Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume.7 Number.4 December, 2016 Pp.422- 438
DOI: dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol7no4.26
The Religious Crisis and the Spiritual Journey in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land
Leila Bellour
Department of Foreign Languages
The University Center of Mila, Algeria
Abstract:
In T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land”, there is a quest for psychological and spiritual unity, which is vindicated in the poem’s pattern of a spiritual journey. Reading the poem as such provides the reader with a tie thatbrings together its fragments, albeit being said to be formless. As the paper shows, the ultimate panacea to thepsychotic’s problems is believed to hinge on religion. Such a remedy makes possible the unity of the modern man’s fragmented self in an age marked by spiritual sterility and sexual promiscuity. Therefore, religionemerges asthe fructifying power that can restore fertility to the spiritual aridity of modern civilization. Despite his theory of impersonality, the poem also addresses Eliot’s religious questioning and quest.
Key words: Organic unity, spiritual crisis, spiritual journey, The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot
Cite as: Bellour, L. (2016). The Religious Crisis and the Spiritual Journey in T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land .
Arab World English Journal,7 (4).
DOI: dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol7no4.26
