What are some major “Modernist” themes found in T.S. Eliots The Waste Land?
Both on the level of form and content, The Waste Land is a quintessentially Modernist work. It presents a fragmented and chaotic world which is difficult to put together in a coherent picture. In his study All That Is Solid Melts into Air, cultural critic Marshall Berman has defined the experience of modernity as the experience of going through a vortex or a maelstrom. The Waste Land reproduces this experience by presenting seemingly unrelated fragments taken both from modern life and from history and mythology. Another important Modernist theme is the disappointment and pessism towards modern life, experienced as cultural and moral decay after the trauma of the First World War, a historical event that deeply influenced Modernist works and their outlook on modern society.
