Thinking activity:The Waste Land

 🟢THE WASTE LAND 🟢

Hello readers , welcome…

Today I am going to write about my views on the following images like Eliot and F Nietzsche Eliot and S Freud in the poem Waste Land. So let's begin with some introduction... 

⚫T.S.Eliot⚫

Thomas Stearns Eliot OM was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. 

"The waste land" a poem by Eliot , this is a modern Epic Poem by Eliot.

 " The waste land"is divided in five parts.

• The Burial of the Dead

• A Game of Chess

• The Fire Sermon

• Death By Water

• What the Thunder Said

🟡The Burial of the Dead

The Burial of the Dead

It's not the cheeriest of starts, and it gets even drearier from there. 

 

The poem's speaker talks about how spring is an awful time of year, stirring up memories of bygone days and unfulfilled desires. Then the poem shifts into specific childhood memories of a woman named Marie. This is followed by a description of tangled, dead trees and land that isn't great for growing stuff. Suddenly, you're in a room with a "clairvoyant" or spiritual medium named Madame Sosostris, who reads you your fortune.  

🟠A Game of Chess

A Game of Chess

You are transported to the glittery room of a lavish woman, and you notice that hanging from the wall is an image of "the change of Philomel," a woman from Greek myth who was raped by King Tereus and then changed into a nightingale. 

 

Some anxious person says that their nerves are bad, and asks you to stay the night. This is followed by a couple of fragments vaguely asking you what you know and remember. The section finishes with a scene of two women chatting and trying to sneak in a few more drinks before closing time at the bar. 

🟤 The Fire Sermon

Section three opens with a speaker who's hanging out beside London's River Thames and feeling bad about the fact that there's no magic left in the world. 

 

The focus swoops back to the story of Philomel for a second, then another speaker talks about how he might have been asked for weekend of sex by a "Smyrna merchant"  Next, you're hearing from Tiresias, a blind prophet from myth who was turned into a woman for seven years by the goddess Hera. You hear about a scene where a modern young man and woman both not much to look at are having this really awful, loveless sex. Finally, you overhear someone singing a popular song, which in the context of this poem just sounds depressing.

🟢Death By Water

In a brief scene, you watch as a dead sailor named Phlebas decays at the bottom of the ocean, 

 

and the poem tells you to think of this young man whenever you start feeling too proud.  

🔴What the Thunder Said 

Section five takes you to a stony landscape with no water. 

 

There are two people walking, and one notices in his peripheral vision that a third person is with them. When he looks over, though, this other person disappears . In a dramatic moment, thunder cracks over the scene, and its noise seems to say three words in Sanskrit: Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata, which command you to "Give," "Sympathize," and "Control." This is followed by a repetition of the word Shantih, which means "the peace that passeth all understanding." After all that slogging, T.S. maybe gives us a little hope with this final word. Then again, maybe not. 

When I read this poem , one question emerged in my mind … that what is the purpose of Eliot about writing this poem? 

I would like to give this answer that 'What the Thunder Said' concludes The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot's landmark 1922 work of modernist poetry. ... It is as if the lack of water has led the speaker of 'What the Thunder Said', in his desire for water, to lapse into semi-coherent snatches of speech. Much of this final section of the poem is about a desire for water: the waste land is a land of drought where little will grow. Water is needed to restore life to the earth, to return a sterile land to fertility. 

🟤 T.S ELIOT AND F. NIETZSCHE 🟤

  

 

According to first image of the poem Waste Land we can say that FREDRICK NIETZSCHE is never tried to get answers from the nature.He also not believing in God and anything related with God. He also a forward looking person and on the other hand we can say that Eliot is a person who lives with spirituality in his life and also believing in God . At many places in the poem he uses Christian philosophy, so the whole poem seems like it is based on Christianity.

For a example we can say that Eliot refers to Hanged Man means he refers the Jesus Christ …

 

For more examples if we look at the poem he refers so many events of the past , he has a technich of joining the events of past, present and also future…

So we can say in a matter of FREDRICK NEITSZCHE he was also a forward looking person but he just argues with others and without any meaningful estates but he also not proves In a way which like Eliot proves with his vision of past.

⚪ ELIOT AND S. FREUD ⚪

The second thing is that FREUD has the most profound cause of the confusion lay in the Unbehagen in der Kultur of modern man.

     

 In his opinion there must be sought a collective and individual balance, which should constantly take into account man's primitive instincts.  Eliot has the opposite opinion for this . For Eliot "The salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition, which, in our more mature years, lives with greater vigour within us than does primitiveness, and which we must preserve if chaos is to be avoided". 

It shows different level of two persons who thinks differently. Freud is believing in collective and individual balance, which should constantly take into account man's primitive instincts. And T.S.Eliot thinks that the salvation of man lies in the preservation of the cultural tradition, which, in our more mature years, lives with greater vigour within us than does primitiveness, and which we must preserve if chaos is to be avoided. Both are apposite to each other.

🔵 ALLUSIONS OF INDIAN THOUGHTS IN THE WASTE LAND 🔵

In 'The Waste Land'.

T.S.Eliot uses Indian philosophies and Upanishads for his poem. He uses an ancient Indian language, which is also the language of Buddhist and Hindu scriptures. It was during this disturbed period of his life that he wrote The Waste Land. 

first line of the poem which asserts that, “April is the cruellest month.” April is so cruel because it is the month of rebirth, and it serves as a reminder that in the "Wasteland" what is dead does not always stay dead. The dead do not remain dead in T.S. Eliot's "Waste land". 

Other examples of the Indian thoughts in the waste land like the repetition of "shantih" at the end of this poem.Hindu philosophy teaches that it is the ignorance of this unity which is at the root of all human misery and suffering.

Eliot also mentioned three "DA" in "THE WASTE LAND".

Datta: Give

Dayadvam: Sympathize

Damyata: Control

 

DA

Datta: what have we given?

My friend, blood shaking my heart

The awful daring of a moment’s surrender

Which an age of prudence can never retract

By this, and this only, we have existed

Which is not to be found in our obituaries

Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider

Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor

In our empty rooms.

DA

Dayadhvam: I have heard the key

Turn in the door once and turn once only

We think of the key, each in his prison

Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison

Only at nightfall, aethereal rumours

Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus.

DA

Damyata: The boat responded

Gaily, to the hand expert with sail and oar

The sea was calm, your heart would have responded

Gaily, when invited, beating obedient

To controlling hands.

🟡What does Shantih Shantih Shantih mean? 

In THE WASTE LAND the peace that passeth understanding

No less than five languages  are used in the last eleven lines to end on "Shantih, shantih, shantih," a phrase which in Sanskrit means "the peace that passeth understanding" in which we may hear a form of hope for some sort of spiritual healing but which may also be …

What  is the function of allusions in the waste land?

“The Waste Land” is the last poem in which allusions are employed to produce historical perspective, and at the same time it is the first in which they serve the purpose of establishing a time- less, psychological and spiritual pattern. The latter function is wholly dominant in Eliot's subsequent work. 

One question has emerged in my mind that Why is the wasteland important?

The originality of The Waste Land, and its importance for most poetry in English since 1922, lies in Eliot's ability to meld a deep awareness of literary tradition with the experimentalism of free verse, to fuse private and public meanings, and to combine moments of lyric intensity into a poem of epic scope. 

⚪ Conclusion ⚪

So we can say that The Waste land's philosophy is that In “The Wasteland”, Eliot is emphasizing the fact that the problem for modern man is not to be found in the lack of abundant answers, but in the lack of the proper questions. The age that produced World War I could not fix its own problems; only a return to the wisdom that had preceded it offered any hope . 

    It concludes with resignation at the never-ending nature of the search. The poem is full of literary and mythological references that draw on many cultures and universalize the poem's themes…

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Thinking activity:Frame study: Charlie Chaplin's Films: Modern Times And The Great Dictator

🟡 FRAME STUDY OF CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S FILMS:

1.  MODERN TIMES

1. THE GREAT DICTATOR

Hello friends,

 I am  going to write about the frame studies of  the , " Charlie Chaplin's two films one is "the modern times" and the second is "The great dictator". So let's begin…

⚫ CHARLIE CHAPLIN ⚫

Who don't know about the Charlie Chaplin ? 

 "A day without laughter is a day wasted."

One of my favourite quotes of Charlie Chaplin. 

Charlie Chaplin was considered one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of American cinema, whose movies were and still are popular throughout the world, and have even gained notoriety as time progresses. His films show, through the Little Tramp's positive outlook on life in a world full of chaos, that the human spirit has and always will remain the same.

🔵Overview of His Life🔵

Childhood

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London, England, on April 16th, 1889. His father was a versatile vocalist and actor; and his mother, known under the stage name of Lily Harley, was an attractive actress and singer, who gained a reputation for her work in the light opera field. 

Charlie was thrown on his own resources before he reached the age of ten as the early death of his father and the subsequent illness of his mother made it necessary for Charlie and his brother, Sydney, to fend for themselves. 

Beginning of his career

When he was about twelve, he got his first chance to act in a legitimate stage show, and appeared as “Billy” the page boy, in support of first H. A. Saintsbury and then William Gillette in different productions of “Sherlock Holmes”. At the close of this engagement, Charlie started a career as a comedian in vaudeville, which eventually took him to the United States in 1910 as a featured player with the Fred Karno Repertoire Company. 

He finally agreed to appear before the cameras at the expiration of his vaudeville commitments in November 1913; and his entrance in the cinema world took place that month when he joined Mack Sennett and the Keystone Film Company. His initial salary was $150 a week, but his overnight success on the screen spurred other producers to start negotiations for his services. 

At the completion of his Sennett contract, Chaplin moved on to the Essanay Company  at a large increase. Sydney Chaplin had then arrived from England, and took his brother’s place with Keystone as their leading comedian. 

The Masterpiece Features

A women of Paris (1923)

The Gold Rush (1925)

The Gold Rush (1925)

The Circus (1928)

City Lights (1931)

Modern Times (1936)

The Great Dictator (1940)

Monsieur Verdoux (1947)

Limelight (1952)

A King in New York (1957)

Last years

Chaplin’s versatility extended to writing, music and sports. He was the author of at least four books, “My Trip Abroad”, “A Comedian Sees the World”, “My Autobiography”, “My Life in Pictures” as well as all of his scripts. An accomplished musician, though self-taught, he played a variety of instruments with equal skill and facility . 

He was also a composer, having written and published many songs, among them: “Sing a Song”; “With You Dear in Bombay”; and “There’s Always One You Can’t Forget”, “Smile”, “Eternally”, “You are My Song”, as well as the soundtracks for all his films. Charles Chaplin was one of the rare comedians who not only financed and produced all his films , but was the author, actor, director and soundtrack composer of them as well. 

He died on Christmas day 1977, survived by eight children from his last marriage with Oona O’Neill, and one son from his short marriage to Lita Grey. 

You might also wants to read...Chaplin & music…

Then, let's take a tour of Chaplin's studios

On Sunday, February 7, 2021 there is the the 107th anniversary of the debut of Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character Kate Guyonvarch, managing director of the Chaplin Office in Paris, will narrate the Chaplin Studio Tour, footage of the abandoned studio shot circa 1953. Recently restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in collaboration with the Chaplin  Roy Export S.A.S. and Lobster Films, the film shows Chaplin’s cameraman Rollie Totheroh escorting Kathryn Reed around the studio. 

Between 1918 and 1952, Charlie Chaplin made films at his studio at Sunset Blvd. and La Brea in Hollywood. Masterpieces like The Kid, The Gold Rush, City Lights, Modern Times all made on this site! In 1952, on his way to the UK for the premiere of Limelight, Chaplin, a lifelong British subject, got word that his US re entry permit had been rescinded.  

The Great Dictator

A Jewish barber loses his memory after a plane crash. When he finally tries to make sense of his surroundings, he finds himself subjected to a dictator's tyranny.

When the first started One must remember that , Hitler was generally admired in the US and essentially no one at all was standing up for the Jews. 

Here you have a man at the peak of his celebrity who has some moral responsibility. 

How rare! Imagine Michael Jordan risking all  in order to do the right thing. This film is a multidimensional risk: he is trying to master the talkie , he is trying to mix tragedy and comedy  and he is trying to actually effect his audience, to counter evil in the land.  

he succeeds so far as the talkie, but he doesn't stand at the top of the heap, and several years before, the Marx brothers had made their own, superior, antiwar movie . He succeeds in mixing comedy and tragedy only by alternating, and extending the length of the film. 

Concerning his effectiveness in countering evil: his impassioned speech at the end is powerful. But it appears to have had no effect whatsoever.  one of his mistakes was portraying the pogrom and invasions as the work of one man, rather than of a whole nation: Germans, not Nazis. 

What did Hitler's reaction to Chaplin's "The Great Dictator"?

We can say that the Hilter hated it. Just watch the final speech of this great piece of cinema one more time, with quotes as: 

• Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…. 

• To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. ….. 

Based on today’s knowledge, Hilter was never quoted with his opinion about the “The Great Dictator”. We could only guess that he actually hated it, which is easy watching the movie and learning about his history. For the same reasons it would be true to believe he never saw it. 

We can only guess or question about how we feel about dictators. 

The final speech form The Great Dictator

 

Chaplin's final speech of "The Great Dictator" is that begins with the words… 

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. 

      

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…. 

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. ….. more 

If we have a question that 

"Does Charles Chaplin's speech about the great dictator still apply to this century?"

As a point of view , About this I would like to say "yes" . If you listen he says that in the speech  “we have developed speed what he have shut ourselves in.” It's even more true today because we have developed even more speed then we had in 1940, and we continue to shut ourselves in. I think that speech will always apply and  it is still remembered. Even after that it will still apply for today. 

⚫Modern Times ⚫

First let's begin with  some introduction about Chaplin's "Modern Times"...

      

Modern Times, American silent film, released in 1936, that starred Charlie Chaplin as a man at odds with modern technology. It is regarded as the last great silent film.

The film, which was set during the Great Depression, centres on a luckless factory worker (played by Chaplin) who finds himself so unnerved by trying to cope with the modern equipment he must operate that he suffers a breakdown. After being institutionalized, he is freed, only to be mistaken for a  communist agitator. He is arrested but released after preventing a jailbreak. He subsequently falls in love with a young girl (Paulette Goddard) whom he met when she was running from the police after stealing a loaf of bread. The factory worker and the girl have many adventures together as they evade the police and struggle for a better life. Eventually they escape for the open road.

      

Modern Times is regarded as one of Chaplin’s most lighthearted films. There is certainly plenty of social criticism , but he plays the story mostly for laughs. The sight gag of Chaplin haplessly trying to keep pace with the 

assembly line in the factory is regarded as a classic comedy sequence.

The film also gave Goddard, who was living with Chaplin, her first starring role. The movie introduced Chaplin’s trademark song “Smile.” 

What is the theme of modern times?

“Modern Times” is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth- century theme of the film, farsighted for its time the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world profoundly reflects issues confronting the 21th century.

 

But if we want to know about the modern times, then first we have to know about " what is The "modernist literature".

Modern Literature

Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing...more

If we talk about Chaplin's Modern Times we find that This is the  great comedic epic. Chaplin's critique of capitalism is right on the money, but none of it would have worked if the movie wasn't also hilarious.

Amusing and charming, Modern Times still entertains decades later. The set and prop design for the first act are very good. The plot takes us through the many ups and downs  of the hero and heroine, and the way they handle it all is very endearing. The lead actress has great spirit and natural beauty. Modern Times isn't a must see, but I would definitely recommend it.  

We also find that A factory worker and his homeless love struggle to fulfill the "American Dream" despite the advances of "progress." This is how satire is done. Clear in its images - The Tramp literally caught in the machinery - and exact in what it's criticizing - the Big Brother factory boss and the criminalization of the economically disenfranchised - Modern Times is one of Chaplin's most precise and incisive comedies. In this film, The Tramp becomes more than an extension of vaudeville; he stands in for the poor everyman, and as a result Chaplin's work takes on a profundity and significance unique to him. The filmmaking, or the direction, is quite strong. While this was supposed to be Chaplin's first talkie, it works better in the genre Super Reviewer Alice Shen calls a "neo-silent film" . Chaplin's use of sound occurs at strategic moments in the narrative: the corporate boss can speak as he has entered the mechanized age, but The Tramp stays mostly silent, only once singing in gibberish. Chaplin sets up the conflict between the ways of the past and the future in the film's technique as well as its theme. I did think that the film occasionally fell into slapstick and schtick, abandoning its central concerns, but these moments were rare in the grand scheme of the film. Overall, Modern Times ranks among Limelight and The Great Dictator as one of Chaplin's finest films. 

Analysis of the movie "Modern Times" 

“Modern Times” is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth- century theme of the film, 

farsighted for its time the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world profoundly reflects issues confronting the twenty-first century. 

• Why did the Little Tramp want to stay in jail a little longer? 

On the surface, it may seem that he wants to stay in jail because his luck has turned around and prison has become quite comfortable for him. ... In prison, the Tramp knows he is guaranteed a roof over his head and regular meals, while out in the real world he will hardly be able to feed himself. 

Important

What is the massege which is given by the Charlie Chaplin through this film "Modern Times"?

So, in Chaplin's Modern Times "Modern Times” is perhaps more meaningful now than at any time since its first release. The twentieth- century theme of the film, farsighted for its time the struggle to eschew alienation and preserve humanity in a modern, mechanized world profoundly reflects issues confront .an entertaining piece at the surface, also serves as a political and social commentary criticizing the flourishing industrialization, commercialization, and commoditization of big-business America, which has developed at the expense of the everyday citizen. 

👉📽️ Here is the full movie video of Chaplin's "Modern Times"
  

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