These three images display to us the art power of this poem, which lies in the mysteriousness and infinitness of allusions as well as the concretness and objectiveness of the images. In this poem the poet practiced his theory impersonality and fused his sensibility into the framework of tradition. Of course these three images can’t cover the significance of the whole poem. Not only these three images, but also the coffee in the Hofgarten, the overheard line in German, Madame Sosostris’s bad cold all seem to function as metonymic details from the culture of the time, and they generate a context and a chain of associations which tend to disperse clear meanings.
Seemingly, Eliot created nothing new in The Waste Land, instead he just mixed the fragments of western civilization together. The three images that are analyzed in this paper are borrowed from the tradition. However, these images act like mirrors reflecting the rich meaning with what has been included in them as their support. These fragments of western civilization form a prism and show us the comprehensive scene of the context of modern western world.
Conclusion With his theories in mind to read The Waste Land, we will understand the purpose of Eliot’s so many allusions and metaphors in the poem. Then we can appreciate it with a fresh eye which may throw light on the meaning of many superficial ambiguities. We will be released from the puzzle—what does the poet want to say. The poet does not want to say anything of himself; he only tried to locate the chaotic social fragments into an organic whole or into order, so that these fragmented phenomenon can present their underlying significance.Liu Yan, Eliot, Chengdu: Sichuan People Press, 2001, p91. This is his poetic ideal. He succeeded in realizing his ideal in The Waste Land. Therefore, The waste land does not refer to Europe after the first world war only, it symbolizes the withering of emotion and spirit of the whole western world and the desolation of our civilization. The theme of the poem is the deliverance of the waste land.
Now we see, however complicated this poem is, it rests on the fundamentals mentioned in the first part. It expresses contemporary consciousness in depersonalized manner by a reference to tradition. It communicates its emotion by presenting an “objective” based on both past literature and present experience. Eliot inherited the rich sources for his creation and meanwhile he showed his reaction to the tradition. Almost all phrases related to tradition are dislocated. We can’t hear the poet’s voice. When we read the poem we have the feeling that we are watching a drama. Different figures come to us and tell something without any connection superficially. While in fact, if we find out the philosophical logic through the poet’s literary critical theories, we get the panorama of the modern western civilization. Just as Dr Jiang Hongxin summarizes that the ingeniousness of The Waste Land lies in the arrangement of the allusions which are not located isolated; instead, they are inlaid in the poem in accordance with the context skillfully so that the contrast between the past and the present is set before the eyes of the reader. That is why The Waste Land has been keeping its charm since its publication.
①HughKenner，TheInvisiblePoetT.S.Eliot，NewYork：McDoWellObolensky，1959，p45.
②HughRossWilliamson，ThePoetryofT.S.Eliot，NewYork：G.P.Putnam’sSons，1933，p83.