According to legend, only the pure of heart can attain the Grail. The poem is full of literary and mythological references that draw on many cultures and universalize the poem's themes. It concludes with resignation at the never-ending nature of the search. The poem goes on to present a sequence of short sketches following an individual's baffled search for spiritual peace. Its opening lines introduce the ideas of life's ultimate futility despite momentary flashes of hope. Despite this fragmentation of form, The Waste Land is unified by its theme of despair. These fragmented poems are characterized by jarring jumps, in perspective, imagery, setting, or subject. The Waste Land, a poem in five parts, was ground breaking in establishing the form of the so-called kaleidoscopic, or a fragmented modern poem. Ina way it presents the "disillusionment of a generation." The gloom and despair of the poet are mirrored in this poem. The poem presents a bleak and gloomy picture of the human predicament in the twentieth century. It was written during the autumn of 1921, in Switzerland, where the poet was just recovering after a serious breakdown in health caused by domestic worries and over work. The Waste Land draws much of its symbolism and narrative framework from the mythological story of the quest for the Holy Grail, the sacred cup that Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper.
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