Which work of T.S. Eliot portrays the spiritual sterility of modern Western life?

• A. The Waste Land
• B. The Road Not Taken
• C. Ulysses
• D. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Answer: (A)

The main idea being tested is how modernist poetry uses fragmentation, allusion, and dense imagery to express spiritual emptiness in postwar Western life. The Waste Land does this with a mosaic of voices, languages, and cultural references that jump from myth to bleak contemporary scenes, creating a sense of disconnection and meaninglessness that mirrors a civilization losing its spiritual center. The Fisher King myth anchors the poem in a drought of faith and vitality, while barren landscapes, sensory desolation, and fractured transitions convey how difficult it is to find renewal or coherence in the modern world. This combination—structural fragmentation paired with apocalyptic imagery—makes The Waste Land the strongest representation of spiritual sterility in postwar Western life. The other works touch on different concerns: a meditation on personal choice, a speaker’s social anxiety, or a contemporary consciousness narrative, none of which are as directly tied to a broad cultural and spiritual barrenness in the Western world.