2 WHAT IS CATHARSIS

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1 WHAT IS CATHARSIS

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Theory of catharsis
1. Theory of Catharsis :
2. What is catharsis?  Catharsis is element of tragedy  Catharsis is a Greek word meaning “Cleansing”.  In literature, it is used for the Cleansing of emotions of the Characters.  It can also be any other radical change that leads to emotional rejuvenation of a person.
3.  catharsis is an emotional discharge through which one can achieve a state of moral or spiritual renewal, or achieve a state of liberation from anxiety and stress.  Catharsis refers to an emotional release for the characters in a literary work, or an emotional release for the audience of the work.  The emotional release that characters or the audience experience during the catharsis can lead to a sense of forgiveness and renewal.  Catharsis is purgation of emotions and feelings.  Purgation is purification.
4.  Dramatic uses.  In dramatic art, the term Catharsis explains the impact of tragedy, comedy or any other form of the art on the audience and in some cases even on the performers themselves.  Aristotle did not elaborate on the meaning of Catharsis, and the way he used in a defining tragedy in poetic.  Lucas identifies that there is a chance that Catharsis may have some aspect of meaning like, Purgation, intellectual clarification and purification.
5.  Aristotle used the concept of catharsis in both the medical and psychological sense. In Aristotle's POETICS, it meant the emotional release and cleansing that spectators experience during and after watching a tragedy which has a corrective and healing effect.
6.  Aristotle believed that catharsis helped to moderate passion and strong emotions, therefore restoring the balance in one’s heart  Originally, the term catharsis was used as a metaphor in Poetics by Aristotle, to explain the impact of tragedy on the audiences.  He believed that catharsis was the ultimate end of tragic artistic work and it marked it quality.
7.  Pity :  Aristotle said in order to create Pity for the Pity in audience for the character make the character suffer and undeserved misfortune.  Pity means empathy we feel feeling of empathy that you are feeling sympathetic about that character who suffer in critical situation.  Pity means your audience need to feel some kind of connection to the character of your story.  Fear : • A conflict of some sort is needed. • Fear may be also arise out recognition of guilt or outer guilt. • Aristotle told that Pity is occasioned by understand misfortune and Fear by take of life ourselves.
8. Example of catharsis: Romeo and Juliet :  Romeo and Juliet is a great example of a tragedy, might be explained by the idea of catharsis.  In the end, the young lover end up dead because they made mistake of following their Childish passions instead of being rational and patient.  We feel sympathy and pity for Romeo and Juliet.
9. Othello : Othello’s anagnorisis in the play is also the moment of catharsis. Whe Othello realizes that he has been wronged and that he killed his Innocent wife, we feel more pity for than hatred of him.
10. Hamlet :  Hamlet’s character reveals flaws and instance of emotional purging.  Catharsis and hamartia are some of the elements of tragedy that he definitely expresses in Hamlet.  We also feel catharsis when Ophelia goes mad.

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What is semantic structure

What is Semantic Structure in Linguistics?

WHAT IS SEMANTIC STRUCTURE IN LINGUISTICS?




SEMANTIC STRUCTURE


The study of meaning and its manifestation in language is normally referred to as semantics. Shorter Oxford Dictionary explains the term relating to signification or meaning. Martin Gray defines, “The study of the meanings of words: How words express their meanings and how their meanings have changed in time”. David Crystal states,” Semantic is the major branch of Linguistics devoted to the study of the meanings in language”. The vocabulary of a language contains a number of “Lexical Systems” in semantic structure of which can be described in terms of paradigmatic and syntagmatic sense – relations, or name sense relationships which can be divided into six categories:

1): Synonymy

2): Antonymy

3): Hyponymy

4): Polysemy

5): Homonomy

6): Collocation

1): Synonymy

The simplest definition of this term is that a word with a meaning identical to that of another word. One sense in several names is Synonymy that is two items are Synonymous they have the same sense. Lexical items can be regarded as the Synonymous it they can be interchange without altering the meanings of an utterance. Example The study of meaning and its manifestation in language is normally referred to as semantics. Shorter Oxford Dictionary explains the term relating to signification or meaning. Martin Gray defines, “The study of the meanings of words: How words express their meanings and how their meanings have changed in time”. David Crystal states,” Semantic is the major branch of Linguistics devoted to the study of the meanings in language”. The vocabulary of a language contains a number of “Lexical Systems” in semantic structure of which can be described in terms of paradigmatic and syntagmatic sense – relations, or name sense relationships which can be divided into six categories:

The simplest definition of this term is that a word with a meaning identical to that of another word. One sense in several names is Synonymy that is two items are Synonymous they have the same sense. Lexical items can be regarded as the Synonymous it they can be interchange without altering the meanings of utterance.

i): I saw a madman.

ii): I saw a lunatic.

iii): I saw a maddy.

iv): I saw a insane.

2): Antonymy

Antonymy is the oppositeness in pairs of lexical items where the  assertion of one implies the denial of the other. For example, big and small, little and much, few and many etc. Oppositeness of meaning has one of the most important semantic relations. In many languages there are dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms.

3): Hyponomy

Hyponomy is frequently referred to as inclusion or classification. For example, a cat is a hyponym of animal, flute of instrument, chair of furniture and so on. In each case there is a super ordinate term with reference to which the subordinate term can be defined, as is the usual practice in dictionary definitions.

4): Polysemy

A term used in semantic analysis to, refer to a lexical item which has a range different meanings. E.g. plain= clear, unadorned, obvious. Opposed to Monosemy. A large proportion of language is vocabulary Polysemic. The theoretical problem for the linguist is how to distinguish Polysemy or polysemic. Another type of Polysemy is that created by metaphor e.g. “body, human body, heavenly body, body politic. Another example “head” human head, head of the department, bridgehead, head office etc.

5):Homonymy

A term used in semantic analysis to refer to lexical items, which have the same form but differ in meaning. For example, “bark meaning the noise, a dog make or skin of a tree.

6): Collocation

While we study the collocation the structure of the vocabulary can be defined as the association of a lexical item with other lexical items. For example ink collocates with words pen, paper, letter and note book. Another example climb collocates with mountain, hill, tree and park.

Conclusion:

Summing up, we can say that the vocabulary of a language contains a number of lexical items, which are used in divergent situation. This structure is also called Sense Relation. They are divided into six sole categories such as Synonymy, Antonymy, Hyponymy, Polysemy, Homonomy and Collocation.

Mourning Becomes Electra as a Modern Tragedy

Mourning Becomes Electra as a Modern Tragedy
Mourning Becomes Electra is one of O’Neill’s most grandiose creations based on his experiments with modern forms of tragedy. The play is a monumental revision and adaptation of Aeschylus’s ‘Oresteia’. This most ambitious work of O’Neill is an attempt to find a modern analogue to an ancient mode of experience. As a critic remarks, “The play aims to provide modern psychological approximation of the Greek sense of fate in time in which the notion of an escapable and fundamentally non-redemptive determinism is incomprehensible”. The play is a tale of a family torn apart by the past, present and future, psychological drives and jealousies. The play’s Greek roots and Freudian branches twist together into a gripping knot of jealousy, love, hate, betrayal, murder, suicide, justice, incest and fate from which the characters are powerless to extricate themselves. As a matter of fact, O’Neill, through recasting of Greek myth, presents American History and Freudian Psychology to show the self-destruction of an American family in New England at the end of American civil war. Being modern, O’Neill explores the psychological implications of tragedy far more than the Greeks did.
Before discussing the play as a tragedy and its similarities and departures from classical cannons, we must analyze how O’Neill recasts Greek Oresteia by substituting Greek personae and places with American ones. Here in Mourning Becomes Electra Ezra Mannon replaces Agamemnon, Livinia replaces Electra, Christine replaces Clytemnestra, Brant replaces Aegisthus, Orin replaces Orestes, Peter Niles replaces Pylades, servants like Seth replace chorus. American civil war replaces Trojan War. Even the roles and actions assigned to American personae are quite similar to those of the Greek. Ezra like Agamemnon is Patriarch, the head of the family who not only protects his family but also serves his nation. He enjoys gender and phallic supremacy and stands like a majestic tree under whose impregnable shade all of his wards grow stuntedly and dwarfishly. Both the modern and ancient Patriarchs overcome their enemies but are eliminated by their beloveds. Christine like Clytemnestra cuckolds her warring husband in his absence and develops liaison with Brant. Unlike Clytemnestra, boredom and confinement more than any personal loss account for Christine’s infidelity. Orin of Mourning Becomes Electra, like Orestes is gullied by Lavinia, the Electra, to avenge the murder of her father. Orin suffers from Oedipus complex and kills himself rather succumbs to grief caused by his mother’s death. Most importantly Lavinia, like Electra, loves her father, kills her mother in revenge, and finally confines herself in the Mannon house which is the common and colossal grave of the Mannons. Even O’Neill’s play features the Greek themes such as adultery, incest, murder, suicide, revenge, jealousies and madness.
Now we try to gauge Mourning Becomes Electra with reference to classical criterion and concept of tragedy. No doubt, the play displays certain distinct similarities and disparities with classic canons of tragedy. To talk about any modern play as a tragedy is to immediately enter into muddy waters. No modern play measures up to the classical standard of tragedy set by Aeschylus and defined by Aristotle. Quite ironically modern tragic plays evolve their identity more through their departures than their similarities with the classical models. We can enumerate the points of both concord and disagreement in this play with classical tragedies as follows.
Firstly, the play Mourning Becomes Electra does not conform to the classical concept of structure of a tragedy. The structure which Aristotle defines for a tragedy does not apply to this play or any modern play.
Secondly, in this play, there are not present any gods controlling, making and marring human destiny. In this play we cannot hear the echoes of ‘Lear’s cry’,
‘As flies to wanton boys are we to gods
They kill us for their sport’
Thirdly, fate, the chief cause of tragedy in classical tragedy has been substituted by such causes of tragedy as heredity, environment and social and psychological forces. It is true that these forces are as irreversible and uncontrollable in modern times as fate was in the modern times. Mourning Becomes Electra is a tragedy of a family ravaged by inherited curse and stifling demands of Puritanism.
Fourthly, the play does not comply with the Aristotelian concepts of tragic hero and Hamartia. In O’Neill’s world, “Tragic characters are far below the stature of Aristotelian tragic hero though Ezra Mannon is an exception”. Ezra is the only tragic figure who measures up to classical standards. He is a man of national importance and status. His fall is not as huge as that of Oedipus yet significant enough to be called tragic.
Fifthly, the classical concept of Hamartia does not apply to tragic figures in O’Neill’s world. Here the tragic flaw is more hereditary and societal than personal, though the fall is almost as shocking as in a classical tragedy. Here man falls through the causes that lie either in the past or in the social and the environmental conventions. About the tragic fall in Mourning Becomes Electra, Schophen Hauer ‘s sense of tragedy can be aptly applied when he says, “It is not his own individual sins the hero atones for, but original sin i.e. the crime of existence itself”.
Finally and most significantly, O’Neill is a tragedian whose tragic tone is distinctly modern and whose tragedies represent a modern shift of emphasis from a fatalistic view of destiny to a naturalistic and humanistic view. Here tragic conflict is not conceived in terms of gods and man as among the Greek or the devil and god as in medieval drama rather in psychological terms of the conscious and the unconscious. O’Neill shows how man becomes the victim of his own psychological drives. In Mourning Becomes Electra, the idea of pride and humility runs as the leitmotif. A lofty sense of pride can inspire man to ideals greater than the self and this over-whelming pride becomes his nemesis. The pride of the elder Mannons continues to haunt the younger generation, “the biological past creates the present”. Unlike the Greek here the curse is self-pronounced and the nemesis is self-bred. Seized by their neurotic mania the Mannons continue the process of self-cursing and self-killing. After the suicide of Christine, Orin suggests that Lavinia should kill him. “Can’t you see I’m in father’s place and you’re mother? That’s the evil destiny out the past”. Similarly Lavinia utters, I’m the last Mannon. I’ve got to punish myself”.
Before summing up our discussion, we should quote some critics who have very harsh views about this play. They declare the play as one of white elephants of American dramatic history. Even its creation has been called as one of ironies in career of O’Neill. They claim that the play lacks the great dialogue of tragedy. It fails as a tragedy because it presents over-simplified view of characters who are entirely motivated by Freudian complexes which O’Neill substitutes for the Greek idea of fate. Even a critic calls the play “A thirteen act monstrosity”.
On the other hand majority of the critics applaud the play as one of finest modern tragedies. Joseph Wood Crutch seems most eloquent in his praise for the play. He remarks “Mourning Becomes Electra has all virtues which one expects in the best of contemporary writings”. Even he ranks it along with great tragedies like Oedipus, Hamlet and Macbeth. This O’Neillean creation shows how human beings are great and terrible creatures when they are in the grip of great passions and the spectacle of them is not only absorbing but also at once horrible and cleansing. As the play deals with the dark psychology of characters, their hidden emotions, fears and deprivations embedded in the subconscious, unfulfilled desired, bleak grudges and revenge motifs. O’Neill’s own words are best elaboration of the play as a tragedy, “Mourning Becomes Electra is a modern tragic interpretation of classic fate without benefits of gods……. fate springing out of the family”.

Difference Between Morphology and Syntax

Difference Between Morphology and Syntax

Linguistics is the study of language and its structure. Morphology and syntax are two major subdisciplines in the field of linguistics. Other subdisciplines of linguistics include phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. Syntax is the study of the formation of sentences and morphology is the study of the formation of words. The final aim of both these fields is to study how meaning is produced in language. The main difference between morphology and syntax is that morphology studies how words are formed whereas syntax studies how sentences are formed. In this article, we’ll look at these fields in more detail.

This article covers,

1. What is Morphology
2. Types of Morphemes
2. What is Syntax
3. Difference Between Morphology and Syntax

What is Morphology
Morphology is another important subdiscipline of linguistics. Morphology studies the structure of words. It specifically examines how words are formed by putting together morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest grammatical and meaningful unit of a language. Different languages have different morphemes and different rules about the formation of words.

------------
Types of Morphemes
Morphemes can be divided into two basic categories called free morphemes and bound morphemes. A free morpheme is a meaningful unit that can stand alone as a word. In other words, it is a word made up of only one morpheme. For example;

mat, trust, slow, cat, old, fast, bring, man

A bound morpheme is a morpheme that cannot stand alone; it is always bound to another morpheme. Thus, a bound morpheme has no meaning on its own. For example;

slowly, talked, unthankful, blackish

Bound morphemes attached to the front of a word are called prefixes (distaste, untrue, etc.) and bound morphemes attached to the back of a word are called suffixes (valuable, sexual, etc.).

Bound Morphemes can be divided further into two categories called derivational and inflectional morphemes. Derivational morphemes are morphemes that are added to the base form of a word to create a new word.

Example 1:

Able ⇒ Ability

(adjective) → (noun)

Send ⇒ Sender

(verb)→ (noun)

Example 2:

Use⇒ Misuse

Stable ⇒ Unstable

(Meaning is totally changed.)

As seen from these examples, adding a derivational morpheme will change either the meaning or the class of the word.

Inflectional morphemes are a type of bound morphemes that do not cause a change in the meaning or word class: they serve as grammatical markers and indicate some grammatical information about a word.

Laughed –Past Tense

cats – Plural

Swimming – Progressive
====================

What is Syntax?
Syntax is a discipline of linguistics that studies the structure of sentence. Syntax is the study of rules, principles, and processes that govern the structure of sentences in any language. It pays attention to components such as word order, agreement, and the hierarchical structure of language. The meaning of any sentence in any language depends on the syntax.

For example, the sentences in the English language often formed by following a subject with a verb and the direct object. It is the positions of these words that convey the subject-object relationship. Look at the following sentences.

The cat ate the mouse.

The mouse ate the cat.

These two sentences convey two different meanings although they contain the exact same words. It is the word order of the sentences that affect the meaning of these two sentences.

The parts of a language are divided into different syntactic categories. Most sentences can be divided into two sections called subject and predicate. These two parts are also made of different words. Syntactical classes of words are known as parts of speech.
================
Difference Between Morphology and Syntax
Definition
Morphology: Morphology studies the structure of words.

Syntax: Syntax studies the structure of sentences.

Smallest Unit
Morphology: Morphemes are the smallest units in morphology.

Syntax: Words are the smallest unit in syntax.

Content
Morphology: Morphology studies how words are formed.

Syntax: Syntax studies the word order and agreement

Stylistics

Stylistics

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Stylistics is a form of language and means of establishing principles. These principles are capable of explaining particular choices made by individuals and social groups in their use of language such as socialization, production and repetition. Defining stylistics F.L Lucas writes
‘’Style is a means by which a human being gains contact with others, it is personality clothed in words, character embodied in speech’’.

The word ‘stylistics’ has two interpretations. Narrowly it means the use of concepts and techniques of linguistics in studying the language of literary texts like poetry and novels. Broadly speaking it is the study of the aesthetic use of language in all circumstances not only in literature.

History of Stylistics= When we study the history of stylistics, we find that the term ‘stylistics’ is the product of early nineteenth century and it is first used in Grimm’s dictionary in German. In English the noun stylistic is found in 1864, while in French the first example of stylistics is from 1872, when Littre included the word in his dictionary. In our own century, Charles Bally regarding language as an intellectual, psychic and social system emphasized the expressive value of language and came to the conclusion that it was only the effective expression (stylistics) that constitutes the system of language.

Branches of Stylistics= Stylistics, like linguistics has two branches to deal with; sociostylistics and psychostylistics. Socio stylistics studies a literary text from the point of view of the varieties of language which is spoken by the various sections of society. While psycho stylistics deals with the temperament, creative ability and inner potential by which a literary critic expresses himself. So we can say that an author’s psyche can be seen through his imagery with the help of psychostylistics.

Register= In linguistic analysis, different styles of language are technically called ’’Register’’. Register is a style of speech which is suitable for certain professions or occupations. It has typical vocabulary and grammar and used by speakers in a particular context. It is one of the many forms of language and it grows in special circumstances. According to Halliday,
‘’Register is determined by what is taking place, who is taking part and what part the language is playing’’.
Halliday places great emphasis on the social context of register and distinguishes register from dialect. Dialecct is a regional, temporal or social variety within a single language while register is the variety of language that grows when language is used in a particular profession.
Approaches to Style= Enkvist in his essay ‘ On Defining Style’ mentions some approaches to style. They treat style as an embellishment, a set of individual and collective characteristics and as a set of relations among linguistic entities etc.
Style as an Embellishment= Every writer embellishes his writings by using different devices and characteristics of language and this embellishment is called writer’s style. As George Puttenham writes
‘’ Style is a constant and continual phrase and tenor of speaking and writing …..a certain contrived form and quality.’’
Style as a Set of individual or collective characteristics= The mind, person, characteristics, thought and feelings of the writer are called his style. The original thought of a writer cannot be separated from the way of presentation, style. According to Gibbon, ‘’Style is the image of character’’ while Buffon says that ‘’Style is the man himself’’. Thus we can say that style is the set of the characteristics of the writer.
Relationship between Stylistics and Literature= There is deep relationship between stylistics and literature because between true litterateur and linguistics there is no conflict. The real linguist is at least half a litterateur and real litterateur is half a linguist. Stylistics is an attempt to make literary criticism more scientific, methodical, objective and precise and it stresses the need to form a literary grammar of language. Moreover stylistics is the study of the linguistic features of a literary text. In “The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language”, Crystel observes that stylistics analysis has attempted to deal with the complex and valued language within literature and he names it ‘Literary Stylistics’.
To cap up our discussion we can say that stylistics is a distinctive term that may be used to determine the connections between the form and effects within a particular variety of language. Therefore, stylistics looks at what is going on within the language; what the linguistic association are that the style of language reveals. Stylistics is the subject which helps to solve the complexity and mystery of style and its importance in linguistics cannot be denied.

Reference to the Context

Reference to the Context

 In the papers of poetry and drama OF PUNJAB UNIVERSITY a question is asked about the reference to the context.

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 So here I tell you a very simple and straightforward method

how to attempt this question.

 First of all divide your answer into three parts like this; 

1: Reference 

2:Context 

3 Explanation

 In Reference

               you have to tell the name of the poem or drama and the poet or 

playwright.

 Like this, These lines have been taken from Prologue to the 

Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Or These lines have been

 taken from the play Oedipus Rex by Sophocles. 

In the Context

             you have to mention the events which have happened before the given lines.

 In Explanation 

                            you have to explain the given lines in each and all respect that one can understand the actual meaning of the given lines properly. So this is not only an easy way to manage this question but also an authentic way of solving this one. And if you attempt this question correctly by following this easy way you can obtain good marks in this question.

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MA English composite UNIVERSITY OF SARGODHA 2019

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3. T.S. Eliot Past Paper 2020 VIDEO

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Q.(2011 annual)
 What risks could 'Individual Talent' run in its disregard of tradition? 

Q.(2012 annual)
 Why does T.S. Eliot use the analogy of the catalyst for explaining the role of the poetic mind in the act of creation? How appropriate is this comparison in your own view? 

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3. T.S. Eliot Past Paper 2020

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DR FAUSTUS IMPORTANT LINES

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The waste land

Write a critical essay on “The Waste Land” written by T. S. Eliot
The Waste Land  -  T. S. Eliot

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The Waste Land is a classical poem written by T. S. Eliot the great English poet in the post modern style.  The poem was published in the year 1922. This poem combines the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King with a word picture of contemporary British society.
First World War broke out in the year 1914 in Europe which shook the entire world by  killing thousands of people and spread poverty  and unemployment everywhere. The world was in the grip of spiritual darkness which frightened all intellectuals including T.S. Eliot and “The Waste Land” is born out of his desperation and dismay.
“The Waste Land” symbolizes the war- torn Europe where millions of people were cruelly butchered and large scale destruction transformed beautiful, peaceful Europe into an waste land, a hellish land where trees dried out and the earth is full of rocks and rocky mountains. Dead bodies floated on the River Thames.  Fertility is lost. The land is barren and no vegetation can grow on  the earth because of man’s cruelties to man. The war has destroyed everything in Europe. T. S. Eliot introduces two crucial themes namely ‘Fertility’ and ‘Healing’. The wasted land must be renewed. Eliot took inspiration from ancient vegetation rituals. Besides human being needs healing. Healing for the land and humanity, to experience rebirth, man and woman must come to  terms with fear, sex and religion within their own relationships between male and female.
T.S. Eliot believes that ‘historical sense’ is the backbone of every mature poet and says that the  past is altered by the present as well as  the present is directed by the past which leads to future. The main themes of The Waste Land are the meaningful link with the past. It is introduced  in the poem both as a mythic past and historical past. The past often merges with the present and by juxtaposition, makes it look even more  squalid and lifeless, the emptiness and sterility of modern life style.
Eliot employs many literary and cultural allusions from various famous texts quoting hundreds of allusions from the texts of great writers  such as Homer, Sophocles, Petronius, Roman poet Virgil,  Ovid, Saint Augustine of Hippo, Dante Alighieri of Divine Comedy, William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Gerard de Nerval, Thomas Kyd the English dramatist, Geoffrey Chaucer, the great English poet, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Joseph Conard, the great English novelist, John Milton the great English poet, Andrew Marvell, Charles Baudelaire, Richard Wagner, Oliver Gold Smith, Herman Hesse, the great German novelist, Aldous Huxley, Paul Verlaine, Walt Whitman, the great American poet and Bram Stoker.
The main themes are the emptiness and sterility of modern life. Eliot presents sterility at various levels. First Natural: the land is dry, rocky, polluted and unfruitful;  Second: Social: People find it difficult to  communicate with each other and are unable to  love;  Third: Spiritual: People are no longer believe in religious values and in Jesus Christ as the spiritual Saviour. There is no plot in the poem, but only sequence of images, sometimes ambiguous apparently unconnected and open to various interpretations but linked to each other by the technique of association of ideas. T. S. Eliot’s poem with its shifting scenarios, multiple voices and changes speak to the reader the ugly state of modern man’s consciousness. Uncertainty ruled. The peace of old pre-industrial life had gone forever and in its place was the anarchy of war machine.
T.S. Eliot also freely borrows from  Scriptural writings including the Bible, the Hindu Brihadaraynaka Upanishad, and the Buddha’s Fire Sermon and of cultural and anthropological studies such as  Sir James Frazer’s  “The Golden Bough” and Jessie Weston’s play “From Ritual to Romance”.
The Waste Land’s structure is divided into five sections and they are disjointed poems with no plot at all.  1) The Burial of the  Dead
2) A Game of Chess
3)  The Fire Sermon
4)  Death by Water
5)  What the Thunder Said
The poem is considered as equivalent of James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses”, the poem is the increasingly hallucinating description of a vast “WASTE” landscape, both physical and symbolic, in which myth and reality overlap.
In section II, “A Game of Chess” the characters Albert the young man and his lover with the narrator.
“ If you don’t like it you can get on with it , I said,
Others can pick and choose if you can’t.
But if Albert makes off, it  won’t be for lack of telling.
You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique
(And her only thirty-one)
I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face,
It’s them pills I took, to bring it off,  she said.
(She’s had five already, and nearly died of young George.)
The chemist said it would be alright, but I’ve never been the  same.
You are a proper fool, I said.
Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said,
What you get married for it you don’t want children?”
“The Waste Land” combines the old with the new, the present with the past, history, mythology and real life, symbolism and psychic fragmentation.
In the first section of the poem titled “The Burial of the Dead” begins with the line “April is the cruelest 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” Here the poet tells us that the natural cycle of the seasons reversed. April is cruel because life cannot sprout up from the  ruined soil.  All human  expectations turned upside down.  Dead bodies of humans buried in the Unreal city (London). These lines are alluded to Geoffrey Chaucer’s opening lines of the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.
The second section is titled “A Game of  Chess”. T. S. Eliot speaks of two plays of the English dramatist Thomas Middleton. They are “A Game at Chess” and  “Women Beware Women. The Game  of Chess is the allegory of sexual life of the young man  and woman of the Unreal City (London). After sexual activities, the woman took pills and got aborted not once  but many  times. It shows the  spiritual darkness of  modern life  style.  “Well, if Albert won’t leave you alone, there it is, I said/What you get married for if you don’t want children?”
“The Fire Sermon” is the third section of the poem which is taken from the Buddha’s fire sermon. It is  alluded to the Sermon on the  Mount by Jesus Christ in the Bible. Buddha tells us to liberate from sufferings because desire is the root cause of suffering and one must root out desire by eight fold path  of detachment from the five  senses and the mind. The poet also shows the sexual relations between a typist and a clerk and the role of blind Tiresias. It is an allusion to the  blind prophet of the tragedy titled “Oedipus Rex” written by Sophocles, the great Greek tragedian. Besides there are quotations and allusions from the Bible and Shakespeare.
“Death by Water” is the fourth and also the shortest section of the poem “The Waste Land”. These lines are alluded to James Joyce’s book titled “Ulysses.  Here the poet speaks about Phlebas the  Phoenician merchant who was drowned while travelling on the ship. There is shocking imagery in  these ten lines. He was dead a fortnight ago and is now the food for sea gulls and his profit and loss is calculated by the violent waves of the sea. Water is the  symbol of life. His spirituality is born fresh  by the transformation and he is finally reduced to  mere bones.
The final section of the poem The Waste Land is titled “What the Thunder Said”. T.S. Eliot speaks of thunder which is related to a Hindu fable found in the ancient text of the Upanishads. The Supreme deity (God) Prajapati speaks with  the force of thunder and utters a special syllable to other Gods. “Da” meaning “be restrained” or disciplined”. But to the human beings, the Supreme God Prajapati speaks “Datta” which means ‘give alms” and to the demons, Prajapati asks “Dayadhvam” which means “have compassion”.
The first nine lines of this  section titled “What  the Thunder Said” begins with” After the torchlight red on sweaty faces/ After the frosty silence in the gardens/ After the agony in stony places/ The shouting and the crying/ Prison and palace and reverberation…….With a little patience” speaks about Jesus Christ’s last days painful trail and crucifixion on Mount Golgotha and His meditation and prayer at night in the Gethsemane and finally after the resurrection Jesus appeared as a stranger to two of his disciples namely St. Peter and St. John while they were walking on the road to Emmaus.

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Catherine Belsey theoretical and practical criticism

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