An Ecological Reading Of The Waste Land

T. S. Eliot's representative poem The Waste Land caused a grand stir in the critical circle after its birth. Many hailed its portrayal of universal despair. F. L. Lucas detested the poem when it was published and Charles Powell considered it to be"so much waste paper". H. P. Lovecraft, who despised Eliot, called the poem"a practically meaningless collection of phrases, learned allusions, quotations, slang, and scraps in general". I. A. Richards influentially praised him for Eliot's describing the shared post-war"sense of desolation, of uncertainty, of futility, of the groundlessness of aspirations, of the vanity of endeavor, and a thirst for life-giving water which seems suddenly to have failed."Edmund Wilson argued that the poem has an effectively cohesive structure of symbols. As a matter of fact, the poem is serious and apocalyptic rather than"relief of a personal and wholly insignificant grouse against life…just a piece of rhythmical grumbling", as Eliot himself declared.In The Waste Land the nature depicted is lifeless, while man is exhausted and weary. In contrast with the romantic poetry that eulogizes the charm of nature, T. S. Eliot in his peculiar way ruthlessly unveils the horrible reality that nature has been exploited and plundered by modern man who was heartless and spiritless. The poet endeavors to awaken modern man to face the increasingly deteriorating conflicts between man and nature, and places emphasis on the crisis between man's spirit and body. He gives weight to such disharmonies and conflicts in the poem in order to evoke man to reconsider the relationship between man and nature, and re-identify the man's position and responsibility in the whole ecological community. His sharp pen goes with deep worry and sympathy for the devastated nature and the"disabled"man, which discloses the poet's sense of social responsibility and his yearning for"poetic dwelling".Through the lens of ecocriticism, this thesis will dig out the poet's ecological wisdom and analyze the creativity of the poem which ironically depicts a dreadful future world where the land is deserted and barren and the citizens are corrupted. In Eliot's eyes, man is spiritually sterile and morally dejected with loveless relationship between man and woman. To some extent, T. S. Eliot is a prophet who perceives this endangered world by sounding alarm bell against the modern man who pays no heed to ecological crises and environmental problems. In The Waste Land T. S. Eliot with keen perception and profound sense of time foresees the trouble that has confronted and been confronting his time and the future. The lines in this poem disclose the valuable ecological wisdom and the poet's sense of responsibility.The first part of the thesis is a concise introduction to ecological criticism. The second part is a detailed analysis and description of the ecological conflicts and crises in The Waste Land including the conflict between man and nature, the disharmony between man and woman and so on. The third part unearths the underlying ecological wisdom and points out the possible ecological salvation, indicating"poetic dwelling"and cultural diversity designed by the poet in The Waste Land.