T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Marianne Thormahlen (Lund University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Birmingham Newman University), Louise McDonald (Birmingham Newman University), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

First circulation or publication Oct 1922

Places

England (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)
United States (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

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Recommended Reading

Most first-time readers who approach T. S. Eliot's

The Waste Land

do so knowing that the poem is generally considered to be difficult, and the two epigraphs, or prefatory quotations, do nothing to dispel their apprehensions. Even at a first glance, the reader encounters difficulty: one of the quotations is in Latin and Greek, the other in mediaeval Italian. The first

, “Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere

. . .”, translates “For once I saw with my own eyes the Cumean Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked the Sibyl, 'what do you want?' she answered 'I want to die'.” This quotation from Petronius's

Satyricon

, a racy prose narrative from the first century A.D. of which only fragments have survived, sets the tone for

The Waste Land

in more…

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5073 words

Citation: Thormahlen, Marianne. "The Waste Land". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8096, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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