1、The Waste LandWriter and Works 何俊 华Background Introduction 赵 慧俏Outline of the Plots 沈 莹 盈Theme of the poem 卞倩Writing techniques 杜金晶About T.S.Eliot (1888-1965) Early life and educationLater life in EnglandMain WorksEarly life and education Born in St. Louis, Missouri. Educated at Smith Academy (1898-
2、1905) At Harvard(1906-1910), be a B.A. and master Studying at the Sorbonne(1910-1911) At Merton College, Oxford (1914)Married on 26 June 1915 Taking in several JobsLater life in England Becaming a British subject (1927) Second marriage (1957) Died on January 4, 1965.WorksPoetry :Prufrock (1917) The
3、Waste Land (1922) Ash Wednesday (1930) Four Quartets (1943)Dramas Murder in the Cathedral (1935)The Family Reunion (1939) The Cocktail Party (1949)The Confidential Clerk (1954)The Elder Statesman(1959) Composition History of“ The Waste Land”Background 1: post World War IWorld War I marked a turning
4、point in world history. It reduced the global influence of Europe, destroying some of its monarchies and empires and diminishing the strength of others. It enabled new nations to emerge. Shifting economic resources and cultural influences away from Europe, the war encouraged nations in other areas o
5、f the world, notably the United States, to challenge Europes international leadership.The First World War had a profound impact upon British society. In the United Kingdom, funding the war had a severe economic cost. From being the worlds largest overseas investor, it became one of its biggest debto
6、rs with interest payments forming around 40 percent of all governing spending. Inflation more than doubled between 1914 and its peak in 1920, while the value of the consumer expenditure fell by 61.2 percent. The poem revealed the post-war Europe, indicating that its like a wasteland. The society was
7、 in disorder, life was meaningless and people were wasting time, not knowing what they really wanted to pursue. Eliot saw what the western society was like, and aimed to find a way to change it. He believed that religion could help revive the traditional western civilization. The Waste Land shows th
8、e crisis and postwar western civilization of traditional values, reflecting the whole generations disillusionment and despair after the first world war.长诗写于第一次世界大战结束时期，当时的欧洲正从战争的余悸中逐渐恢复，政治、经济、社会都四分五裂，处于严重的危机之中。动荡的社会也导致了人们精神世界的虚无，精神文化的败落。这时期的人们失去了精神追求，内心空虚，犹如行尸走肉，游荡在这个世界。在艾略特看来，西方文化就像一片贫瘠的土地，没有精神寄托和方
9、向。而 “荒原 ”的意象正是这一时期欧洲或整个西方社会没落衰败的逼真写照，是西方人民精神文化贫乏落后的真实反映。价值体系的倒塌 荒原 所描述的不是一个由战争造成的荒原，不是如欧文和罗斯堡他们笔下描写的那种具有地理真实性的荒原。但是， 荒原 确实是一首十分清楚的 20世纪的诗歌，更具体说是一战后的诗歌，它记载了西方价值体系的倒塌。这种倒塌的具体体现就是：土地荒凉，没有感情的性关系，缺乏信仰，文化混沌和精神枯竭。在这个意义上，艾略特反映的是一个骚动不安世界的焦虑。而这个很容易让人联想到一战后整个西方世界的骚动不安，可见， “荒原 ”并非是虚构的不存在的世界，而是这个现实世界的反映。Eliots f
10、irst marriage was not happy at all. In a private paper written in his sixties, Eliot confessed: “I came to persuade myself that I was in love with Vivienne simply because I wanted to burn my boats and commit myself to staying in England. And she persuaded herself (also under the influence of Pound)
11、that she would save the poet by keeping him in England. To her, the marriage brought no happiness. To me, it brought the state of mind out of which came The Waste Land.“Background 2: Unhappy Marriage痛苦的婚姻这桩婚姻给艾略特带来的痛苦是众所周知的，他们婚后一直无子，不但维芬娜身体不好，艾略特的身体也是残损的，这与他 荒原 中的人物极其相似。 这样，艾略特与维芬娜的婚姻事实上就成为一种病人的婚姻，神
12、圣的繁殖仪式无法进行下去，没有新生的希望。他们的生活就是一种医院里的生活，他们两人要不是轮流生病，就是同时生病。这种病人式的婚姻对艾略特的影响是全面的，他不仅要承受昂贵的药费，更有沉重的心理负担。 Eliot, having been diagnosed with some form of nervous disorder, had been recommended rest, and applied for three months leave from the bank where he was employed; the reason stated on his staff card w
13、as “nervous breakdown“. He and his first wife travelled to the coastal resort of Margate for a period of convalescence. While there, Eliot worked on the poem. In Lausanne, Eliot produced a 19-page version of the poem. He returned from Lausanne in early January 1922. Pound then made detailed editoria
14、l comments and significant cuts to the manuscript. Eliot would later dedicate the poem to Pound. 痛苦的婚姻成就了诗人艾略特1921年底，艾略特的身体到了崩溃的边缘，他不得不接受医生的建议到瑞士洛桑疗养，正是这次疗养，艾略特完成了 荒原 的最后写作。艾略特曾经这样总结他的第一次婚姻： 对她（维芬娜）说来，这次婚姻没有带来任何幸福 对我而言，它带来了一种心态，结果写成 荒原 。 艾略特的嫂子也曾经说过：艾略特作为一个男人，被维芬娜毁了，但她却造就了一个诗人艾略特。由艾略特的个人经历和 荒原 的写作时代
15、，我们知道，那时正是一战时期，诗人的婚姻生活不美满。尽管诗歌中充满了绝望与死亡气息的画面，全诗的主旨却是死亡后的重生，绝望后的希望。诗人 表达人类若想消除荒原还须寻回丢失的信仰，寻回正常的爱情关系 ， 他将破除 荒原 的希望放在宗教之上 。Content In Part I, “The Burial of the Dead,” Eliot first depicts the stirring of life in the land with the coming of spring. However, in the contemporary waste land of western civi
16、lization, we see only a “dead land” filled with “stony rubbish”. Besides, these opening sections also convey a sense of vague dread and apprehension in several characters depicted in different emotionally sterile贫瘠的 situations. part I concludes with a grim picture of an “Unreal City” such as modern-
17、day London. It is a dreary 沉闷的 place where people lead a purely mechanical existence. There does not seem to be any way out for them from this sterile urban landscape, where materialism, total unconcern have made the city populace part of the “living dead.“ Part II is entitled: “A Game of Chess“ and
18、 presents two contrasting scenes that expose the essential emptiness and loneliness of peoples lives in big cities like London. This rich lady suffers the characteristic boredom of the modern “idle rich class.“ She seems caught in a loveless marriage with a rather cold and distant plutocratic 财阀的 hu
19、sband. The second scene of Part II is set in a pub or bar where two working women of the poorer cockney伦敦的 class in East London discuss the plight困境 of a mutual friend, Lil. Her husband, Albert, is about to come home from the war front. He has already saddled her with five kids and may now give her
20、a sixth unwanted child. The over-fecund Lil dreads the idea of having more children as her earlier pregnancies have left her physically drained out and emotionally exhausted. Thus, there is uneasiness and despair even in the life of the poor overworked Lil. Part III, “The Fire Sermon,” explores the
21、theme of sexual indulgence 放纵 and the consequent dissipation or dissatisfaction when jaded lovers burn in the fires of lust. It conjures up使人回忆起 a dreary 沉闷的 picture of the ugliness of modern cities, the mechanization of modern life 。 Eliot travels in time from Lord Buddhas fire sermon and St. Augus
22、tines “Confessions” about his heady, youthful passions, and then down to the present day. Here the poet exposes human brings and their so called noble aspirations for a better life of the spirit as being constantly negated否定的 by their own weakness that permits them to indulge in selfish pleasures an
23、d purely sensual appetites. Part IV is the shortest of the five parts. “Death by water” describes how the body of the drowned Phoenician 腓尼基 merchant sailor slowly decomposes 腐烂 after he is drowned at sea. He seems to have been concerned only with material prosperity in life - “the profit and the lo
24、ss.” At the end of his life, he has apparently achieved nothing. This brief lyric suggests ironically that water can be a destructive force as it brings death by drowning. This suggestion is extended into the next part of the poem where the absence of the life-giving force of water causes man to suf
25、fer both physical dehydration 脱水 and a spiritual drought. The final part, “ What the thunder Said,” talks of the decay衰退 and emptiness of modern life, which is utterly lacking in spirituality. It shifts locales from the sea to rocks and mountains. The narrator cries for rain, and it finally comes. T
26、he thunder that accompanies it ushers in the three-pronged dictum声明 to give, to sympathize, to control. With these commandments戒律 , benediction赐福 is possible, despite the collapse of civilization that is under way - “London bridge is falling down falling down falling down.“Theme Live die relive In t
27、he poem, the author used images of living ,death , and resurgence revealed the theme of rescue and the religious thought. It implies the spiritual crisis of the modern world ,the death and rebirth of humans spirit culture.The title The Waster Land is the main image of the long poem and contains deep
28、 meanings. It refers not only the unsteady society but also the empty of peoples spirit and the collapse of human culture.The poem was written during the period of the end of the World War I. At that time, the Europe was seriously damaged and the society was unsteady. That led people to lose the con
29、fidence and spiritual support. The western culture is like a waster land and cant provide inspiration and direction to his people any more.In the first chapter, the author said April is the cruelest month. And the April land was described as a dead land. That revealed the modern world was surrounded
30、 by inanity and decline and was walking into death. But winter was regarded as a warm season by he author and it fed little life and gave the land hope. That implies the hope of resurgence and give people confidence.In The last chapter what the thunder said, the author began to explore the way of re
31、scue. At last, the thunder said the way, that was belief in God and religion. Only people who were ready to give, had sympathy and restrained could be rescued. 荒原 与艾略特对西方社会的拯救.长诗揭示了第一次世界大战后的欧洲犹如一片荒原，社会肮脏混乱、毫无秩序可言，生活毫无意义、虚度时光，人们失去信仰、理想、追求，精神空虚，道德沦丧，人们不知道自己想要什么、该做什么。艾略特看到了西方社会这一状况，并提出要拯救西方社会。他认为一战后的欧洲
32、也急需寻找圣杯，从而拯救 “荒原 ”、拯救社会、拯救人类。圣杯象征着拯救荒原的希望，但如何寻找圣杯呢？在艾略特看来，这圣杯就是宗教，寻找圣杯就是信仰上帝、皈依宗教。艾略特抨击现实，批判社会，认真思考社会、阶级矛盾以及现阶段的问题。他强烈反对社会革命，主张以宗教政治来消除社会弊端，解决现实问题，借用宗教来复兴西方堕落的传统文明。艾略特认为，在 荒原 中圣杯就是宗教，寻找圣杯、治愈渔王的做法正是出于艾略特皈依宗教的主张。 techniques The Waste Land is a 434-line modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922.
33、It has been called “one of the most important poems of the 20th century.” Despite what is seen by some as the poems obscurity(晦涩难懂 ) its shifts between satire(讽刺 ) and prophecy（预言） , its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its elegiac but intimidating summoning up of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures the poem has nonetheless become a familiar touchstone of modern literature.
