 it's time. Oh don't go, I wasn't saying that to you. I was just quoting one of the most famous lines of one of the most famous modernist poem which is Wasteland. Wasteland is such an important modernist poetry that if you just read Wasteland and if you analyze it then I would probably guarantee you that you don't need to read the characteristics of what makes a good modernist poem because all the characteristics of a good modernist poetry is there in this piece which is Wasteland. Hi people, welcome to my channel. I am Arpita Karwa and in this video lecture I'm going to talk about Wasteland. If you're reading Wasteland and people tell you that don't waste your time reading Wasteland then don't believe them because I can guarantee you that if you read Wasteland you will not be wasting your time. It is one of the most important poems from UGC Net Point of View and it is a poem which actually requires a great deal of time in order to analyze, understand and decode. So in this video I'm going to talk about Wasteland and some of the most important characteristics and features of this poem and how you need to approach this poem if you are preparing for UGC Net English Literature. Before we start reading TS Eliot's Wasteland it is very important to know the man who is behind this wonderful work and his name is TS Eliot. TS Eliot is a poet as well as a critic just like Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He has written so many important poetry, dramas as well as he has written several critical works that means critical essays in order to tell the positives and negatives of certain pieces of literature which was written before him. We also understand one thing that in the years 1927 he converted to Anglicanism. Anglicanism is basically associated with Church of England and he also settled in Britain. So if you're wondering how did he settle in Britain I would like to tell you that he was actually an American citizen but then in 1927 he obtained the citizenship of Britain and he settled in Britain. He was also associated with the literary journal called Criteria and with Faber and Faber Company. He was such a prominent man and such a prominent literary figure of modernism that he was awarded both Nobel Prize as well as Order of Merit. Now let's look at the modern period and what and why the modern period produced such a kind of literature like Wasteland. So we understand that modernism was a period which started around 1900s and globalization and industrialization were dominant during that period. We also had world war first in 1914 to 1918. During this period the entire world saw the horrifying effects of world war. Everything was shattered. There was a sense of alienation and loneliness in every man's heart and due to this the entire literary culture changed. We started to have writers writing in the stream of consciousness. For that matter we have Virginia Woolf and James Joyce who championed this form of writing. Also at the same time when it comes to modernist literature we must understand that irony and satire were very dominant. So people were writing poetry and prose in which they were talking about ironic situations. There are three kinds of ironies. We have dramatic irony, we have situational irony and we have verbal irony. A very fine example of situational irony would be if I say that I'll be fine and the next moment I jump off a cliff. So that's a situational irony. I'm saying something else and I'm doing something else. So there's a big divide between these two things. So irony and satire was very very prominent in the writings of the modernist writers. Now let's look at some of the very important characteristics of wasteland. Now let's look at some of the very important characteristics of wasteland. The first important thing about wasteland that you must remember is the disjointed timeline. Basically wasteland is a poem which is divided into five parts but we don't find a beginning or an end. Each and every part is complete in itself. It doesn't follow a timeline that you know the story begins in part one and ends in part five. There's nothing like that. It is made up of small small scenes and which are not connected to each other but which are talking a lot about the ugliness of the modern society. So disjointed timeline is one very special feature of all the modernist poetry as well as prose. The second important thing that you must remember about wasteland is the type of voices which are present in this poem. There are different voices present. We have monologues. We have stream of consciousness. There was a scene where these two ladies are talking and the bartender is announcing the closing time. So we have conversations between people then we have internal monologues. So there are different voices coming up in the entire poem. The third and the most important characteristic of wasteland is allusions. So if you guys are getting confused between allusion and allusion I would like to simplify that thing that allusion is brum allusion is when a writer makes a reference to another story character or a event. Okay so for example if I say and I describe my friend to you saying that you know my friend is just like captain a hub when it comes to scholarship and pursued for success. So here in the sentence I'm actually comparing my friend to captain a hub and I'm alluding to Herman Menrelay's Moby Dick. So I'm basically comparing my friend's pursuit of success to captain a hub's pursuit to capture the win. So this is how I am connecting these two non-connected things. In wasteland we have so many allusions. One of the most famous allusion is in the starting of the poem when TSL it starts the poem saying that April is the cruelest month of the year and we find that April is the cruelest month of the year this alludes to Chaucer's Canterbury Tale. If you have not read Chaucer then don't worry you can go and watch my video on Canterbury Tales. I have tried to explain the four important Canterbury Tales in a very simplified manner. So you can just go and watch that video it's available on my youtube channel. So if we see how Canterbury Tales is connected to wasteland we will find that in Canterbury Tales Chaucer talks about how April showers are very sweet and how it rejuvenates a person whereas TSL is using the same line that was used by Chaucer but in a very different setting. He's saying that April is the cruelest month so he's talking about the degenerated state of mind and the degenerated state of humanity from the time when Chaucer was writing to the time when TSL it was writing. Also for those of you who love nursery rhymes I would like to tell you that London Bridge is falling down. This is also an allusion which is there in TSL it's wasteland and this was also a question that was asked in 2016 net exam wherein they asked that which of the poem talks about one very famous nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling down and the correct answer was TSL it's wasteland. Now let's look at the first important section which is there in the poem wasteland. The section is named as Burial of the Dead and it talks about and it paints the picture of walking dead and how this entire earth is inhabited by walking dead. So you find how the entire humanity engulfed into this degenerated mindset. We also have so many important references in this section there is a reference to Bible when TSL it has talked about a son of man which is basically Jesus Christ and he says that humanity has degraded to such a level that even Jesus Christ is not able to develop a full-fledged human being in the modernist period and it shows that how when God cannot help the people of modern times we also have references from other places like we have a reference from Richard Wagner's opera and we have reference of Madame Sosrothis. So all these references are very important when you're studying wasteland which is because of the fact that somewhere TSL it has tried that by using all these references he strives to evoke a picture of the degenerated modern society in your mind. Also when you're reading wasteland from net point of view you must look at the characters the locality and the references that are there in the work because characters have been directly asked in net exams. They have been questions when they have given you localities and asked you pick the odd one out the locality which is not mentioned in wasteland. Also there are times when they've asked directly questions from the references and which of the references are not there in the wasteland for example King Yure has not been mentioned in wasteland directly. Rest the three important tragedies of Shakespeare has been mentioned in wasteland so you must remember all these things when you're reading wasteland from net point of view. Also at the same time we covered wasteland in a very detailed way in my audio online course you can go to my website www.arpadakarma.com you'll find a list of all the important writers that we covered in our online course if you like the list if you like the kind of content we are presenting you can join my online course the details of the same is given on my website and the link of my website is given in the description box below you can also check all the previous year's solved papers on my website www.arpadakarma.com I have uploaded paper one two and three from time period 2012 till 2017 on my website so you can go and have a look on all the solved previous year papers and then start your preparation accordingly. Now let's look at another important section of wasteland which is fire sermon. Fire sermon is the third section before we begin fire sermon I would like to tell you that whenever you're reading wasteland do make a note of all the five sections the names of these five sections and the order in which these five sections are written because these are some of the most important questions which are asked in that exam they'll give you the sections and they'll ask you to set them in order they'll ask you the names of some specific sections so you must be well prepared with these things. Now when we look at fire sermon we find that you know the poem opens with the dimension of Edmund Spencer's Prolacian and we find that the speaker is standing on the banks of the river Thames and he's remembering Spencer's poem and he says that run softly sweet themes till I end my song so this is how the section begins and there are so many references which are very important in this section there is they talk about the unreal city in which the city is covered by brown fog now this brown fog is very symbolic because this brown fog actually talks about the mentality of a modern man and how the mentality of a modern man is clouded by materialism and evil instincts. We also have a reference of Mr. Eugenites. Eugenites asked the speaker to join him for a lunch we have reference of Greek mythology coming in and there's a reference to Thyracius. Thyracius for those of you who don't know I would like to tell you Thyracius was a blind prophet who was actually a man but then due to jew's wife Hera's anger she turned Thyracius into a female so he was actually a man but then he was turned to female to female because of jew's wife Hera's anger and if you've read Eurupati's Bacchae you must have come across Thyracius he is a very important character in that play and he plays a key role in setting up the plot and to resolve the conflict and we find his reference here because somewhere Iliad is trying to say that you know a blind prophet is able to see the end of the world and he's able to visualize how the world will end so that is very important there are so many other references which are important in this work and it beautifully portrays the image of the corrupted modern man and the degenerated modern society so now before we end this video I would like to tell you that there are so many other important works of Thyracius just because wasteland is important don't neglect the other important poems like Ash Wednesday, Love Song of J. Alfred Petrog, Hollow Men there are so many plays that he wrote murder in the cathedral but they so these all plays you must remember at the same time he has written some very very very important critical works like he has written Hamlet and his problems in which he's talked about objective correlative then he has talked about metaphysical poetry in which he has pointed out the errors in the metaphysical poets he's also written tradition and individual talent which is a beautiful work he has given a very important scientific reference in that work he has compared mind to a catalyst and how just like a scientific reaction is produced how ideas are integrated in the mind so all these things are very important from net point of view you must study all these things in detail if you join my online course I try to make all these important works very clear because I first I tell the summaries then I talk about all the important points and references then we touch all the previous year questions which have been asked on that work so once you complete the audio of Thyracius as a part of my online course you will be very thorough with all the concepts so if you like to enjoy my online course the details are available on the website but before you leave I would like to tell you that do subscribe to my channel because I post videos every Saturday and every Sunday to help you in your UGC net English preparation if you like this video then do give it a big fan thumbs up and share it with other net aspirants you can follow me on all the social media platforms because I'm running a go net quiz a quiz which will help you to boost your exam preparation and to keep yourself on toes when you're preparing for UGC net exam you can find the quiz on all the social media platforms the link of all the social media facebook whatsapp instagram are given in the description box below you can check the links and follow me on the social media platform so until the time we meet next bye bye see ya happy learning and keep loving literature