Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

“The Waste Land”

Cultural Dictionary

“The Waste Land” definition

(1922) A poem by T. S. Eliot. Its subject is the fragmented and sterile nature of the modern world, particularly the world after World War I.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

“the Waste Land” is always a great word to know.

So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a fool or simpleton; ninny.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for “The Waste LandR? How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

Enjoy Dictionary.com ad-free! Learn more

Matching Quote

"Perhaps I most fully realized that this was primeval, untamed, and forever untamable, Nature.... It is difficult to conceive of a region uninhabited by man. We habitually presume his presence and influence everywhere. And yet we have not seen pure Nature, unless we have seen her thus vast and drear and inhuman, though in the midst of cities. Nature was here something savage and awful, though beautiful. I looked with awe at the ground I trod on, to see what the Powers had made there, the form and fashion and material of their work. This was that Earth of which we have heard, made out of Chaos and Old Night. Here was no man's garden, but the unhandseled globe. It was not lawn, nor pasture, nor mead, nor woodland, nor lea, nor arable, nor waste land. It was the fresh and natural surface of the planet Earth, as it was made forever and ever,—to be the dwelling of man, we say,—so Nature made it, and man may use it if he can. Man was not to be associated with it. It was Matter, vast, terrific,—not his Mother Earth that we have heard of, not for him to tread on, or be buried in,—no, it were being too familiar even to let his bones lie there,—the home this, of Necessity and Fate. There was clearly felt the presence of a force not bound to be kind to man. It was a place for heathenism and superstitious rites,—to be inhabited by men nearer of kin to the rocks and to wild animals than we."

-Henry David Thoreau

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help