An Introduction:
Myths used by T.S. Eliot in his major Poems is one of the most distinctive and influential features of his modernist poetry. Writing in the aftermath of the First World War, Eliot confronted a world marked by spiritual exhaustion, cultural fragmentation, and moral disintegration. To express this sense of crisis, he turned to ancient myths, religious traditions, and classical narratives, not as escapist devices, but as structural and symbolic frameworks through which the modern condition could be understood.
By juxtaposing timeless mythical patterns with contemporary life, Eliot sought to reveal the continuity between past and present and to impose order on the chaos of modern experience.
Eliot’s theoretical justification for this approach is most clearly articulated in his concept of the “mythical method,” outlined in his essay on James Joyce. According to this method, myth serves as a unifying principle that allows the poet to organise modern reality and give it coherence and depth.
In major poems such as The Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Hollow Men, and Four Quartets, Eliot draws upon a wide range of sources including Greek mythology, Christian theology, Eastern philosophy, fertility rituals, and medieval legends. These myths function both as parallels to modern life and as ironic contrasts that highlight the spiritual barrenness of the contemporary world.
Through his innovative use of myth, Eliot redefines the role of poetry in the modern age. Myth becomes a means of exploring themes of alienation, loss of faith, time, redemption, and the search for meaning. Rather than presenting myth in a conventional narrative form, Eliot fragments and alludes to it, mirroring the fractured consciousness of modern humanity.
Thus, Eliot’s major poems demonstrate how myth can be revitalized to address modern anxieties, making his work a powerful synthesis of tradition and modernity.
Eliot’s Concept of Myth and Its Use in Major Poems:
Eliot held that modern poetry ought to be intellectually demanding, rich in suggestion, and deeply symbolic. In keeping with this belief, he makes extensive use of myth and symbolism in his major works, particularly in The Waste Land. The poem centers on the figure of Tiresias, a character drawn from ancient Greek mythology, who serves as a unifying consciousness within the poem. Even the title of The Waste Land is rooted in the Grail legend, which provides the fundamental idea of spiritual sterility and desolation.
Eliot further develops this theme of barrenness by linking it with fertility myths associated with the Phoenician and Greek gods Adonis, Attis, and Osiris. According to myth, Adonis and Osiris were ritually sacrificed in spring by being drowned, an act believed to ensure renewal and rebirth afterward.
Similarly, in The Hollow Men, Eliot turns to mythological sources, this time invoking the River Lethe, which in Roman Catholic belief separates the world of the living from the realm of the dead. The souls of the departed are ferried across this river by Charon, who conveys them toward Heaven or Hell according to their earthly actions. Eliot adapts this idea from Dante and situates the hollow men on the banks of the Lethe, reinforcing their state of spiritual emptiness and suspension.
Use of Pagan and Christian Myths:
Eliot draws upon both pagan and Christian mythological traditions in his poetry. From ancient Egyptian belief, he adapts the fertility ritual associated with the vegetation god. An image of this god, covered with grains of corn, was buried in the earth, and after a period the grains began to germinate, suggesting the god’s return to life.
In some versions of the myth, the fertility deity was cast into the sea, and when the body later resurfaced, it was taken as a sign of rebirth. Alongside this, Eliot also employs Christian mythology, which centers on human sin and the suffering of Christ as an act of redemption. Christ’s resurrection stands as a powerful emblem of human endurance, renewal, and future abundance.
Mythical Parallels and Contrast Between Past and Present:
There is a fundamental similarity among the vegetation myths concerned with the cyclical renewal of the year, the fertility myths that celebrate the restoration of human vitality, the Christian narrative of the Resurrection, and the Grail legend with its emphasis on spiritual cleansing.
By employing contrast, Eliot exposes the degradation and moral barrenness of the modern age when set against the richness of the past. He places contemporary experiences side by side with historical and mythical events to heighten this effect.
Thus, the romance of Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester is presented as essentially parallel to the casual sexual encounter between the typist and the clerk. In the same way, Eliot’s portrayal of London mirrors Baudelaire’s Paris and Dante’s Limbo, as all are depicted as realms afflicted by the same decay and corruption.
Myths as Artistic Suggestion of Theme and Remedy:
Eliot uses myth not mechanically but as a creative artist, shaping it through an impressionistic technique. In The Waste Land, for example, myth functions both to reveal the central concern of the poem and to hint at its solution. The modern Western world is presented as a barren wasteland, and its lost vitality can be restored only through an act of sacrifice.
By proposing ritual sacrifice as a remedy, Eliot implies that contemporary, material-obsessed humanity has become enslaved to wealth and profit. This devotion to money breeds greed, sensuality, and deep spiritual suffering. Thus, one primary aim of Eliot’s mythic method is to indirectly convey his major themes.
Similarly, in The Hollow Men, Eliot draws on myths and symbols such as Lethe, Charon, Heaven, and Hell to indicate that the modern age must renounce materialism and turn toward a Christian mode of existential awareness. He suggests that individuals must actively fashion spiritual meaning and values in order to escape inner emptiness.
Myths and the Problems of the Modern Age:
Eliot employs myth as a way of addressing the dilemmas of the modern world. Through myth, he conveys the idea of time as a continuous process shaping human consciousness. Guided by his historical awareness, Eliot suggests that contemporary problems are not entirely new; similar challenges confronted humanity in earlier ages. In the past, people discovered responses to these crises that can still be tested today.
By drawing upon the knowledge and experience of earlier generations, humanity may find a way to endure. History also reveals recurring phases of spiritual decline, when kingdoms were devastated by the moral failures of rulers or by the destruction of war. Yet renewal followed, as lands were restored to vitality through the suffering, sacrifice, and repentance of those in power.
Mythical Framework and Fusion of Past and Present:
Eliot then turns to myth as a means of giving his poem a unifying mythical structure, one in which history and contemporary life exist together. The mood that emerges is uncanny, blending the ancient with the modern and the eternal with the momentary. In The Waste Land, the age-old figure of Tiresias is placed within the desolate landscape of the modern world.
In the section “The Burial of the Dead,” he first overhears a conversation in a Munich café, spoken by a young German woman named Marie. She recalls her experiences of winter and her joy at the arrival of spring. Through Tiresias, Eliot subsequently offers an observation on the materialistic tendencies of modern humanity.
Myths as a Source of Aesthetic Beauty:
Eliot uses myths for adding aesthetic beauty to his poetry. He believes that rich poetry is complex and the elements of its complex poetic thought are elements of various cultures. Maxwell observes:
“Eliot has based his incidental symbolism on myths and legends. The basic symbolism is taken from the Grail legend, and particularly in the last section, Eliot introduces the journey symbol, which is well defined feature of European legend.”