Love and Sex in the WastelandAttitudes toward love and sex are one of the major themes of the poem. The introduction to "The Waste Land" in The Norton Anthology of English Literature states that "This is a poem about spiritual dryness", and much of this spiritual dryness has to do with the nature of modern sexual experience (although that there are also other aspects of spiritual dryness). spiritual dryness the introduction also notes that major themes include the absence of a "regenerative belief" that gives "meaning and value to people" and a type of death that "does not portend any resurrection"). (Introduction 2146) Comparisons of various kinds between the past and the present are often used to highlight the nature of this modern sexual experience, described as empty, lacking both romance and passion, and unsuccessful. Lil's rejection of his offspring (line 160) has already been mentioned; other examples abound throughout the poem. An example is provided by the seduction of the typist by the “smutty young man”, described by Teiresias in lines 230-256. This scene describes a seduction apparently without love or passion. The typist seems to have no sexual desire, but no desire to resist seduction either – the “young man’s caresses are not condemned, even if they are not desired”. (lines 236-237) His only emotion expressed in the passage is vague relief at the end of the episode. Eliot follows the scene of seduction with these lines: When a pretty woman stoops to madness and paces again in her room, alone, She straightens her hair with an automatic hand, And puts a record on the gramophone. (lines 253-256) These lines parody a song from The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith, in which a woman who had been seduced earlier... middle of paper... the cycle of life cannot continue and much of the context of the meaning of life is lost. Works cited and consulted: Abrams, MH, et al. Footnotes to “The Waste Land” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, sixth edition, volume 2. Ed. Mr. H. Abrams. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1993. Abrams, M. H. et al. Introduction to “The Waste Land” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, sixth edition, volume 2. Ed. Mr. H. Abrams. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1993. Eliot, Thomas Stearns. Footnotes to “The Waste Land” in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, sixth edition, volume 2. Ed. Mr. H. Abrams. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1993. Eliot, Thomas Stearns. "The Waste Land" in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, sixth edition, volume 2. Ed. Mr. H. Abrams. New York: WW Norton & Company, 1993.