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T.S. Eliot and "The Waste Land"

Regarding an enlightening Peer Post by one... linzersamples

Lindsay pointed out how Eliot uses a large number of references through out The Waste Land to help the reader understand the text. As Lindsay pointed out

Eliot had them included when it was published

this is was key to his 1922 publication of his book copy of The Waste Land. Many readers would be lost without all of these references to help clear up any confusion about what Eliot meant in his writings. However the references did not help the reader one hundred percent.

Lindsay made it clear however that the references did a great job in confusing the reader even more at some times. In the first part of The Waste Land called The Burial of the Dead Eliot describes death. Judging by the title of the first part the reader might guess its going to portray some sort of tithes to death already; but he never directly says it. Never saying it puts even more pressure upon the reader to use the references, and then this is where the reader becomes confused because the reference never directly says what he is talking about either. You get a sort of feel that the protagonist has lost somebody dear to him like Lindsay said,

it appears that he is referring to love lost

but the read then refers to the references which speak of the tale about Apollo. The Tale about Apollo accidentally killing his friend makes the reader think that there was an evil thing that caused the death, so now the reader thinks that the death in The Burial of the Dead was caused by the protagonist or some subconscious evil that caused the death. Before that the reader imagines that the loss the protagonist had was like an ordinary death in the family, of perhaps natural causes with nothing anybody could do to help, and not caused by anybody. So this is where the reader becomes confused. Was it like a death in the family or as Lindsay states

Or is it perhaps hurt we can unwillingly bestow on those we love most

or was death on the hands of the protagonist now?

Lindsay was unsure how Eliot intended the text to be interpreted. Eliot may have been leaving this text open for many interpretations. Maybe the protagonist suffered from love lost, but he had all the difference the death. This could be true as death is suddenly feared by the protagonist hinting at the guilt and paranoia caused by having been the cause of the death!

Maybe what is only sound is that Eliot could have done a small touch better job at helping the reader dig up the true meaning of his words using the resources. Or perchance Eliot should have not been so whole hearted and found in using the references to such a degree. This confusion may be a tiny issue with Eliot's work but it is creative and really gets the reader into Dick Tracy mode when investigating the deeper meaning of his work.