The Waste Land
/ðə ˈweɪst lænd/
/ðə ˈweɪst lænd/
- a poem (1922) by T S Eliot, which has been seen as an expression of the depressed mood and sense of disorder after the First World War. Many of its lines refer to other works of literature and to cultural matters, and these are explained in notes at the end of the poem. The style of the poem, involving short sections that do not at first seem to be closely connected, has had a great influence on modern poetry. “April is the cruellest month.”