Journal archive

Abstract: Several flowers are referred to in T. S. Eliot’s poems which are used symbolically. The article “Lilacs and Hyacinths: Two Symbols of Sadness in T.S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’” deals with research of symbolic meanings of the floristic imagery in the major poem by T. S. Eliot. The notion of the symbol with reference to modernism is unusual and polemic, so the authors examine the structure and essence of modernist symbols that evoke deep and unconscious responses in the reader focusing on terminological and theoretical aspects of the problem. Historical and archetypical approaches have been used to interpret and explore the meanings of lilacs and hyacinths in Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’. The analytical survey has been carried out to demonstrate the peculiar use of two flowers mentioned in ‘The Waste Land’. Data were gathered from the text of the poem and from theoretical and historical sources. The important research goals were to find out if the two flowers have been used symbolically and differ from each other. For each flower its symbolic and common meanings that have been explored in different contexts of the poem (historical, biographical, mythological, cultural, anthropological, etc.). The international research team (Iraq, Russia) have also tried to take into account the challenges of teaching English modernist poetry to the international students in the age of global education.