‘You ought to be ashamed’: Sexuality in Eliot’s The Waste Land

Author Bio:

Alfie is a third-year English Literature and History student from West Yorkshire. His interests mainly revolve around modern British poetry and history. That said, he also has a soft spot for French poetry—particularly that of the infamous poètes maudits.

Essay Abstract:

This essay argues that Eliot’s seminal modernist classic The Waste Land depicts sexuality as a predominantly negative force, and is much influenced by Buddhist philosophy in this regard. Specifically, it argues that Eliot’s poem portrays sexuality as negative insofar as it perpetuates supposedly monstrous cycles of human existence, precipitates suffering, and elicits a regression of the self. 

Read the full essay here:

‘You ought to be ashamed’- Sexuality in Eliot’s The Waste Land.pdf

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