Introductory
The Waste Land is an epoch-making poem written by an epoch-making poet, TS Eliot. The poem first hit the shelves in 1922. The poem highlights the degradation of values of the Western Culture. The poem holds as much significance in English Literature as it is often referred as a modern epic, competing head-to-head with other epics like Homer's Iliad and Milton's Paradise Lost. Before discussing The Waste Land as a modern epic, first, let us clear what exactly is an epic.
An epic is a long narrative poem filled with the heroic deeds of the hero in the battlefield. War is a prime subject of an epic. For instance, in Paradise Lost, there is a battle between the forces of God and the forces of Satan. An epic contains elevated diction, begins from the middle of the story, has Homeric similes inside it as well as the personages in an epic are of a high order, mostly taken from history.
But The Waste Land is different. It does not hold the qualities of a generic epic. The diction used inside the poem is easy. Characters in this poem are not derived from history yet it has a firm connection with the fierce history of World War First. Characters in this poem belong to the common people. There is no proper beginning of the story and the narrator shifts from section to section, signifying the downfall of the scattered humanity. The Waste Land is a modern epic because it highlights modern problems, has many allusions to the classical literature as well as is an outcome of a Modernist outlook.
Modern Problems need Modern Epic
The Waste Land was written at a time when there was no space for the glorification of wars as is shown in all the epics. The war was still there. But through a different form. There was no man as an opponent for the other person, the war was with the inner shortcomings of the person, his moral frailty. The Waste Land depicts the moral downfall of the lost generation after World War First. Love saw itself in the brazen hands of temporal lust, as shown in the loveless love-making scene narrated by Tiresias. Death by water through its excess and dearness is used as a symbol of the excessive use of human intellect for warfare. Similarly, the zombie-like creatures mentioned at the end of the first section shows loneliness and aimlessness which is still a common problem of our age. Thus, the depiction of modern problems makes The Waste Land a modern epic as it was necessary due to the change of time.
References to Classical Literature and Mythology
An epic is incomplete without references to the classical literature that came before it. For instance, Paradise Lost has many references to Greek Mythology especially when the bulk of Satan is explained. Keeping the "tradition", Eliot has used a fierce amount of references to make his poem difficult intensionally. For instance, he has used the mythology of the Fisher King who was trapped to fish in the "dull lake" who is rescued by a knight who is in search of the Holy Grail. Eliot has used this myth to signify the importance of health over wealth. Moreover, the title of the first section (Burial of the Dead) is mythological which is taken from the Anglican Burial Service, which is used to put the idea of the wasted land in motion. The third classic allusion is Tiresias a blind prophet of Thebes who has been used as a symbol of human consciousness and is the protagonist of this modern epic.
An Outcome of Modernist Outlook
The Waste Land is an outcome of the modernist outlook of Eliot. Modernists are a group of writers who stood against the already established Romantic as well as Victorian monarchy in Literature and they strived for something new which, according to them, was a public demand of that time. As mentioned briefly in the heading "Modern Problems need Modern Epic", a modernist approach was necessary to reinvent the classical genre of epic that was entitled to the public. Such a democratic approach is truly a fruit of Modernism. But it must be noted that Eliot finds solace and solution to the modern problems through classical means like the adherence to the ancient Hindu values of "Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata" which mean "give, sympathize and control".
Conclusion
The Waste Land is a true Modern Epic because it shows the downfall of the individuals in a democratic manner while it gives solution to the modern issues in classical means.
