English Literature

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN �The Waste Land� , a masterpiece of T.S. Eliot, is a long and complex poem about the psychological and cultural crisis that came with the loss of moral and cultural identity after the World War I. The critics have commented on the theme of this poem in different words: �vision of desolation and spiritual drought�. (F.R. Leavis); �the plight of the whole generation�. (I.A. Richards); �a sigh for the vanished glory of the past�. (Cleanth Brooks) �there is a life in death, a life of complete inactivity, listlessness and apathy�. (Spender) There are only two master themes in the poem, which in turn, generate many sub-themes. Disillusionment             The first of these major themes is the disillusionment, which indicates in the current state of affairs of modern society, especially the post-World War I Europe in which he lived. He illustrates this pervasive sense of disillusionment in several ways, the

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN The critics have taken objection to the form of �The Waste Land�. Some are of the opinion that it is a group of separate poems loosely strung together. Others feel that it is a parade of the poet�s learning. Some critics understand that there is no story or movement in the poem. The poet keeps beating about the bush without reaching any conclusion. However, on a careful study of the poem it has been found that there is a thin and subtle thread which runs throughout the poem and gives it a sort of unity. This pertains to the evils of civilization and how civilization can be saved. Tiresias, The Unifying Link Tiresias, the protagonist, imparts a sense of unity to the poem as a whole. Through the stream of consciousness method Tiresias reflects on the past and the present, and sees a lot of resemblances between them. Film Technique-Montage Eliot follows the film technique in representing scenes from the

SHUAIB ASGHAR DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE HAROONABAD, PAKISTAN Undoubtedly, �The Waste Land� is a social document of our times, a poem which throws light on the problems, perplexities and disintegration of modern civilization. This integration is due to several reasons as mentioned below. Sexual Perversion Today, sex has been perverted from its proper function and is utilized for animal pleasure and monetary benefits. It has, therefore, become a source of degeneration and disease and a hurdle in man�s spiritual progress as well. Easy sexual relationships are found among all sections of society. Eliot cites the instances of German princess and the Lady of Situations. Further he mentions the story of Lil and the experiences of the three daughters of Thames. The typist girl has no emotional involvement in the sex act. She takes it as she would take as aspirin to get over a tension or a headache. Eliot sums up the story of the European lust through the words of St.

Link: http://allrfree.blogspot.in/search/label/The%20Rape%20of%20the%20Lock Rape of the Lock: Pope Sex Symbol: The eighteenth century is and age of psychological insight. Every writer as well as his work is being analyzed in psychological terms. Modern psychology has proved that it is the sex psychology which determined the superiority of a sex. Sex is the nucleus of human life and its

Link: http://allrfree.blogspot.in/2010/11/feminism.html [The] Feminist Criticism A free and autonomous being like all human creatures (a woman) nevertheless finds herself living in a world where man compel her to assume the status of the other. *1 Feminism is the belief in social, political and economic equality of the sexes and a movementorganised around the belief *2 that gender

A giant in the field of American literary modernism, Ernest Hemingway has long been called an important spokesman for the � lost generation�   of disillusioned, war-torn young Americans.   In   �A Farewell to Arms� , Hemingway uses his characteristic unadorned prose, clipped dialogue, and understatement to convey an essentially cynical view of the world. It is the title of the novel,   A Farewell to Arms , itself that first catches the attention.   Critics are basically in agreement that there are two straightforward interpretations of   �A Farewell to Arms� , with a pun on the word 'Arms'. The hero, Fredrick Henry, bids farewell to 'arms', as in weapons, and also, when Catherine dies, to the loving 'arms' of a human being. Hemingway consciously borrowed his title from the 16 th   century English poet George Peele.   He did refer to the Peele�s poem intentionally to pay ironic homage to the war. Since Frederic deserts the army during the retreat, and then flees