The Waste Land by TS Eliot

100 Years Ago

Recently we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Waste Land. It is one of the most famous and influential poems of the 20th century. The literary journal The Criterion published the poem in October of 2022. The Dial in the United States published it a month later.

Some of its subject matter needs to be looked at through a 100 year old lens and it is a sometimes difficult poem using many voices. The poem, written at the end of World War I, between 1918 and 1921,  provides images of the death and destruction – and upheaval, – caused by war. The “heap of broken images’ suggest the collapse of Western Civilization. The voices bring in individuals from different cultures and the reader must understand the cultures the voices speak from. That makes the poem perfect for a multi person performance. Read More