Thomas Stearns + Eliot, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Thomas Stearns + Eliot e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! T H O M A S S T E A R N S E L I O T The Waste Land (1922) Section I, The Burial of the Dead The title of this section refers to a funeral service in the Anglican rite called ‘The Order of the Burial of the Dead’. It is a metaphor of the contemporary man’s condition, whose life is empty, meaningless and alienating. The opening of poem introduces the most important images and themes. April is the cruellest 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 A little life with dried tubers […] • Analysis THEME: The research of a new meaning of life and death that is the central theme of The Waste Land where man is unable to live because it requires to die to our old way of being and rebirth that implies suffering. Eliot introduces here the antithesis between water (symbol of fertility) and dryness (symbol of sterility) that will be the focus of the whole poem. 1. What aspects of springs are singled out as being ‘cruel’? What do they evoke? The aspects of Spring singled out as being "cruel" are —> "breeding" lilacs (lines 1-2) since existence is painful so generating new life is cruel; then —> "mixing" memory and desire (lines 2-3): any act of consciousness is seen as painful, a longing (brama/anelito) for what men no longer have. And —> "stirring" dull roots with spring rain (lines 3-4) since bringing life to dead things is considered negative. 2. Why is the rebirth of nature ‘cruel’? Cruelty coexists in every rebirth, in any new identity that throbs (palpita) in the fibres of the old one that clings to its sterility in order not to die. Instead of the eternal joyous return of life, April is seen as agony and a painful obsession. 3. How does the description of winter contradict traditional views? Also the description of winter contradict traditional views: it turns out to be positive since it allows men to live in peace and to forget (lines 5-6). Winter is seen as a comfortable season, because it maintains a minimal life where action is not necessary. 4. How many speakers can you recognise? THE MYTHICAL METHOD: The mythical method is a stylistic technique based on a story or legend that has a single level of interpretation. With the mythical method, writer can make more objective the message. Compare The beginning of the poem refers to the beginning of the Canterbury Tales of Geoffrey Chaucer that is considered the father of English literature. Boot the poets, Chaucer and Eliot, introduce the image of the same month: April. In Chaucer’s work, April has a positive reference, because it indicates the awakening of nature, but in Eliot April is the cruelest month, so it has a negative reference. April is considered by the poet as a cruelest month because with this month starts a new cycle of the same biological life of every man, an empty life, an infernal life. SPESSO IL MALE DI VIVERE Eugenio Montale Spesso il male di vivere ho incontrato era il rivo strozzato che gorgoglia era l'incartocciarsi della foglia riarsa, era il cavallo stramazzato. Bene non seppi, fuori del prodigio che schiude la divina Indifferenza: era la statua nella sonnolenza del meriggio, e la nuvola, e il falco alto levato. The Italian poet Eugenio Montale (1896-1981) in his collection Ossi di seppia (1925) expressed the negativity of the contemporary human experience of living/ hill of living. Eugenio Montale, like T.S. Eliot, expressed a universal negative situation in his poems employing the English poet's techniques of the objective correlative and of juxtaposition. For example, in "Spesso il male di vivere" Montale uses three examples of objective correlative, il rivo strozzato (line 2), la foglia riarsa (lines 3-4), il cavallo stramazzato (line 4) in order to express the sterility and the evil existing in contemporary society. These images are juxtaposed to la statua (line 7), la nuvola (line 8), il falco (line 8), symbols of human indifference which is considered the only solution for modern man. Paragone il male di vivere ad imagini che rappresentano la sofferenza. Statua= immobile —> giornate in cui non accede nulla, noia. Nuvola, falco= immagina di staccare dal mondo, dalla sofferenza. Immagini di morte. INTERROGAZIONE THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD It is the first section of the waste land. The title of this section refers to a funeral service in the Anglican rite called ‘The Order of the Burial of the Dead’. It is a metaphor of the contemporary man’s condition, whose life is empty, meaningless and alienating. The opening of poem introduces the most important images and themes. April is the cruellest 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 A little life with dried tubers […] ANALISI E TEMI The research of a new meaning of life and death that is the central theme of The Waste Land where man is unable to live because it requires to die to our old way of being and rebirth that implies suffering. Eliot introduces here the antithesis between water (symbol of fertility) and dryness (symbol of sterility) that will be the focus of the whole poem.