On The Way To Poetical Dwelling

Living in the late 19 th and the early 20 th century when the western world has witnessed tremendous revolutions and social changes,T.S.Eliot has a deep insight of the western social chaos in which men are alienated and homeless.His famous long poem,The Waste Land,is a retrospection of that chaotic society.As one of Eliot's most remarkable work,the poem,deviated from traditional poetry form and structure,is regarded as a monument of modernist poetry.It consists of five sections—“The Burial of the Dead”,“A Game of Chess”,“The Fire Sermon”,“Death by Water”,and “What the Thunder Said”— which are ingeniously constructed in a montage style,giving the obscure expression of the poet's critics on the modern western society.This thesis,theoretically based on Heidegger's philosophy on Existentialism,is an exploration to Eliot's idea towards modern men's living condition.The main contents of this thesis contain 5 parts,with the first part an introduction,the three middle parts a close textual analysis,and the final part a conclusion.In the introduction part,the author gives a brief introduction to T.S.Eliot and The Waste Land,a literature review to The Waste Land,a theoretical framework of Heideggerian Philosophy,which are supposed to provide some background information for readers.In the middle part,by a systematical study of the text,the author provides evidences for his existentialist interpretation of the poem.The natural infertility,the social predicaments and the spiritual alienation of modern men in the chapter one can be understood as what Heidegger thinks of unpoetical dwelling;chapter two contends that the poet's constant cry of thinking which penetrates the whole poem can be understood as a way of returning poetical dwelling;chapter three holds that the recurrence of the defaulted divinities and the men who followed their guidance conform with how Heidegger believes to be poetical dwelling.The final part concludes that Eliot's philosophical thoughts in the poem that conformably agree with Heideggerian existentialist thoughts has not only added to the poem its critical profundity,but also its inspirational significance to the modern society,which functions as a guidance for modern men to seek their meaning of existence and to achieve their poetical dwelling.