The Waste Land: Discussion & Commentary, Part II

In general remarks about T. S. Eliot and the factors that inspired him to write The Wasteland, Dr. White draws some comparisons to his (White’s) American education, which he considered his own “wasteland” in many regards, and likens it to the barren culture described in Eliot’s epic poem. Though White fondly recalls the teacher that he credits with being responsible for his becoming a Shakespearian scholar and authority, he laments that only an American –– in this case Eliot –– could have written The Wasteland, discarded elements of which Eliot later used to write The Hollow Men.

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