Salvation On The Wasteland-An Interpretation Of Eliot’s Religious Salvation As Is Revealed In His Poetry

T.S.Eliot is a venerable poet and critic with remarkable achievements in modern Western literary canon.His poem The Waste Land is entitled as the "milestone of modern western poetry" which portrays the tragic destines of modern men with depictions of their spiritual predicaments and disillusions of culture in their shattered existence.In the beginning of the 20th century,western modern society had a rapid development,and industrialization,mechanization and urbanization altered the traditional mode of life and unprecedented alienation appeared in the western world.The world became unfamiliar and complicated with disintegration of traditional values.Since the new value system had not been established,people were in unparalleled spiritual predicament and crisis and failed to find a way out.As a poet and cultural pioneer,Eliot discovered the turbulence and confusion of modern western people and he tried to display their spiritual wasteland and guide "the hollow men" on the "wasteland" way back "home" through his literary works.This thesis reconstructs Eliot’s ideological path in rebuilding spiritual beliefs and achieving salvation through the interpretation of his poetry.This thesis summarizes Eliot’s religious salvation into three stages including early salvation thoughts,his conversion to Orientalism and the ultimate salvation.First,this thesis displays the picture of "wasteland" of modern western people and opens the study of Eliot’s religious salvation.Next,through the interpretation of his poetry,this thesis illustrates Eliot’s early salvation thought,which is a discussion of Unitarianism,New Humanism,Doctrine of Duration,and Original Sin;and his conversion to Orientalism including Hinduism and Buddhism from which he obtains inspiration and enlightenment.At last,this thesis displays the hardship during the pursuit for belief and the rejoicing after the reunion of soul and belief,as well as his opinions on ways to achieve salvation.Through reconstructing Eliot’s religious salvation journey,it could be seen that although his journey twists and turns,Eliot seeks for an effective prescription to achieve salvation on the wasteland all the time.In his opinion,only Christianity could achieve the redemption of suffering,reconstruction of order and retrieving of meaning and complete the ultimate salvation.This thesis could enrich and develop the study on Eliot’s ideology and poetry;moreover,as a cultural pioneer,Eliot’s exploration on solving the spiritual wasteland has deep enlightenment significance for modern people.