The Modernist Literature To define the position of Tiresias in this poem. Which are the references of Tiresias in this poem. What was the role of Tiresias in the poem The Waste Land. To define Tiresias as the heart of the poem.  Tiresias as a metaphorical voice of Eliot.

1. Name of presentation
Company name
Prepared by : Ravina Parmar
Enrollment no: 2069108420200031
Batch : 2019-2021
Date : 1st December 2020
Submitted to : Department of English ( MKBU)
M. K. Bhavangar University
Department of English
Sem : 3
Modern Literature
Tiresias and his significance in the poem The Waste Land

2. ➢ Objective of my presentation :
➢ Introduction of T. A. Eliot :
➢ Introduction of the poem :
➢ The significance of Tiresias in the poem The Waste
Land by T. S. Eliot :
- Tiresias in Greek mythology
- Tiresias in the poem The Waste Land
➢ Conclusion :
➢ Work cited :
Table of content…

3. 👉 To define the position of Tiresias in this poem.
👉 Which are the references of Tiresias in this poem.
👉 What was the role of Tiresias in the poem The Waste
Land.
👉 To define Tiresias as the heart of the poem.
👉 Tiresias as a metaphorical voice of Eliot.
Objective of my presentation :

4. Thomas Stearns Eliot ( 1888 - 1965 )
● He was an American Born British
poet,Essayist, publisher,
playwright, literary critic and
editor.
● He has won the Nobal prize for
literature in year of 1948.
● Nevertheless , Eliot was unequaled
by any other 20th century poet in
the ways in which he commanded
the attention of his audience.

5. The Waste Land
❏ The poem ‘ The Waste Land ‘ published in
1922.
❏ The Waste Land poem is widely regarded
as one of the most important poems of
the 20th century and a central work of
modernist poetry.
❏ The poem is divided into five sections.
❏ This poem is not about a single thing or
subject, it seems like collection of various
images.
❏ There are sudden changes of time,
location, speaker and even language (
with fragments of German, French and
Sanskrit etc.)

6. Tiresias in Greek Mythology :-
● In Greek mythology Tiresias was the blind ,
immortal, telling about the future.
● There are several illusions to Mythic Tiresias,
noted by Luc Brisson, fall into three groups :
❖ First recounts Tiresias sex - change episode
❖ Second group recounts his blinding by Athena.
❖ Third recounts misadventures of Tiresias.
● The figure of Tiresias recurs in the later European
literature, both as prophet and as man - woman,
in many works.
● As he was immortal so he had a vast experience of
life as man as well as a woman.

7. Tiresias in the poem The Waste Land
➔ In the third section of the poem The position of Tiresias is clear
but in the other part by interpreting the things we can find that
the position of Tiresias.
➔ His position in the poem is not that of ‘ mere spectator’, but a
disconnection that assigns him almost omniscient authority,
rising above the other voices with a tone of certainty, and thus
providing a balance to the otherwise dislocated atmosphere.
➔ Musing upon the king(Fisher) my brother's wreck
And on the king my father's death before him.
This line shows us a relationship with king Fisher. Tiresias has suffered
all, he is of the past and also of present. As the brother of King Fisher he
mourned his sickness and impotency.

8. 👉 Here T. S. Eliot first mentioned Tiresias by name during a single section
of "The Fire Sermon," but he alludes to him obliquely throughout the
poem. In his own notes, Eliot says that Tiresias is an important
unifying figure in The Waste Land, and it is clear that this role is
closely connected with Tiresias's union of male and female in his own
person. He introduces himself in just these terms:
“ I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two
lives,
Old man with wrinkled female breasts,”

9. Here Tiresias describes an early evening scene in a city.
Although blind, Tiresias is a seer, so he can see all human
activity, like a god. Eliot’s notes reveal that what Tiresias sees
creates the poem’s contents. Here Tiresias observes a typist after
she comes home from work. Like the woman in “A Game of
Chess,” the typist prepares for a visitor.
“ I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled
dugs
Perceived the scene, and foretold the
rest -
I too awaited the expected guest.”

10. " O City city, I can sometimes hear Beside a public bar in Lower Thames
Street, The pleasant whining of a mandoline And a clatter and a chatter from
within Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls Of Magnus Martyr
hold Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold. "
Here we can see that Tiresias roams modern London and hears
timeless sounds, including music from an ancient instrument
and the chatter of fishermen. Tiresias transcends time. He can
foresee the future, but he lives in the present as well as the past.

11. ❏ Thus, Tiresias seems to represent the internalised
understanding of the speaker, which Eliot is
fundamentally attempting to seek out.
❏ It is through the prophetic omniscience of Tiresias that
this is communicated; thus he is the gure at the heart of
the poem,
❏ as well as connecting the present state of ‘the waste land’
to the future, foreseeable resolution and recovery.
❏ Whether he is viewed as the mythological prophet, the
metaphorical voice of Eliot, or the embodiment of every
character in the poem, it is evident that the text would
seem disunited, and purposeless, without his presence.
Conclusion :

12. Work cited :
- Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and
Mark C. Carnes (eds), American National Biography. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Eliot, T S, and Frank Kermode. The Waste Land and Other Poems.
New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books, 1998.
- Low, Valentine (9 October 2009). "Out of the waste land: TS Eliot
becomes nation's favourite poet". Timesonline. Retrieved 6 June
2011.
- Luc Brisson, 1976. Le mythe de Tirésias: essai d'analyse structurale
(Leiden: Brill).
- The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. Tiresias. 6 Feb. 2020,
www.britannica.com/topic/Tiresias.
-

13. Thank you
ravinaparmar827@gmail.com