Outline (Final Paper)

I. Introduction
II. The Victorian Age Description(The Industrial Revolution)
III. Its effects on people's lives
a)Possitive effects
b)Negative effects
c)Litary Depictions, Examples ("The Signal Man")
IV. Its connections with current times (Globalization)
V. Its significance to be taught in EFL classroom (Why this topic is of interest?)
Vi. How can it be applied? (methodolology, possible tasks)
V. Conclusion

"We must love one another or die" D.H. Auden

One more time, the consequences of war inspire different writers; in this specific case W.H. Auden. This poem is written during the outbreak of World War II and it depicts historical failures with a touch of hope in future expectations. In other words, Auden describes the unfortunate outcomes of war but he states the possibility of a possible social transformation.
Indeed, the author describes this historical event and points out the existence of a social and personal deviation from a healthy and coherent consciousness. For example, Auden claims: "We must love one another or die". He calls for humankind conscientization; a critical and reflective practice which enables people to reach their individual self-awareness, thus, they may recognize themselves as free and creative human beings in the middle of an ill-treated historical reality because of a cultural, political and economical oppression.
All in all, this poem certainly depicts the common and social miseries which result from our own unconscious decisions and actions.

Literature Assignment

T.S Eliot was born as an American citizen however he decided to become a great British poet in those years. He experienced what a post war period was and the decline of human beings as a community. “The Waste Land” is one of his well-known pieces of work in which consist in 5 different stories, being told by many different narrators. What I think the author tried to develop was the idea of many people being affected by the inclemency of war and how everybody felt: lack of hope and regrets of what had happened. According to Wikipedia.com “The Waste Land” takes into consideration 5 traditional elements: earth, air, fire, water and aether. The first element, EARTH has a direct relationship with the burial and understanding the importance of land as the place where people exist. Then, AIR is represented by the many voices or narrators that this work has, implying that there is a developed intellectual mind behind the creation of this work. FIRE is represented by the passion the author put in this work, understanding that the only way of writing all those complex feelings is by feeling them yourself. WATER represented by the use of images of sea and a voyage. And finally, AETHER as the material that fills all the region of universe, this means that even though you talk about a waste land there must be something in that place besides nothingness.

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Marjorie

I agree with you when you state that in this poem the author is trying to depict the consequences of the war in people's lives. In this sense, your post directly deals with my impressions about this literary work. Then, if you check my last post you will realize that we share this main idea of how harsh war is and how it causes people's suffering. However, I think you could have developed this specific topic in depth; you just mention it and skip the main implications and reasons of it, thus, you continue with another view of the poem referred to Wikipedia.
In essence, I would point out that in this poem the author is depicting the MISERIES OF MODERN CULTURE and how human beings’ unconsciousness has cheapened the earth and nature’s worth. Therefore, I would develop in depth the idea of having all the natural resources and at the same time wasting them or utilizing them wrongly because of human beings’ selfishness.

Good Job!

The waste land - The waste consciousness

According to what we have discussed and my own thoughts, in this poem the author is depicting the miseries of modern culture and how it has been cheapen by human beings unconsciousness. Therefore, he chooses to name this social mess as 'The waste land': a place, a state, a feeling, an atmosphere, where nothing is expected but at the same time; uncertainty is in the air. An unreal and fictitious city in which there is no shelter for whom need it or ask for it; no relief for the ones who feel pain.
For me 'The waste land' is not the depiction of an empty place, on the contrary, it is a place which is full of 'everything' (people, machines, weapons, money, poverty, and so on) thus it lacks relief, shelter and calm. In other words, modern culture (even us) lacks truth.

The main connections I may find are that both works share the same writing style: literary realism. In this sense, each story exactly portrays and captures reality as a photograph, thus, I may realise how D.H. Lawrence is depicting everyday and banal events and experiences in his writing. For instance, both stories portray unhappy marriage's reality experienced by two different female characters ('A woman' and Elizabeth Bates).

Then, it is crucial not to forget that realism rejects sentimentalism and shows human beings objectively with the inclusion of cruel reality’s facts. For example, both women are stuck by a feeling of dissatisfaction because they have hade to face a cruel reality. In 'The Rocking- Horse Winner' the woman is dissatisfied because of an unhealthy desire for wealth as a result of her expensive tastes. Then, in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' Elizabeth Bates lives frustrated and dissatisfied because of her husband’s drunkenness which certainly damage the illusions concerning her marriage.

In essence, both stories depict exactly what happens with human beings life styles and how they may become wasted lives because of our vices (money and drinks). Indeed, these stories are clearly a picture of our past and current events; a picture of ourselves.