteria.
A critic observes that formally the poem has been described as ‘ a music of ideas ’ and ‘ a poetic cryptogram
’. It contains five sections and 434 lines in all, which deals with the theme of war, trauma, futility, unproductivity
of ideas , moral and spiritual decay, and death after world war l. Conviction: responsible for abstaining from
unethical practices; has been replacing by pompous life style of gorgeousness that has been drowning the

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concept of self-reliance, moral and intellectual independence, and the people have been forming their standard
on the ground of the public-opinionsconsequently, we see an alienation and anxiety, a discontent and
disappointment into the self of an individual. We celebrate naturally the material progress of the world but
cannot ignore the cultural: social, educational, artistic and enlightening lags which are waning, and erasing the
innocent and pious relations of humanity all over the globe, as I. A. Richards observed it as “ The plight of
the whole generation. ” (punjabnetwork) Unpleasantness around the world caused dissatisfaction in the mind
of the poet who expressed through the writings like The Waste Land, divided into five sections: The Burial of
the Dead, A Game of Chess, The Fire Sermon, Death by Water and What the Thunder Said.
On the one hand, majority of us have our accommodation, vehicle, education, job and other necessary
facilities to avail a happy and prosperous life; but on the other hand, bond among the relations with an individual
is not up to the mark, and even mutual-understanding of an individual within self is disordered which leads to
an unsatisfactory life on the earth. The urgency was felt by Eliot to check the degeneration through the present
poem, a miniature epic poem before hundred years. Eliot warns:
“HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME
HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME”.
Hurry up please; it’s time to check over all types of corruptions, or the wrong ways of life and it is the
final message of the mentioned couplet which has a great concern regarding its symbolical interpretation among
the scholars of the world. The poet felt an urgency of control over all the disorders and shortcomings of the life
style of the people of the modern age whose spirits have been diminishing day by day due to lust of the senses
and the body; engulfing into a complete delusion, the people of the modern age suffer endlessly in search of
joy. It is basically a decline of all the old certainties that had previously held western society together.
Now, after having passed hundred years: it’s time of rethinking and reworking on the same, the news of
everyday presents the scene of the current era, and needs an urgent requirement to control over the deadly sins
of the modernity: lust, anger, greed, attachment, and envy. Eliot was a distinguished prolific writer and great
philosopher of the twentieth century world of literature who tried to enlighten the humanity for the holy cause
of the redemption of the lives of the whole, crossing the boundaries of the East and the West: Sanskrit and
English.
The Burial Of The Dead is a prologue to ‘The Waste land’ which indicates that the modern people are
the dead buried under the thoughts of the materialistic and sexual-life, without a deep sense of conviction. In

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the present section, the ‘dead’ are symbolically indicated to those who are spiritually dead, and in the ultimate
analysis, the dead are materialists. The materialism denies the independent existence of the soul. The
materialism of the modern age has restricted the people and they are unable to do seriously for the enlightenment
of the self. Final goal of the modern man has become earning and spending, and there is no room for devotion.
As the narrator, Tiresias sees the artificiality of the people of ‘ Unreal City’ of London: the modern man has
lost his blood, and is running after unreal and material in which no one can find the eternal happiness, which is
the Bliss. The people are living their lives on the public opinion, far from the truth and originality, ignoring the
voice of the self. Like a blind and deaf, man tries to be happy on the material-possession , but fails as not being
real. The poet explicates:
“ Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many
, I had not thought death had undone so many. ” The person is uneasy because the poet consciously, has
created inconspicuousness from the point of view of the art of the metrical composition. Eliot has overloaded
the poem with images, myths, symbols and references. As we find in a myth: “ April is the cruellest month
.”( L.1) April is a symbol of warmth love and joy but here Eliot has used it as a symbol of cruelty: as the people
are careless of themselves: moral degeneration and spiritual decay. The hollowness of the modern age Eliot
interprets very symbolically in the section:
“ A heap of broken images, where the sun beats , and the dead tree gives no shelter, cricket no relief.
”(L.23)
A Game Of Chess is the movement of the world famous small epic poem, The Waste Land , deals with
the themes of barrenness, regret, decay and fragmentation of the culture and civilization. As we find He
describes “ Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?” (L.126) .The present section begins with
the description of a private room of a phobic lady of modernity. She is completely after materialism, who has
almost zero scope for spiritualism as described in the current section. The problem of anxiety emerges from
many causes and phobic temper is one of them. Pompous-life of social-display is one of the reasons of the great
and widespread problem of the modern age. Anxiety, what was felt by Eliot long before hundred years, in the
same or even more than that now-a-days, too. Nowadays as we find out our generation, and youths are engage
with the excessive use of social media. They are indulging in the futility of mundane activities, having
Snapshots, making reels, whether they are professional or unprofessional. They have a lot of interest in posting
their photos on social media and indulged in likes and dislikes, They are virtually connected rather than

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internally.
A glimpse of life style of the twentieth century people is shown by Eliot where four characters: Lil, Bill,
Lou and May are present , and their conversation throw light on the suffering and guilt of the modern people.
Almost all the characters are symbolical , and in their conversation, May advises Lil that she should maintain
herself because her husband is about to come on leave for her. Her physical charm has destroyed under impact
of the materialistic thought and immoral activities. She has taken pills which have destroyed her physical charm
and beauty. Now she is highly frustrated, and wants improvement. A remarkable comment made by May on
her:
“ What you get married for if you don’t want children?” (L.164)demonstrates the passion of the
modern people, who are busy in the mundane activities. There is no thought of spiritualism hunted to the
mentality of the modern man. The materialistic thoughts have changed the point of view of life of the modern
people, who are busy in searching meaning in the absurd. Source of creation, regeneration, and sex merely have
become almost the means of entertainment merely. It is not now for the holy purpose of renaissance of
continuation of the globe. It is very digressing, awful and alarming in the vision of the writer. Bitter reality of
the modern age has been displayed by the religious poet.
The Fire Sermon, expresses the powerful thought of a great thinker, philosopher and poet who thinks
that there is decay and fragmentation of the western culture and civilization. The last subsection of the
movement has the glance of Tiresias where the mythical character of Ovid’s ‘Metamorphosis’ laments on the
decay of modern civilization. Eliot reveals his sense of despair on the moral and spiritual degeneration of the
people of the contemporary society. He accepts that people of the modern age completely after materialism and
have lack of conscience. The people have forgotten their religion, or blood, and have become tough-minded.
The poet discloses his thoughts of gloominess on the sexual corruption of the age . He explicates the nude
picture of the contemporary society in these words: “ White bodies naked on the low damp ground And bones
cast in a little low dry garret.”( L.194)
The story also indicates symbolically the sexual-corruption of the modern generation. The poet asserts:
“ Twit twit twit Jug Jug Jug Jug jug jug So rudely forc’d.” (L.205)
Songs of the Three Thames Daughters reflects the corruption of the age. For all of them are made the
victim of the same. To involve in such type of immortality has become a means of fashion and entertainment.
Majority of people are burning under the fire of the covetousness which has been blinding them from realization

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of the truth of life.
Death By Water runs about the central character Phlebas who lost his life under the whirl of his greed
of return, “ And the profit and loss”. Addressing both the Gentle and the Jew, Eliot tries to make understand all
the people the reality of life and the result of lust. The writer alarms us through this section of the poem from
death under lust of money. Everyone is equal without distinction of religion for the penalties of the greed in life
of which Eliot presents Phlebas as an example before us : he becomes blind due to his lust of money and ignores
the alarms of the gulls, “ Forgot the cry of gulls.” Who consequently dies in the sea under a whirl of the storms.
What The Thunder Said, the last and concluding part of the poem. The poet is extremely shocked to
observe the moral degeneration and spiritual decay of the modern generation. Eliot has expressed his feelings
and thoughts on the same in the present section. It deals with barrenness, decay, death, emptiness of society,
despair and regret, nostalgia and failure of the modern civilization. Eliot begins the section with an indirect
reference to the arrest and the crucifixion scene of Christ, and is very much depressed that now Christ and his
teachings are dead in the waste land . The Christians who had been spiritually alive in the past , arenow died
but a little faith in God and Christianity. In this part the poet describes the dying picture of the modern
generation. “ He who was living is now dead we were living are now dying ” (L. 329)
CONCLUSION- Eliot’s contribution is massive for the veneration of the self and the society, and The Waste
Land , though has spent its hundred years in the world; but the theme of the poem : decay, regret, individual-
disorganization, corruption, fragmentation of culture and civilization, and awareness to the truth of life and way
to bliss is thread barely ,relevant today, too. As we find “ Who are those hooded hordes swarming, over endless
plains , stumbling in cracked earth .”(L. 370) The writer is successful in the assertion through outstanding
employment of the farfetched imagery, symbols and myths which has differentiated him, whose poem has been
striving for the decontamination of the contamination in humanity .
In The Waste Land, Eliot unfolds the ugly picture of the contemporary way of life where almost
everyone is running after tooling, receiving something but unsatisfactory, and finds failure. Corruption stirred
the notions of the poet , who reveals his restlessness for mending the buildings of humanity, and tries to make
it well furnished by the ornaments of the virtues: self -control, charity and contentment. Eliot’s The Waste Land
exhibits the sordid reality of the crisis of western civilization in the aftermath of World War l (1914-1918),
which was the most destructive war in the human history to the point.
The Waste Land is not only called the masterpiece of Eliot but also leads to the welfare of the human

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civilization. The use of variety of works created what Pericles Lewis calls “a collage of poetic fragments to
create the sense of speaking for an entire culture in crisis.” Eliot challenged the world to critically analyze the
poem in hopes of sparking a connection to a dying tradition. Lewis continues to explain how “the poet seeks to
address modern problems – the war, industrialization, abortion, urban life and at the same time to participate
in a literary tradition.” (Mohammad RokanuzzamanP.5) Exposing a picture of mundane wasteland that
symbolically suggests the spiritual death of modern men, Eliot ties the malaise with the eternal human problem
and looks east for a possible remedy.
“Burning burning burning burning, O Lord Thou pluckest me out
O Lord Thou pluckest, burning. ” The Fire Sermon (308-311) He wants to improve the mentality of
modern men with the philosophy of Lord Buddha, “Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata.” Eliot concludes the
poem with, a new beginning of life on the basis of Stephen Spender’s observation: “there is a life in
death…..”(punjabnetwork) , a hope and petition for the universal peace. “Shantih shantih shantih.” (L.434)
References:
• Ackroyd, P. T. S. Eliot, London: Abacus, 1984.
• Bradbrook, M.C.T.S.Eliot London: Longmas, Green & Co. 1963.
• Eliot, T. S. The Waste Land & Other Poems, London: Faber& Faber, 1972.
• Goyal, Shikha. A Study of T. S. Eliot as a Spokesman of his Age, (IJCRT). Volume 6, 2018
• www.ijcrt.org
• www.uijir.com
• www.Joell.in
• http://academia.edu
• Wikipedia. www.researchgate.com

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