Free Waste Land Essays: Underlying Myths in The Waste Land :: T.S. Eliot Waste Land Essays

pro make Myths in The Waste Land   The underlying myths that Eliot uses to provide a simulation for The Waste Land are those of the Fisher queen mole rat and the Grail Quest. both of these myths come to Christian civilization through the ancient Gaelic tradition. neither is found in the Bible, but both were important enough to Europeans that thither was a need to incorporate them into the new European mythology, and so the stories became revolve about on the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Other examples of these myths can be found in Eschenbachs Parsifal, in de Troyes Quest of the Grail, and in the various stories of the grail indicate surrounding nance Arthur and his knights. It is described in works of anthropology, as well, both of which Eliot recommends to readers Jessie L. Westons From Ritual to Romance and Sir James Fraziers Golden Bough.   In the Fisher King stories, a journeyer comes to a barren land and discovers a maimed queen whose wound ha s caused the land to become sterile. In some cases, the combat injury of the female monarch was sexual in nature. Because these ancient peoples believed that the king and the land were coupled as one and that they reflected on each other, it was necessary to heal the king in order to heal the land. The journeyer then needs to admit a quest (which fits the archetypal heros journey pattern) to heal the wounded king and, through him, the land. In the Grail legends, which are frequently intertwined with the Fisher King legends, a questor searches throughout the land for the Holy Grail, undergoing tests of purity, his character, and his dedication to the quest on the way. The nature of the Grail differs from one account to another It is sometimes approximation of as a cup which caught the blood of Christ when he was pierce by a spear while hanging on the spoil (which may be derived from the Celtic legends describing the Grail as a caldron of rebirth which allowed resurrection to warriors killed in battle but did not allow them to tell of the experience of rebirth -- a pattern into which the story of Lazarus roughly falls), and it is sometimes thought to be a stone (in Eschenbachs Parsifal, the Grail is described as a gem struck from the crown of Lucifer when he was ejected from Heaven).