Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?” (The Waste Land) What literary techniques does T.S. Eliot use to represent the awkwardness of social relations in The Waste Land? Your response should offer a close reading of selected sections/lines from the poem

The Waste Land is a modernist poem by T. S.Eliot that illuminates the devastating aftereffects of World War I. First published in 1922, the poem is considered by many to be Eliot’s masterpiece. The five sections of the poem employ multiple shifting speakers and delve into themes of war, trauma, disillusion, and death.

Eliot creates a parallel between past and present, where past is something which is unified, has spiritual significance, is joyous, harmonizing. The poet also fears his own end, therefore he too submits himself to the God. Through the poem Eliot highlights the need to belief in God, attain true self and be redeemed.