LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:3 March 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2012
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Incorporation of Absurd and Symbolic Elements in Eliot’s The Waste Land

Dr. Sheeba Azhar, M.A., Ph.D.
Dr. Syed Abid Ali, M.A., Ph.D. (English), M.A., Ph.D. (Urdu)

Abstract

Symbolism had been a powerful literary movement that dominated French poetry in the second half of the 19th century. Symbolism was the poetry of disgusted and sometimes disillusioned idealists, who sought in poetry an escape from the ugliness, hypocrisy, and rapacity of 19th century industrialized society. To these poets, the newly triumphant bourgeois class lacked culture and taste and seemed to care only for useful inventions, facts, or material products and wealth. In contrast to this materialist, utilitarian, and practical view of the world, symbolist poetry emphasized an ideal world beyond the material, and sought an ideal language to express that world.

Symbols are essentially words, which are not merely connotative but also evocative and emotive. In addition to their meaning, they also call up or evoke before the mind’s eye a host of associations connected with them, and are rich in emotional significance. A symbol can be used to convey “pure sensation” or the poet’s apprehension of transcendental mystery. It is by the use of symbols that the poet enriches the texture of his verse and reveals the full significance and deeper meaning of a particular situation, events and happenings. On the surface there, might be merely a plain and simple narration or description, and the poem may be enjoyed as such, but a careful reading reveals the hidden and deeper meaning.

Present paper is an effort to examine the way how T.S. Eliot uses his symbols in his legendry poem ‘The Waste Land.’

Introduction

Symbols are essentially words, which are not merely connotative but also evocative and emotive. In addition to their meaning, they also call up or evoke before the mind’s eye a host of associations connected with them, and are rich in emotional significance. A symbol can be used to convey “pure sensation” or the poet’s apprehension of transcendental mystery. It is by the use of symbols that the poet enriches the texture of his verse and reveals the full significance and deeper meaning of a particular situation, events and happenings. On the surface there, might be merely a plain and simple narration or description, and the poem may be enjoyed as such, but a careful reading reveals the hidden and deeper meaning.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. Sheeba Azhar, M.A., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
College of Applied Medical Science
Hafr-Al-Batin University of Dammam
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
atif254@gmail.com

Dr. Syed Abid Ali, M.A., Ph.D. (English), M.A., Ph.D. (Urdu)
Lecturer
Department of English
College of Applied Medical Science
Hafr-Al Batin University of Dammam
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
abidurduenglish@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.