How has the poet fused past and present in the poem “The Waste Land?

Answer

How has the poet fused past and present in the poem “The Waste Land?” [NU: 2015, 17] Or, How does T.S. Eliot make a link between the past and present in “The Waste Land?” [NU: 2019] Or, Comment on T.S. Eliot’s use of myth in “The Waste Land.” [NU: 2015, 18, 21] ★★★  

A myth is an old story that explains nature, life, or culture. It connects the past to the present by carrying old beliefs and meanings into modern life. T.S. Eliot’s (1888–1965) poem “The Waste Land” (1922) is full of old myths and modern pictures. Eliot brings stories from the past and joins them with modern life. This way, he shows how human suffering, sin, and hope repeat again and again. The myths give meaning to the broken modern world. Below are some prominent examples from the poem.

Tiresias: Tiresias is a prophet from Greek myth. He lived in Thebes during the rule of Oedipus. Once, he saw two snakes in love. They cursed him and changed him into a woman. After seven years, he again saw snakes. Then he became a man again. So, he had lived both as a man and a woman. Later, Zeus and Hera asked him a question: who loves more, a man or a woman? He said the woman loves more. Hera cursed him with blindness. Yet he got the gift of prophecy. Oedipus, king of Thebes, killed his father and married his mother. A curse fell on his land. Tiresias asked him to repent to save the land. In the poem, Tiresias is blind but can see the truth. Eliot writes:

“And I Tiresias ……;

I who have sat by Thebes below the wall

And walked among the lowest of the dead.”

Here, Tiresias is a bridge between old Thebes and modern wasteland. He sees both past and present.

Vegetation and Fertility Myth: The poem also uses old farming myths. In Egypt, people told the story of gods like Osiris, Adonis, and Attis. The god