Talk:The Waste Land

Reception and criticism?
Should there be a section on the poem's reception by the public and critics? And its impact and legacy? TuckerResearch (talk) 15:33, 29 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes. And something should be said about interpretation. This is why I'm downgrading this from "B" class to "C". A lot more could be written, & some of what is currently here could be condensed. -- llywrch (talk) 23:42, 30 October 2019 (UTC)

Interpretation
First, the idea that "Eliot's poem loosely follows the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King" needs at least to be sourced. More importantly, this is only one (very old and contested) interpretation of the poem. I.e. I suggest "the Fisher King" stuff be deleted. There should be a section a la "critical reception" to represent the variety of interpretations etc. and various assertions about its relevance/importance to literary modernism. ProfHanley (talk) 17:52, 10 October 2019 (UTC)

Is Marie a real person?
I was curious about whether the Marie in the very first stanza of the poem was based on a real person, so I went on Google and searched up "marie cousin of arch duke germany" (based on the information in that first stanza). The first result was Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574-1616), who married her first cousin, Ferdinand, the Arch-Duke of Inner Austria. It seems to me like her marriage could explain why her memories are so bitter (why April is the cruellest month for mixing memory and desire and for melting away the forgetful snow). I know Wikipedia doesn't like original research, so I'm wondering if there's any general consensus on this topic? Gridzbispudvetch (talk) 03:48, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * The poem seems to say she comes from Lithuanian, but I think it is valid to ask who Eliot is referring to.--Jack Upland (talk) 05:24, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I paid ten dollars for an annotated copy of this poem from amazon and it just answers the question right there. It's apparently Countess Marie Larisch, whom Eliot met in person under unknown circumstances. The description of the sledding is taken verbatim from a conversation the two had together. I feel kind of cheated out of my discovery, but it's kinda nice to know I think. --Gridzbispudvetch (talk) 05:10, 18 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I think that would be worth adding that under "Sources". One of his sources was conversations with real people like Marie Larisch.--Jack Upland (talk) 08:35, 18 April 2020 (UTC)


 * The second great German Eliot translator (after Ernst Curtius), the late Eva Hesse, has something on this in the first chapter of a 1973 book of hers on "T.S. Eliot und das Wüste Land" (Suhrkamp Verlag) - sadly no longer in my possession. I think I also like to point out that the short introduction to the here mentioned Annotated edition of the Waste Land has a very good introduction on Eliot by Lawrence Rainey. PS.: The Annotated edition gives the basic facts/ interpretation of Eva Hesse concerning the Countess Marie Larisch, I think. --Ralfdetlef (talk) 20:16, 1 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Please add it, even if you don't have a page number.--Jack Upland (talk) 06:37, 2 February 2023 (UTC)

Citation maintenance notice regarding short footnotes
In order to maintain consistency in articles using a particular short footnote style, a notice was placed at the beginning of this talk page which appears to fit the style being used for this article. The intention is to be an aid to contributors and citation maintenance editors in upgrading citations to the highest wikipedia standards. It is often unclear what the rationale is for sfn and harvnb use due to the mixture with inline ref citations which inevitably occurs due to contributors being unfamiliar with short footnotes. However I may have incorrectly guessed the style for this article, and that the rule is different. For example- that primary and secondary sources always are placed in the primary and secondary sections regardless if they have different pages referenced or not. If that is the case, please add a note here and I will place the correct notice here. J JMesserly (talk) 22:24, 13 March 2023 (UTC)

Background section is disjointed
I am dizzy after reading this section. It goes from relevant background on the author's mental state to the wage, in GBP, said author received at their bank job.

This is not a biography. I suggest that the section be rewritten with a focus on what factors in Elliot's life impacted The Waste Land. Otter Hunter (talk) 02:33, 17 April 2024 (UTC)