AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Stephen James Summers for the degrees of Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in English and Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in Philosophy presented on May 22, 2008. Title: Under the Shadow of this Red Rock: Reading T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land for its Places, Persons, and Poetics. Abstract approved: __________________________________________________ Kerry D. Ahearn Thomas Stearns Eliot’s 1922 modernist poem The Waste Land presents itself as an alternative to the decaying society Eliot found himself inhabiting. It begins as a personal means of pulling together one’s fragmented consciousness, but in doing so Eliot manages to present a solution to a world of selfishness—looking beyond ourselves. Through a careful study of the landscapes and urban scenes Eliot presents we can see the progress of his characters’ fates over the course of five seasons. A close look at these individuals populating The Waste Land will further enlighten our search for answers to the drought. Finally, Eliot’s rich language will be its own ambiguous key to enlightenment, demanding that we critically consider the scenarios he presents. Along the way, Eliot will invoke an enormous number of literary and cultural sources to create the tale’s framework, from Dante and Chaucer to Whitman and F. H. Bradley. The poet will also draw from religious traditions of the world, with a particular influence on Buddhism and Christianity to help navigate his wilderness. All the while, the tarot deck and Arthurian myth cycle will be our dubious guides. But at last, the journey will be worth it. Key Words: T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land, tarot, humours, Philomela, Dante Corresponding e-mail address: [email protected] © Copyright Stephen James Summers May 22, 2008 All Rights Reserved Under the Shadow of this Red Rock: Reading T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land for its Places, Persons, and Poetics by Stephen James Summers A PROJECT Submitted to Oregon State University University Honors College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degrees of Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in English and Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in Philosophy (Honors Scholar) Presented May 22, 2008 Commencement June 2008 Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in English and Honors Baccalaureate of Arts in Philosophy project of Stephen James Summers presented on May 22, 2008. APPROVED: ________________________________________________________________________ Mentor, representing English ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Member, representing English ________________________________________________________________________ Committee Member, representing Writing ________________________________________________________________________ Chair, Department of English ________________________________________________________________________ Dean, University Honors College I understand that my project will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University, University Honors College. My signature below authorizes release of my project to any reader upon request. ________________________________________________________________________ Stephen James Summers, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank first my academic guides: my committee members Professor Barry Lawler, Dr. Tara Williams, and in particular my mentor, Dr. Kerry Ahearn. All of you professors were my favorites—I kept taking all of your classes for a reason. Without their generous participation in this project it would not have happened, especially considering the tight timetable I forced upon them. I want to also give my gratitude to Rebekah Lancelin for her ongoing support throughout my tenure at Oregon State, who told me this thesis would be no big deal and that I could worry about it later. In addition to the above, I thank my English professors: Dr. C. Anderson (Dante), Dr. H. Brayman Hackel (Donne), Dr. E. Campbell (my first look at The Waste Land), Dr. N. Davison (more Eliot), Dr. E. Gottlieb (Keats), Dr. K. Holmberg (helping me hone my poetics), Dr. M. Oriard (saying hello), Dr. R. Pappas (Shakespeare), and Dr. D. Robinson (helping me hone my research). Likewise, my philosophy professors: Dr. J. Blumenthal (Buddhism), Dr. C. Campbell (being ethical), Dr. S. Clough (calling on me), Dr. R. Jones (explanations), Dr. F. Leibowitz (aesthetics), Dr. W. McCullough (calmness), Dr. L. Roberts (passion), Dr. M. Scanlan (everything), and Dr. W. Uzgalis (enlightening). Also my previous teachers, Barnett, Dage, Greenleaf, Mikulec, Minson—among many others. And I’ve saved the best for last: I want to acknowledge the amazing people involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at OSU and all over Oregon for their love and support and their hearts for God, peace, and justice. Beyond them, I love all of you my friends that I abandoned in this project, as well as family, my grandparents, the Ettlichs, brothers (both of you kids), and parents (remember, I spared you editing this). I also must sincerely thank Chrissi, my love, for putting up with all this nonsense. Lastly, thanks be to the God from whom all blessings (and creativity) flow. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….1 A Final Note……………………………………………………………………...3 PART I: “THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD”……………………………………………...4 Overview………………………………………………………………………….4 Section One (ll. 1-18): Chaucer and the New Spring…………………………….5 Section Two (ll. 19-42): St. Narcissus in the Desert…………………………….13 Section Three (ll. 43-59): The Famous Clairvoyante and the Fisher King……...22 Section Four (ll. 60-76): Dante in London……………………………………....35 PART II: “A GAME OF CHESS”………………………………………………………43 Overview………………………………………………………………………...43 Section One (ll. 77-110): The Burnished Cage………………………………….44 Section Two (Lines 111-138): Forced Conversations…………………………...57 Section Three (Lines 139-172): Closing Time at the Pub……………………….66 PART III: “THE FIRE SERMON”……………………………………………………...74 Overview………………………………………………………………………....74 Section One (ll. 173-206): Of Rivers and Rats…………………………………..75 Section Two (ll. 207-248): Tiresias on Love…………………………………….90 Section Three (ll. 249-265): The Gramophone Sonnet…………………………101 Section Four (ll. 266-311): The River’s Song………………………………….108 PART IV: “DEATH BY WATER”…………………………………………………….119 Overview………………………………………………………………………..119 Section the First and Only (ll. 312-321): Death of a Sailor…………………….120 PART V: “WHAT THE THUNDER SAID”…………………………………………...127 Overview………………………………………………………………………..127 Section One (ll. 322-365): One Walking in the Wilderness…………………….129 Section Two (Lines 366-94): Music from Unreal City…………………………143 Section Three (Lines 395-422): A New Old World…………………………….157 Section Four (Lines 423-434): Dénouement……………………………………169 CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………..175 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………179 DEDICATION To my teachers— Past, Present, and Future— and To everyone who has ever taken the time— To tell me something useful I didn’t already know— —I sincerely thank you. UNDER THE SHADOW OF THIS RED ROCK: READING T. S. ELIOT’S THE WASTE LAND FOR ITS PLACES, PERSONS, AND POETICS Introduction “April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire” (Eliot 1-3). Thus begins the seminal work of modernism, T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, his epic for modern times. First published in 1922, the poem defined not only the emptiness Eliot perceived in his contemporary time but also addressed the spiritual “drought” in his own life. It is a poem begun and rooted within the deep recesses of past memory, and it relies upon these connections to make sense of the present and move tenuously forward. Thrown into a world of materialism and human isolation, devoid of passion and hope, Eliot seeks a mist in the midst of the drought, a shower of hope to wash the world anew. In recalling the myths of history, in recounting the legends and literature of the past, Eliot is not simply discussing a common theme in world literature. He does not write dispassionately from a distance, nor does he sum up a state of affairs that can be prodded with a pen and then forgotten; Eliot wrote in the middle of his own torment, with his world drying up around him. In the midst of some “hysteria” he could not rectify he wrote, and this poem is the therapeutic result of that period (Koestenbaum 115; Gold 519-20). The Waste Land thus is Eliot’s personal journey to resolution but also a work for his world, and he writes it not only to comment but to correct. It is the effort of creation that will help him make sense of the result. Like the knights roving for the Holy Grail, Eliot will search for a water source to refresh the world even if no such rebirth exists. From its earliest elements to its final formation, The Waste Land was over seven years in 2 composing, and it can be read Eliot’s own quest, varying as it does with the changes of time and tide over a span of years (Gordon 557). The wasteland can then be conquered only by first understanding it, identifying it; naming it as such gives power over it. The entirety of The Waste Land will be made up of connections that attempt to make sense of some aspect of experience. Thus we should view the poem not as a single solid aesthetic “artifact” but as an exploration of the “mode of dis-covery or dis-closure” (Spanos 231). Eliot believes that if he can show that this new world is nothing more than a recurring cycle with a means of escape, then he can defeat his demons. His paradigm for comprehension, his guide on the quest, is literature, the great conversations of the past. Thus Eliot attempts to encapsulate a portrait of the past in his image of the future. Herein we are echoes of Homer’s forever-questing Odysseus, Shakespeare’s ever- deliberating Hamlet, and Dante’s constant search for the Divine. Dante in particular will become an important contextual space. The Waste Land is populated with a great number of voices though at last they may all coalesce into one prophetic sound (Easthope 332). This voice—Eliot’s own—becomes inseparable from the artwork itself, and the poet will use the power of speech to conjure names and truths that will bring light to a morally-, religiously-, and psychologically-dried-up land.