The Role of Isolation in T.S Eliot’s The Waste Land and Prufrock

Abstract

The expression of modern existence as a disconnected entity with shocking and distressful consequences is reflected in the writings of many modernist writers, but it seems to take centre stage in the poetry of T. S. Eliot. The decline of values and the multifarious problems of the twentieth century have caused modern man to create parentheses that detach them from each other, from society, from nature and even from themselves. This paper examines the horrifying consequences of life in a chaotic and disconnected universe on human existence from the perspectives of frustration, despair, and alienation. The poet explores and employs rhetorical tropes and linguistic codes that present individuals whose lives have been torn apart as a result of political, economic, social and religious crises. Social limitations and individual inadequacies have pushed modern man into hopeless individualistic worlds that are not connected to those of others around them, and the consequences of this are devastating. The present article is an attempt to analyze the role of isolation in T.S Eliot’s The Waste Land and Prufrock.