Religion in Waste Land

Reading TS Eliot’s “The Waste Land” has been very difficult for me due to its length and well as complexity of ideas. My group was assigned to represent the poem’s theme being about the fragmentation of Western Culture in the wake of World War 1. Thinking about how this was represented throughout the poem, I came to the conclusion that the poem in its entirety represents religion and the role it plays in life. He introduces the poem in a rather depressing manner, which I believe is a direct response to how he feels about the loss of religious importance in this new coming age.

“April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

Winter kept us warm, covering

Earth in forgetful snow, feeding

A little life with dried tubers.”

This introduction is striking to the reader because April is a month that is revered as welcoming to new life, the blooming of flowers, and the beginning of spring. He seems disgusted that the lilac’s foundation comes from the dead land. I would argue that he sees people in the society as the Lilacs planting their roots in the dead land. The land is dead because of the lack of religion and Eliot feels that any other foundation besides religion is inadequate for life to be brought about in. As a result, he would rather be in the wintertime, where he is isolated and isn’t forced to see such a disappointment in society.

I was able to find an excellent example of Eliot believing we need to rely on religion (which I originally selected to show the fragmentation of western culture), which was found in the section of the poem entitled “What the Thunder Said.” This passage can be interpreted in many different ways:

“Here is no water but only rock

Rock and no water and the sandy road

The road winding above among the mountains

Which are mountains of rock without water

If there were water we should stop and drink

Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think

Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand

If there were only water amongst the rock

Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit

Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit

There is not even silence in the mountains

But dry sterile thunder without rain

There is not even solitude in the mountains”

This portion of the poem in definitely my favorite because of how straightforward it was for me to understand. I love the way that Eliot uses the water as a metaphor for what I believe to be, about religion. Basically, what he is saying is that we need water in order to be properly functioning and successful. He attributes the water to life, and without it we are nothing. In this case, the water is representative of religion and God- Eliot is saying that without religion and a faith in god we are nothing. Essentially, this “water” is necessary for us to live whereas the rock will not sustain us. In many different religions God is representative of water, and this is no exception.

Eliot is arguing throughout the poem that we need something such as religion to be able to live a healthy and well-balanced life otherwise it is essentially a “waste land.”