Topic: T.S Eliot’s use of Symbolism in “ Waste Land”

Paper-10-The Modernist Literature.

Bhumi Vajani M.A-2 Sem-3 Roll No:04 Year:2013 Submitted To: Dr.Dilip Barad. Dept of English, M. K. Bhavnagar University.

Introduction

Symbolism is a 19th Century literary and artistic movement that sought to evoke,

rather then describe, idea or feeling through the use of Symbolic image.

Symbols in Waste Land

Symbols

Religious

City

Human Characters

River

Water

Buddhism

Season

Thunder

Animal World

Landscape

Religious

Religious references

City

“A crowd flowed over London

Bridge, so many, I had not thought

death had undone so many”

“Fal l ing towers, Jerusalem Athens Alexandria

viena London unreal .”

Human Characters

Males and females of the Waste Land have no

virtues. They are living but seems dead. King Fisher, Tiresias, girls

singing in boat, prostitutes are some such

human character.

RIVER

WaterJesus christ

Water

Traditional

meanings

Water cleanses

Water provid

es solace

Water brings relief

BuddhismThe

Fire

Sermon

Sermon

Buddha

Season

“I read much of the night and go south in

the winter”

Summer refers to joys

Winter refers to grimness & death.

Thunder

Animal World

“A rat crept softly through the vegetation Dragging it’s slimy belly

on the bank.”

Landscape

Landscap

e

River Bank

Unreal

City

Mountai

n