paper :- 11 The post Colonial studies

• Name :- Hitixa Goswami

• Class :- M. A. Sam 2

• Roll No :-  9

• Enrollment No :- 2069108420200013

• Subject:- The American Literature 

• Assignment Topic :- comparison of Shakespeare 's " The Tempest" and cesaire' s  "A Tempest" 

• Email:- hitixagoswami28@gamil

• Submitted to :- S.B.GARDI, Department of English Bhavnagar University

•  World :-2009

Introduction :- Tempest was originally written in 1969 in French by Aime Cesaire and translated into English in 1985 by Richard Miller. It is written as a post colonial response to the Tempest by William Shakespeare. The story is the same:-a big storm,an angry Duke who's been usurped by his brother, all the devoted courtesans and of course the natives. This play deals mostly with the natives, Ariel and Caliban. It is Cesaire's comment on the colonization of the "New World".

                  First of all I wrote about Shakespeare's ' The Tempest'.so let's see 

" The Tempest"  by Shakespeare 

                      "  The Tempest" was written by William Shakespeare in 1610-11. It is the last play of Shakespeare. Setting is on a remote island, where Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skillful manipulation. He conjures up a storm, the eponymous tempest, to lure his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit king Alonso of Naples to the island. There, his machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio’s lowly nature, the redemption of the king, and the marriage to Alonso’s son, Ferdinand.

                    The story draws heavily on the tradition of remote, and it was influenced by tragicomedy. Character of Prospero represent art through his magic, he is representation of Shakespeare. The play portrays Prospero as a rational and character of Sycorax, her magic is frequently described as destructive and terrible.

                           The play begins with a ship with a ship-master and a boatswain trying to keep the ship from wrecking in a tempest. There is a heavy storm and boat splits in half and the people float off into the sea. At that time Prospero chatting with his daughter Miranda. He knows magic that’s why he caused the storm that sank this boat, but he did it for good reason.

                When Prospero busy with learning magic in his library at that time he used to be a duke of Milan until his brother, Antonio, betrayed him and stole the dukedom. Then stealing Prospero’s power and position he and the three-year’s old Miranda were shuttled out to the ocean in a wreck of a boat. They ended up on this island, where the ex-duke has raised his daughter for the last twelve years. 

                All the folks were responsible for stealing Prospero’s dukedom. Alonso the king who allowed the wicked Antonio to take Prospero’s dukedom. Because of this fear he lost his son, Ferdinand. Alonso, Antonio, Alonso’s brother Sebastian- set off to find Alonso’s son, the lost Prince Ferdinand. Meanwhile, the Prince is alive and conceived that his father and everyone else from the boat are dead.

             Then Ferdinand fell in love with Prospero’s daughter Miranda. Hard task given by Prospero to Ferdinand and he happily done this. When he meets second time to Miranda he knows about her name and promises to marry her. During her whole life she has ever seen third person except her father and Caliban, the son of Devil. Back with the search party looking for the Prince, everyone feels weary and assumes the guy is dead. A banquet appears in front of the shipwrecked group, set up by silent fairy spirits. Yes, this is weird, but the search party is hungry and wants to eat.

Then Prospero accepts Ferdinand, saying that he was just testing the young man with all that hard labor. Since the Prince has worked carrying heavy wood, he has permission to marry Prospero’s daughter. Other side second story going on that Caliban has been plotting with the king’s drunken butler, Stephano and jester, Trinculo to murder Prospero so they can rule the island. Caliban and Trinculo is very drunkard. Caliban pledges to be Stephano's slave and kisses his feet way more than we are comfortable with.

 

                  The drunken schemers are led off by Ariel playing music. Ariel leaves the group in a pool that smells like the lesser part of a horse to await his master's orders. The trio eventually gets out of the muck pool and sets off to murder Prospero. However, Prospero sets hounds upon them, and the would-be-murderers run off.

          However, Prospero starts some banter about how he i lost his daughter to the tempest too, commiserating with the King. Prospero changes the subject and asks if they'd like to see his cell. He pulls back the curtain covering his dwelling to reveal you guessed it two very-much-not-dead children, who are very much in love. Alonso rejoices to see his son, Ferdinand rejoices to show-off his new girl, and Miranda rejoices at seeing so many hence the line "O brave new world that has such people in it." Prospero promises to explain most of this eventually. Tonight he'll tell some of his life story and everyone will head back to Naples via ships in the morning. Prospero says he'll watch the kids get married, and then he'll retire to his dukedom in peace. He charges Ariel to make sure the ships get to Naples safely, and then frees him from the servant gig. 

' A Tempest' by Aime casaire 

                   A Tempest by Aime Cesaire was originally published in 1969 in French by Editions du Seuil in Paris. Cesaire, a recognized poet, essayist, playwright, and politician, was born in Martinique in 1913 and, until his death in 2008, had been instrumental in voicing post-colonial concerns. In the 1930s, he, along with Leopold Senghor and Leon Gontian Damas, developed the negritude movement which endeavored to question French colonial rule and restore the cultural identity of blacks in the African diaspora.

                            A Tempest is the third play in a trilogy aimed at advancing the tenets of the negritude movement. In 1985, the play was translated into English by Richard Miller and had its American premiere in 1991 at the Ubu Repertory Theater in New York after having been performed in France, the Middle East, Africa, and the West Indies.

                     A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and draws heavily on the original play—the cast of characters is, for the most part, the same, and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise. Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island, and he drums up a violent storm to drive his daughter’s ship ashore. The island, however, is somewhere in the Caribbean, Ariel is a mulatto slave rather than a sprite, and Caliban is a black slave.

A Tempest is a postcolonial revision of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and draws heavily on the original play—the cast of characters is, for the most part, the same, and the foundation of the plot follows the same basic premise. Prospero has been exiled and lives on a secluded island, and he drums up a violent storm to drive his daughter’s ship ashore. The island, however, is somewhere in the Caribbean, Ariel is a mulatto slave rather than a sprite, and Caliban is a black slave.  

 

                      A Tempest focuses on the plight of Ariel and Caliban—the never-ending quest to gain freedom from Prospero and his rule over the island. Ariel, dutiful to Prospero, follows all orders given to him and sincerely believes that Prospero will honor his promise of emancipation. Caliban, on the other hand, slights Prospero at every opportunity: upon entering the first act, Caliban greets Prospero by saying “Uhuru!”, the Swahili word for “freedom.” Prospero complains that Caliban often speaks in his native language which Prospero has forbidden.

Comparison between " The Tempest and " A Tempest "

                       The Tempest is one of William Shakespeare's final plays, written around the year 1610 and considered to represent the "culmination of his career". Centered around a deposed ruler, Prospero, the play takes place exclusively on a distant island after the ship carrying the King of Naples encounters a powerful storm and the crew is forced to abandon the vessel. We find out that this is caused by the spirit Ariel, a servant of Prospero's.

              After reassuring his daughter Miranda that no one on the ship was hurt, Prospero proceeds to inform her of how they ended up on the island, being betrayed by his brother Antonio who took his title as Duke of Milan. We then meet Caliban, a slave of Prospero's and the rightful owner of the island by his Mother Sycorax who owned it previously. Soon Ferdinand, the Kings son happens upon Miranda and the two instantly fall in love. Although this is just what Prospero expected and hoped to happen he plays the suspicious father and enslaves Ferdinand despite his daughters protest.

                     The next characters we come across are Alonso, the King of Naples and his party, including his scheming brother Sebastian, Antonio and the good hearted Gonzalo. We find Sebastian and Antonio both plotting against the king despite the dire situation they appear to be in. The next scene has the jester Trinculo and Stephano, a drunk, come across Caliban as he hides from what he takes to be an agent of Prospero's. By the end of this scene Caliban has decided to swear his loyalty to Stephano and secure his aid in killing Prospero.

                    Aime Cesaire's A Tempest is a politicized take on Shakespeare's play created during the late sixties, a time of great social change. It is really a "post-colonial response to The Tempest " and as such deals much more with the story from the point of view of Caliban and Ariel . In this version Caliban is a black slave and the spirit Ariel is represented as a mulatto slave.

                    In The Tempest there are quite a few characters that might be easily identifiable as villains but the main figure, Prospero seems to play many roles, good and bad. All of the events in the play are more or less orchestrated by him in his attempt to get justice and return to Milan. It can even be argued that he is largely at fault for his current situation by neglecting his duties as Duke and passing off responsibility to his brother. Whether Prospero is a villain or not is not so difficult to figure out in Cesaire's work as that is his purpose as a oppressive European colonist. 

                Prospero is also a good example of the role power plays in the story. He wields great magic and has the loyalty of a powerful spirit which he uses to exact his revenge and control all of the characters in the around him. Not least of all is his daughter Miranda whom he very much uses to reconcile with King Alonso by marrying her off to his son.

Miranda plays a unique role as she is really the only female character present on the island. She is also depicted as a helpless character whom was the focus of Caliban's unwanted attention thus resulting in his current situation. In this way his treatment is justified, he comes to represent "bestial desire", and Miranda establishes herself as an innocent in need of constant protection.

Conclusion :- 

                     In short, A Tempest presents colonial angle towards black identity or mulatto. The Tempest more focused on the shipwrecked, magic, revenge and happy marriage of Miranda and A Tempest more concentrate on attitude of Negro, status of their mind and relationship of master-slave. Idea of rebel, Idea of resistance shown by Aime Cesaire in the play through the character of Caliban. Caliban is a speaking subaltern and subjugated for himself, not killing Prospero.

Work sited 

Césaire, Aimé, and William Shakespeare. A Tempest: Based on Shakeskpeare’s the Tempest : Adaptation for a Black Theatre. London: Oberon, 2000. Print.

Hulme, Peter; Sherman, William H. ‘The Tempest’ and Its Travels London: Reaktion Books, 2006.

Césaire, Aimé. A Tempest : Based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Adaptation for a Black Theatre. New York :TCG Translations, 2002.

http://jlcs.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/JLCS-Vol.-1-No.-1-April-2020_Hossain-Al-Mamun.pdf

                                        Thank you… 

                      

             

                      

                     

paper :- 10 American Literature

• Name :- Hitixa Goswami

• Class :- M. A. Sam 2

• Roll No :- 9

• Enrollment No :- 2069108420200013

• Subject:- The American Literature 

• Assignment Topic :- Symbolism in" the old man and the sea "

• Email:-  hitixagoswami28@gamil

• Submitted to :- S.B.GARDI, Department of English Bhavnagar University

•  World :- 1,609

   Introduction :- The Old Man and the Sea' by Ernest Hemingway is a great novella with many philosophical ideas. He is very careful while portraying characters by writer in this novel. The novella is centered on one major character Santiago. As the title suggest Santiago is an old man. He is of 75 years old Cuban fisherman and he wants to go fishing. Hemingway has presented the character of Santiago with strong determination will power, hope and confidence, this is the plus points of him.

About the Author 

                     Ernest Hemingway is an author and journalist. He was born in 1899 and died in 1961. He was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He started his career as a writer in newspaper office. At the age of seventeen he works for an office of newspaper in Kansas City. After he comes united state and he became a reporter for American and Canadian newspapers and he was soon sent back to Europe to cover such a events as the Greek revolution. Then he joined a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army after the First World War. During the 20th century he became a group member of expatriate Americans in Paris. 

                      The Sun Also Rises in 1926 And Equally successful was A Farewell to Arms in 1929, the study of an American ambulance officer’s disillusionment in the war. Ernest Hemingway's role as a deserter. Hemingway used his experiences as a reporter during the war in Spain for his most ambitious novel, For Which the Bell Tolls in 1940. And among his later works, the most well known is the short novel, The Old Man and the Sea in 1952, this novel is famous novel of him. He explains the story of an old fisherman’s journey, his long and lonely struggle with a fish and the sea, and his victory in defeat. His full name is Ernest Hemingway and who is an American journalist. He is a novelist. He is short story writer. He is also sports. He had strong influence on 20th century fiction.

" The old man and the sea" 

                    The old man and the sea is a short novel written by American author Hemingway. It was the last major work of fiction by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. Whole novel swings between victory and defeat. It was a story about An old man's struggle , he was a skilled fisherman ; which he supposed to prove infront of society. He wants victory in his life. Throught the novel with a boy's eyes we can see the character of an old man.

       The novel's structure and plot was very good, limited characters, huge message we got with many interpretation.An old man many times dreamed about lion.  We can see theme of love, life and alienation. In novel sea symbolizes the universe and at the end sea makes the old man tragic hero. Manolin,  a great fish which was caught by an old man symbolizes the youth of Santiago. 

What is symbolism?

According to Oxford Dictionary

                

            "Symbolism means use of symbols like Object, character use of figure of color to represent abstract idea concept or quality"

                         The element of symbolism is presented in all the works of Hemingway. However, the word symbolism came to be associated with him only after the appearance of his novel “Old man and the sea”. Hemingway’s use of symbols comes to climax in this novel. As a result, the novel is reach in symbolism images and motifs that enhance both the plot and the themes.

                      Symbolism is an essential literary device used by Ernest Hemingway in his book the old man and the sea. Hemingway uses numerous forms of symbolism but a recurring contour id biblical allusion. Hemingway filled this story with biblical allusion to create a deeper meaning within the text. Knowing biblical allusion allows a reader to have wider perspective of the story.

The major symbols used by Hemingway like…. 

• The symbol of The Lions

                        Lions are the symbol  of youth, Freedom and Strength. The novella begins with the dream of Santiago whose dream of the lion on the beach. lion represent a hunter that is wild, noble and manly, the King of that particular environment. The lions are a symbol from Santiago’s childhood, he remembers seeing them on the beach in Africa when he sailed there in his youth.  The lions symbolize Santiago's lost youth as well as his pride.

                 Hemingway has presented lions. They are little cubs who symbolize youthful possibility and great thing to come Santiago often dreams lion playing on African beach. The image of them always makes Santiago happy. They have his good company just like mandolin. The appearance of lion suggests great strength, nobility, aspiration, victory and ambition.

• The symbol of sea

             The major symbol used by Hemingway in distinctive way is the wide sea. This sea is symbol of life itself. Man has to sail either it is sea or life to go through. According to Hemingway, in both the sea and in life, there are many possibilities and similarities that the eye cannot see. The first similarity between them is that, both the sea and life are full of mystery, surprise, shock and challenge. However man has to fight bravely and nobly until the end.

               Accordingly, it the man is lucky enough, and then he may discover treasure from sea. Likewise if the man is lucky then he will gain love, good family, peace and education. However, if he is unlucky than he may not find even single small fish from the greatest and wide sea.Same case with life.If the person is unfortunate then he struggle and suffer, a lot even for one time meal.

However, either it is like or sea, man has to embark journey and go through it amid all possible odes.

• Symbol of The Marlin

                     Marlin symbolized strength and durability and putting up such struggle. Marlin represents both the perseveration of man´s social status and his incessant life powers.  Santiago considered Marlin’s power equal to him and called him brother . The sharks run parallel to the fisherman in the novel who judge Santiago harshly. Marlin also represent the “MIRROR IMAGE” of Old man.

                  Marlin a magnificent and glorious fish symbolizes the mysterious world of sea which is full of surprise and challenge. Secondly, the marlin symbolizes the ideal and worthily opponent. Even Santiago find shim lucky  to match against a creature like marlin because it is his battle with marlin that brings out the best in him. Santiago realizes his strength, courage, love and respect due to marlin  Thirdly, it is only due to marlin, both Santiago and even we realize the unexpected world of sea. Santiago is shocked when he realize marlin’s size power and determination. He is pulled by marlin for a large portion.

                      A part from this, marlin is even presented as a Christian allegory. Marlin is as calm and cool as lord as Jesus was. Though it is hooked by Santiago, it is not attacked on him instead of tries to guide its followers to win him over. Moreover marlin is also described as s great source of food for other. It means it sacrifices itself so that other may live and survive. However the sheiks are in great contrast to marlin. The shoved nose shark has attacked the marlin thoughtlessly. They symbolize the destructive force of the universe. They stand for evil.

• The symbol of Manolin 

 

 

                Santiago’s young friend represents hope. Although Manolin’s father prohibits him from fishing with Santiago. Who is believed to be cursed, Manolin never abandons him emotionally. It can be argued however that as Santiago fishes without hopes. The 84 day fishless streak attests to it.  Menolin is very symbolic character  .“The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him”- symbolizes as a Christ and one of his disciple.

                      Between Manolin and Old man there is vast age differences between them its symbolizes their skill of fishing.  Manolin is the symbol of hope . Manolin would take care of the old man when he said to him "Keep warm old man.  Remember we are in September.

• The Harpoon

                      Santiago lost his harpoon as he finds a shark, symbolic of individual who lose their faith as life’s goes attack. Much like Santiago without harpoon, those without faith are defenceless. The lost harpoon is symbol of loss of power, strength, virility, pride. Santiago loses his harpoon-the first of many such losses as he continues a futile battle with sharks.

Conclusion 

                Old man and the sea is symbolism has far deeper significance. The book is representation of life as struggle against unconquerable force of nature. In this novella Hemingway symbolized person , place or thing to represent the real meaning of his writing   In every day struggle of old man there is deep meaning behind it. Hemingway is very much connected with the nature .

Work sited 

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. , 1952.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. 1st Scribner paperback Fiction ed. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. 

Hemingway ,Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952. 1955.

Brenner, Gerry, 1937-. The Old Man and the Sea : Story of a Common Man. Boston :Twayne Publishers, 1991.

Taylor, Charles. "The Old Man and the Sea: A Nietzschean Tragic Vision." Dalhousie Review 61, No. 4 (Winter 1981-82), p. 638.

                                        Thank you… 

paper :- 9 The mordenist English literature

• Name :- Hitixa Goswami

• Class :- M. A. Sam 2

• Roll No :-9

• Enrollment No :- 2069108420200013

• Subject:-The Modernist English literature 

• Assignment Topic :- critical evaluation " The west land" 

• Email:- hitixagoswami28@gamil

• Submitted to :-S.B.GARDI, Department of English Bhavnagar University

•  World :2,157

Introduction :- The west land is one of the most popular poem the 20th century. It is written by T. S. Eliot. It has been saluted as Eliot's masterpiece the supreme poewr of the poetic art in modern times. It is poem written in the epic mold. It presents for our turbulent times. he is use of complex symbols and imagery adds richness and variety to the texture of the poem. It is full with allusions to myth, ritual, religion, history-both past and present. These things make the poem itself a virtual “waste land”. We can see a wide range of socio-cultural, religious and secular experiences common to both an individual life and the collective life of western society. 

About the Author 

  

                           T. S. Eliot, The greatest modern English poet, was an American by brith and an Englishman by adoption Born at st. Louis, Missouri, U. S. A., he became a naturalized British Subject in 1927. As such he had the blending of the best of the American blood and the English intellect. He combined in himself strange and opposing characteristics. He came to possess a many sided personality. 

The west land 

T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” is by far the most representative poem of the 20th century. It exposes the very soul of the modern generation with all its horrors moral, spiritual and intellectual bankruptcy, disillusionment and waste. Eliot wrote the work not merely to understand the war but he wanted to show spiritual degradation through this poem. The west land is divided into five parts like… 

Ø The Burial of the Dead

Ø A Game of chess

Ø The fire sermon

Ø Death by water

Ø What the thunder said etc.

                       " The Waste Land" is a multilayered poem in which several things can be included to study critically, they are given 

Theme of the poem

Myth in the poem 

Title of the poem 

Symbolism in the poem

                  So, we can see many particular thing in the poem the west land by T. S. Eliot. 

Theme of the poem 

              “The Waste Land” possesses many theme and all these themes have been very well elaborated by T.S Eliot, who conveys these all themes through symbolism and of course with the help of various mythical technique, here in this poem “The Waste land”, T.S Eliot indicates his ideas so it is very much difficult to understand this poem at a first reading but an individual has to read twice or thrice then and then he/she can grasp the central idea of the poem.so we are find the major theme of the poem like. 

• Love 

• Lust

• Death

• Spiritual degradation 

• Rebirth

1] Love 

              There are some references regarding the theme love in this poem. The first part of the poem “the burial of the dead”, in this part we can see some reference to Tristan und Isolde. The second part of the poem is “The Game of chess”. In this part there is a reference to Cleopatra and to the story of Tereus and Philomela suggest that love in the poem “the waste land”. It is often destructive. The characters Tristan and Cleopatra die while Tereus rapes Philomela and even the love for the hyacinth girl leads the poet to see and know “nothing”.

                      Love is the main theme of this poem. Here in the poem many references can be noticed such as Tristan and Isodle in ‘Burial of the Dead’ and Cleopatra in a ‘Game of Chess’ and to the story of Tereus and Philomela suggests that love in the waste land is often destructive.

 2) lust

                    There is the most famous episode in the poem” the waste land”. It involves a female typist’s sexual relation with a “carbuncular” man. In this poem Eliot represents the scene as something similar to a rape. This chance sexual encounter carries with it mythological luggage the violated Philomela, the blind man Tiresias who lived for a time as a woman. There is sexuality goes throughout the poem “the waste land”. It takes the center stage as a cause of calamity in the part “the fire sermon”. Here in this poem the poet acts as a lawyer “a moment’s surrender” as a part of existence in “what the thunder said”.

                          The sexual sins of the king fisher and his soldiers laid waste his kingdom, and ancient Thebes was laid waste because its king was guilty of the sin of incest. Sexual violence has always been there. Philomela was raped and her tongue was severed so that she may not reveal the crime. Reference to Elizabeth and Leicester in the song of the daughters of the Thames shows that sex relationship in the past also has been equally futile and meaningless.

3] Death 

                           Death is the major theme of this poem as two sections of this poem ‘The Burial of the dead’ and ‘death by water’ refers or indicates to this theme. What complicates matters is that death can mean life so in other words one cans say that by dying, a being can pave the way for the new lives. Therefore the death is the central theme of this poem.

                         The poet asks his friend: “and the same way Christ, redeemed humanity and there by gave new life. The doubtful part of the poem is between life and death allusions to Dante, and especially in the limbo-like vision of the men flowing across London Bridge and through the modern city.

4] spiritual degradation 

                         T.S Eliot has expressed what he felt about his land in The Waste Land and how people gradually lost faith in God and spiritual decay is the main theme of the poem as because of it only his land is waste land. In modern society there is a decay and spiritual degeneracy whenever the sexual function is prevented. So Spiritual Degradation can be taken as the main idea of this poem.

5] Rebirth

                     We can see some images of the Christ along with the many other religious metaphors, rebirth and resurrection as central themes. The waste land lays fallow and the fisher king is powerless. The new beginning is that they needed something. Here we can take help of water, for one water can bring about that rebirth but it can also destroy. The poet turns the waste land in heaven with the climatic exchange with the skies: “Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata.” The poet’s sight is essentially of a world that is neither dying nor living. 

6] The season 

               The poem opens with an invocation of the month ‘April’, “April is the cruelest month.” The season spring is depicted as cruel is a curious choice on Eliot’s part. As a paradox it informs the rest of the poem to a great degree. The life brings also death. It brings the seasons fluctuate from one state to another. They maintain some sort of stat is not everything changes like history. In the end of Eliot’s world hangs in a perpetual limbo, waiting the dawn of a new season. We can see some aspects of seasons in the life-in-death, a life of complete inactivity, listlessness and apathy. That is why winter is welcome to them and April is the cruelest of months. It reminds them of the stirring of life and, they dislike to be roused from their death-in-life.  

7] water 

                   The waste land” lacks water and water also promises rebirth at the same time however water can bring about Death. T.S Eliot sees the card of the drowned Phoenician sailor and later titles the fourth section of this poem ‘Death By water’ when the rain finally arrives at the close of the poem it does suggest the cleansing of sin, the washing away of misdeeds and the start of a new future, however with comes thunder and therefore perhaps lightening.

Title of the poem

   T.S. Eliot has represented his reaction in the form of this poem entitled “The Waste Land”. It is a symbolic poem composed in the style of poetic esotericism, “Formally” the symbol has been described as a much of ideas and a poetic cryptogram. As such it is the poem of myth and symbols of a series of trains of thoughts whose parts look unconnected with one another.

          The title of the poem “The Waste Land” has been inspired by Miss Dessie L. Weston’s book from Ritual to Romance. It refers to a waste land described in one of the Grail Romances. The Land was ruled by the fisher King.

          He along with his knights ravished curtail maidens who were guardians of the Grail mysteries. Because of that outrage, he become impotent and fell ill, and his land become waste materialistic world as the waste land, and its ruler as the modern materialistic man. He has profaned the mysteries of life and being, namely the soul and become spiritually impotent and has become waste spiritually. Therefore, it can be said that the title of this poem “The Waste Land” is appropriate and very well chosen by Thomas Stern Eliot.

• Myth of the west 

What is a Myth?

                  “A traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events”. 

          An exaggerated or idealized conception of a person or thing: ‘the book is a scholarly study of the Churchill myth’.

A fictitious or imaginary person or thing: ‘nobody had ever heard of Simon’s mysterious friend – Anna said he was a myth’

                  There are many myths which can be observed in this poem. T.S Eliot’s The waste land is an important land mark in the history of English poetry and one of the most talked poems of the same Age. Here T.S Eliot described the mythical background in his poem. This mythical technique can be elaborated as given below.

·         The Grail Legend

·         The King Fisher

·         Myth of Tiresias

The grail Legend:

                 The Myth about this vessel was that at have acquired medicinal and miraculous properties so the result is that it became an object for purity or one kind of devotion and worship. The lance used to pierce the sides of Christ and kept with it. But a time the original Grail was mysteriously disappeared and many of the bold Knights staked their lives and them searching for this vessel. It was generally believed that the grail was sometimes could be found in the sky as the floating saucer but it could only see by those, Knights who were virginal beauty. 

Myth of Tiresias:

                   Here in this poem this myth often comes up to the end of this poem. Tiresias is represented as a bi-sexual in The Waste Land as he was blind but he has the gift of prophecy and immortality. Many stories are same like Tiresias story. According to one story this wise Theban soothsayer in his youth once saw the goddess Athena naked in a pond and goddess struck him blind but his mother was a friend of hers so she bestowed upon him. According to Eliot, Tiresias comes out as the central figure through this poem, what Tiresias sees is the substance of the whole poem. The importance of Tiresias is complex and varied but it is connected with history with the story of King Oedipus, Thebes the classical legend of a waste land.

King Fisher:

                   According to this myth King Fisher was the prince named King Fisher. IoIt was one of the regions where Grail worship had been anciently vogue, and a temple Known as Chapel Perilous, still stood there, broken and dilapidated, as a mournful memorial of what once was, but later had ceased to be. It was said that the lost Grail was hidden in this chapel. At that time the king himself had become a physical wreck, maimed and impotent, as a result. It was whispered, of a sin committed by his soldiery in outraging the chastity of a group of nuns attached to the Grail chapel..

Conclusion :- There are many themes. They are very helpful to understand the whole poem very easily. There are some important aspects remain in themes so themes can be important to study any other texts.   

Work sited

Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965. The Waste Land : and Other Poems. London :Faber and Faber, 1999.

Eliot, T S, and Frank Kermode. The Waste Land and Other Poems. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books, 1998. Print

 Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986.

Brooker, Jewel Spears, Bentley, Joseph. Reading The Waste Land: Modernism and the Limits of Interpretation. Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1990.

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