毕业论文The analysis of Eliots use of contrast art in his poem——the Waste Land29780

1、the analysis of eliots use of contrast art in his poem -the waste landcontents摘要abstractintroduction contrast in themes1.1 contrast between death and life1.1 .1 the state of death in the waste land1.1.1.2 the spiritual death of the waste land1.1.2 the regeneration derived from the death 1.2 contrast

2、 between love and lust contrast in images2.1 contrast in the symbolic meaning of water2.1.1 the dying state caused by water shortage in2.1.2 the life signal originated from water2.1.2 contrast between the symbolic meaning of fire2.1.2.1 the destructive meaning of fire 2.1.2.2 fire of refining in the

3、 wasteland2.2 contrast in the symbolic meaning of season images2.3.1 the contrast meaning of spring2.3.2 the contrast meaning of summer and winter conclusionbibliography摘要 在荒原一诗中，艾略特熟练的运用了隐喻，象征，对比等多种手法，而对比艺术的运用更为突出。本文将着重从主题的对比和意象 的借助来探讨和论证这些对比在整首诗中所起的举足轻重的作用。借助以上两个方面的描写，在艾略特向读者展示了一幅生动形象的现代文明的荒芜的画面及现

4、代人的精神荒原，并从中探寻了荒原形成的原因和拯救荒原的途径，从而反映了诗人整治荒原，使腐朽的现代西方文明获得新生的强烈渴望和希冀。关键词：荒原 对比 主题 意象abstract in the waste land, eliot skillfully uses allusions, symbols and contrasts, of which the contrast art is more significant and effective. so i set my analysis on the contrast art used in the waste land, this thesi

5、s is divided into two chapters to analyze the contrast technique used in two aspects in the poem: contrast in themes and in images. and this thesis mainly focuses on the prominent role the contrast technique plays in the poem. through the use of contrast art, eliot paints the readers a vivid picture

6、 of the barren modern civilization and modern mans spiritual waste land, and he also points out the causes of the waste land and ways of its salvation, which shows the poets eager desire and hope for the regeneration of the waste land.key words: waste land contrast theme image introduction as one of

7、 the major founders modernism and a chief figure in new criticism, t.s.eliot has greatly influenced the development of modern british and american poetry and set the way poems were read and taught for nearly half a century .t.s. eliot succeeds in many careers :critic, playwright ,philosopher and fir

8、st of all an excellent and successful poet. eliots poetry are noted for its fresh visual image, its flexible tone and highly expressive rhythm with the publication of the waste land ,which revealing as it does the spiritual crisis of postwar europe, read like the manifesto of the “lost generation ”

9、and established eliots position as the leader .not of new american poetry ,but of a whole generation of writers later to be identified as “waste land painters ” like hemingway and faulkner. the waste land which was regarded the manifesto of modernism was drafted during a great cure at margate and la

10、usance in the autumn of 1921.under ezra pounds caesarean operation, the original manuscript was reduced to about half its size. on its first appearance in 1922 in the criterion and later in the dial, the waste land opened a new door for modern poetry although there were controversial ideas towards t

11、he poem. some welcomed it as the model of modernism ,which reflects the subtlety of modern art and complexity of modern world. some denied it as a great disaster, but the waste land does exemplify in many ways the experiment of the modern movement .with its many sudden transitions and implication, a

12、llusions and the frequent use of several foreign languages. eliot placed before his readers a poem of fragments without apparent thematic clarity . a waste land ,is a desert on any place inhospitable to life. its a symbol of the dryness and place inhospitable spirit. t.s. eliot interprets the contem

13、porary situation in europe and the united states as one of moral and cultural decay .eliot alludes to the myth of the holy grail to suggest a mysterious but particular analyge between the waste land brought about by the wounding of the fisher king and the sterile existence of modern waste land produ

14、ced by the destructive world war two. the poem ,though it may look like an arbitrary assemblage does comprise five distinct sections in a sequence : the burial of the dead, a game of chess ,the fire sermon ,death by water and what the thunder said. in the poem ,eliot employs many devices such as str

15、eams of consciousness writing sudden switches of scene as film clips, motifs from classical and medieval myth. all these make the poem so great and original and at the same time a little difficult to read. the poem is also characterized by an abundant use of allusions and symbols , well-arranged con

16、trasts, many voices and shifting tones. among all of these devices ,the contrast technique stands out prominently. in some aspects as themes and images is skillfully used by eliot in the poem. each of above elements contributes a lot to the success and greatness of the poem , of which the contrast a

17、rt seems to be more significant and effective. but up to now, fewer comments have been made on this aspect than on other aspects of the poem. this motivates me and makes me focus n this technique. in the following chapters, i will unfold my analysis from two angles :contrast in themes, and contrast

18、in the symbolic meaning of images .though my analysis, i hope to help those readers who have difficulty in understanding this poem so as to make them have a better comprehension of eliots poetry through my humble effort. contrast in themesthe waste land is a poem concerned with the spiritual break u

19、p of a modern civilization in which human life has lost its meaning significance and purpose .the poem has developed a whole set of historical cultural religious themes, but it is often regard as being primarily a reflection of peoples disillusionment and frustration in a sterile and futile society

20、in the 20th century. though regarded a complex and inexhaustible work, the waste land is also a simple poem with themes that ate central in human experience and in western literature. it consists literally of manly fragments of the western present and past. through the contrast description of life a

21、nd death and love and lust, eliot presents a vivid picture of modern waste land and the decay of western civilization.1.1 contrast between death and lifeas lyndall gordon said eliot was religious almost from the start, he tried to achieve salvation of human spirit and modern civilization by urging p

22、eople to embrace religion for nearly all the religions denying that death as the destination .the theme of death and life permeate nearly the whole poem, so the contrast between life and death is a major contrast in the waste land.the first four sections of the poem present an awful account of a mul

23、ti-dimensional death in life. and at last the thunder speaks and provides the wastelanders the hope of a renewal in life.1.1 .1 the state of death in the waste land in the waste land.eliot employs mainly two myths the grail legend in westerns from ritual to romance and the vegetation gods in frazers

24、 the golden bough .by constant reference to these myths of death and life, he gives his poem unity, and shows us the declined state of the waste land, to demonstrate this idea, eliot describes two kinds of death in the waste land: physical death and spiritual death.as a governing myth, the grail leg

25、end projects everywhere as a visible clue in the poem, the maimed and impotent king brought drought and desolation to the land and failure of the power to reproduce themselves among both men and animals. this waste land can be revived only when a “questioning knight” goes to find the holy grail. eli

26、ots use of the myth suggests a mysterious but particular analogy between the waste land brought about by the wounding of the fisher king and the sterile existence of modern waste land.just like the land in myth,modern waste land also becomes a dead and desolated place. the following lines show whats

27、 the modern waste land like now.you cannot say or guess,for you know only,a heap of broken images where the sun beatsand the dead trees gives no shelter,the cricket no reliefand the dry stone no sound of water here is no water but only rockrock and no water and the sandy roadthe road wending above a

28、mong the mountainswhich are mountains of rock without water with the legend of fisher king, eliot illustrates the image of the waste land. there are dried lands and stone dried tubes, dead trees and broken rivers tent all these forming a horrible and dead waste land. but whats even worse is the para

29、lleled modern version of the waste land. eliot interprets by using this the contemporary situation in europe and america, as one of moral and cultural decay. 1.1.1.2 the spiritual death of the waste land in the poem, people living on the waste land also face the threaten from death -spiritual drynes

30、s. the wastelanders live in an unsafe world: they have no faith, no love and even on communication at all 。their state of being is just like the tragic fate of sibylthe prophetic old woman in ancient myth : “sibyl guided aeneas through hades in aeneid, she has been granted immortality by apollo ,but

31、 since she forgot to ask for perpetual youth. she shrank into withered old age and her authority declined. so when some boys said to her what do you want sibyl? she just replied i want to die sibyl, as a prophet, has the prophetic power, but she is unable to foretell her own “living dead” condition.

32、 the plight of the sibyl in the epigraph sets mood for the whole poem. modern man , as well as the european world is struggling in the death whirlpool. just like sibyl, the wastelanders suffered from dullness purposeless and senselessness which fill every aspect of their daily life. death seems bett

33、er than life to the wastelanders only by death can they get revival. eliot uses sibyl as a mouthpiece to speak out the living death conditions of people on the waste land and their wish to die so as to gain rebirth.1.1.2 the regeneration derived from the death according to the bible, jesus christ ex

34、periences birth, baptism, capture, death and resurrection. jesus resurrection as a visible clue runs all the way through the poem bringing vitality the waste land. part one, the burial of the dead implies a ceremony of dust thrown and of souls rebirth. the poem begins with a struggle between death a

35、nd regeneration. april is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rainwinter kept us warm, covering earth in forgetful smow, feeling a little life with dried tubers it opens with a denial of chaucer: whan that aprille with h

36、is showers soote the droughte of march hath parcel to the roote and bathed every veyne in swich licour of which vertu engendred is the flour thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages the warm and rainy april in chaucers work becomes the cruelest month: land is dead with little sign of life and what

37、is life is only memory and desire but in this dead land, there still bears the hope of life. as lilacs breed “out of the dead land” april is the cruelest month, yet from religious sense, it symbolizes “regeneration”, as it is amemerial of jesus christs death on the cross and his resurrection after b

38、eing buried in the garden. eliot sets two interacting forces into the poem. death pervades the waste land, but with the embedment of jesus rebirth the waste land bears the hope of regeneration. in the ancient world, death was believed to be a door to new life. in the waste land, there are similar in

39、stances: “those are pearls that were his eyes “, “yet there the nightingale filled all the desert with inviolable voice” eliot says in the notes that “i am indebted in general” to the golden bough, of which he has used especially the two volumes adonis, attis, osiris. these two volumes contain the s

40、tories of the vegetation gods in ancient myths whose death and rebirth are connected with the withering and regeneration of plants. the vegetation gods, according to the myths, when they are sturdy and healthy, especially have a strong sex desire, the land will be fertile with plants growing prosper

41、ously, while they are maimed or die, the land will be sterile and winter approaches. however, on the day of the gods regeneration, the arid land will be recovered and come into another circle of death and renewal. therefore, every year, they are either hanged or buried, or consigned to water, in an

42、expectation of their resurrection next year to bring life to the world. we can feel death everywhere throughout the waste land among the five sections of it, two are directly named with the words “dead” and “death”-the burial of the dead and death by water. however, like sibyl, the wasterlanders are

43、 eager to die, but cannot -they are the living death. the contract between death and life is obvious to the readers .the waste land becomes physically dead and life mow is sterile and meaningless. this indicates the wastelanders also become spiritually dead. when life is impossible for inhabitants o

44、n the waste land, its better to choose death as their outcome rather than being dragged out of an disgraceful existence such as the state of death-in-life: we, who were living are now dying he, who was living is mow dead with a little patience under this circumstance, death is the best way to end th

45、e state of living death and to gain rebirth, then in the third and fourth sections, eliot offers two ways of solution to this problem: one is “death” by water and the other is “burning” in the fire. either way requires the wastelanders to die first and so that they can get rebirth from that death. f

46、inally, in section five, the wastelanders really get the hope of rebirth: as the thunder proclaims in the last section of the poem, the waste land, over which tiresias presides can be redeemed only by surrection to life-giving force found in the heart of destruction, which reunite the sundered fragm

47、ents and set the lands in order with a new origination myth just as the following lines say: in this decayeel hole among the mountains in the faint moonlight, the grass is singing over the tumbled graves, about the chapel in a flash of lighting, then a damp gust bring rain because of the coming rain

48、, the wastelanders do see the hope of rebirth on this dead waste land. life and death is one of the themes that runs through the whole poem. the contrast between life and death display the condition of modern waste land. the whole poem is suggested under such a clue: life-death-rebirth .so understan

49、ding the contrast between life and death is a key to master the whole poem better.1.2 contrast between love and lustjust as we have mentioned above, people on waste land suffered from physical and spiritual death, their lives are meaningless. so is their love. eliot depicts a kind of failed love in

50、the waste land. there are maybe vivid scenes of love, such as the story of the hyacinth girl and the sailor, antony and cleopatra, elizabeth and leicester. but at the other hand this poem is full of loveless stories of the wastelanders who only have desire and lust instead of true love, such as the

51、typist and clerk, the hysteria woman and her husband. so on one hand, the poet recalls the stories of true love in the past world and on the other hand, love without any emotion and passion also overwhelms modern waste land. modern europe has already become a place where love and modern lust form a

52、sharp contrast with each other. in section two, the burial of the dead, eliot alludes to wagaers famous opera tristan and isolde and makes of form contrast with the hyacinth girl episode tristan and isolde is a very moving love story between a sailor and his sweetheart. their love is happy and true.

53、 in the opera, the sailor sings to his sweetheart. “fresh blows the wind to the homeland: my irish child where are you waiting ” but to the young fellow who loves the hyaeinth girl, it is another circumstance “you gave me hyacinth first a year ago they call me the hyacinth girl” -yet when we came ba

54、ck, late from the hyacinth yours arm full, and your hair wet, i could mot garden speak, and my eyes sailed, i was neither living nor dead, and i know nothing looking into the heart of light, the silence oedund leer das meer love here on modern waste land is no longer true love. in part two, a game o

55、f chess, we can see the lines: my nerves are bad tonight. yes, bad, stay with me speak to me .why do you never speak? speak what are you thinking of? what thinking? what? i never know what you are thinking. thinkwhat we heard is a woman, driven by panic, trying to goad her silent husband into speech

56、, but his response is simply “nothing again nothing” the immediately brings us back to the hyacinth girls lover: “and i know nothing ” the couple seem to have nothing to communicate. their relationship is abnormal loveless. this example displays the situation of love on modern waste land. love is no

57、t only no longer true and pure, but also becomes meaningless and full of naked lust. we can take another two examples; the first example appears in the pub scene with two womens gossip about the marriage of lil and albert. we can see the coexistence of physical fruitfulness and spiritual sterility of sex and waste .to this couple lil and albert, their marriage has broken, love is only a way to kill time and get sexual pleasure by making love. their marriage is no more than a business to bear childre