The Waste Land: Religious Context
T.S.Elliot is renowned for his notable poem ”The Waste Land”, which depicts people’s spiritual disillusion and loss of faith battered by World War I as a real waste land. As a modernist, Elliot has harnessed imagery to the point that those plenty images managed to convey the message of death, lust, rebirth, etc. Among those varying images involved in this classic masterpiece, the image of water has been deemed thought-provoking and, thus, attached to multiple versions of illustrations. I contend that the image of water is inextricably interwoven with religious doctrines, as Elliot has repeatedly reinforced the salvation function of religions.
Religious Impact on Elliot
Those religion-oriented westerners could not bear the declaration made by Nietzsche that God has died by the end of 19th century, but what Nietzsche pointed out was merely the fact that loss of faith in God was looming ahead. Likewise, Elliot has also sensed this worsening reality and aired his view through his works, particularly “The Waste Land”. As a Christian humanist, Elliot held fast to the evil humanity by nature and emphasized that the only way to work this out was to revert to faith in God. Accordingly, the ultimate goal of his literature, in my eyes, is to lay the faith foundation for a society without any belief. The Idea of a Christian Society (published in 1939) has revealed Elliot’s ideas of establishing a Christian society where people can revert to Christian culture, regain the fear of religions, and only by this could the crisis of western civilization be eliminated; hence the need for founding a new epoch—Salvation. Elliot urged that a christianized society should be established with the view to continue the prosperity and boom of a society. In spite of the imminent prospects at least including binding forces, compulsion and discomfort, the only choice to avoid approaches to hell could be the entry to the Purgatory towards the Heaven. Thus, though admittedly water
Religious Impact on Elliot
Those religion-oriented westerners could not bear the declaration made by Nietzsche that God has died by the end of 19th century, but what Nietzsche pointed out was merely the fact that loss of faith in God was looming ahead. Likewise, Elliot has also sensed this worsening reality and aired his view through his works, particularly “The Waste Land”. As a Christian humanist, Elliot held fast to the evil humanity by nature and emphasized that the only way to work this out was to revert to faith in God. Accordingly, the ultimate goal of his literature, in my eyes, is to lay the faith foundation for a society without any belief. The Idea of a Christian Society (published in 1939) has revealed Elliot’s ideas of establishing a Christian society where people can revert to Christian culture, regain the fear of religions, and only by this could the crisis of western civilization be eliminated; hence the need for founding a new epoch—Salvation. Elliot urged that a christianized society should be established with the view to continue the prosperity and boom of a society. In spite of the imminent prospects at least including binding forces, compulsion and discomfort, the only choice to avoid approaches to hell could be the entry to the Purgatory towards the Heaven. Thus, though admittedly water