There were two major climaxes in the reception of T. S. Eliot in China, the first was from 1930s to 1940s, and the second was in the 1980s. The first climax, or what we call the early reception of Eliot in China, directly arose from educational activities of a group of British and American scholar coming to China during 1930s to 1940s, the most influential ones among whom were I. A. Richards and William Empson. They made three main contributions in introducing and promoting Eliot in China: 1. initial introductions in courses and lectures, arousing Chinese scholars and students’ interests in Eliot; 2. collaboration with Chinese scholars to translate and introduce Eliot in newspapers and magazines; 3. enhancing the face-to-face communication between Eliot and Chinese scholars. Richards and Empson both had their own academic inclinations, and thus inevitably carried personal scholarly imprints and preferences when promoting Eliot. This led to two major tendencies in the early reception of Eliot in China.

The first distinctive feature was that Eliot’s literary theory was widely regarded as a kind of “practical criticism”. Another important tendency was an emphasis of “intellectuality” in Eliot’s poetry, which contributed to the formation of “The Intellectual Poetry” Movement in China. Apart from the influences from the early promoters, Chinese academy’s overall preferences and the demands of Chinese modernist literature were all factors contributing to how Eliot’s poetry and poetics had been translated, interpreted and reshaped in 1930s and 1940’s China.

T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” was published at a time that saw an unprecedented proliferation of means of mechanical reproduction. Not only images, but also sounds – music, voices, or sheer noise – were becoming reproducible. Walter Benjamin’s reflections on the effects of this reproducibility in art are well known. Many scholars have also remarked upon the increasing significance of media of reproduction in modernist texts.

This paper discusses the presence of what was at the time one of the primary media of sound reproduction, the gramophone, in “The Waste Land.” What Conrad Aiken called Eliot’s “allusive method” encompasses not only (inter)textual, but also (inter)medial practices. I argue that the mutual entanglement of these practices radically alters the quality of the many allusions pervading “The Waste Land,” and that by entwining textual and medial (re-)production, the poem offers a meditation on memory, its strange workings and undoings.

I begin by reading the allusion to Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (line 253) in conjunction with the gramophone (line 256) to show how the text of “The Waste Land” reflects upon the (re-)productive practices it engages. Building on this close reading, my paper goes on to discuss the critical implications of the poem’s textual-medial practices for how we might think about verbal forms of expression in today’s multi-medial landscape. Finally, I will link these changing forms of expression to questions of memory – individual, generational, and cultural.

Suryakant Tripathi, one of the four pillars of the Chāyāvādī movement (often compared with romanticism) in the twentieth-century Hindi literature, used a pen name ‘Nirālā’ which means ‘distinctive’ in English. His writings justify his pen name aptly. The poems that Nirālā wrote were indeed distinctive in features and content. He was the first Hindi poet to write in free verse. Nirālā, right from his childhood, suffered the pangs of bereavement. He lost his mother at the age of three and then his father at 20. The epidemic caused by the First World War devoured his uncle, brother, and sister-in-law, and in its later phase, it gulped down his wife and only daughter, who was already widowed by it. This continuous suffering due to the deaths of his dear ones made him devise an alternative to keep from feeling the anguish. This anaesthetic he developed from his poetry— an aesthetic object. Recounting the losses that turned him dry, he writes that ‘the waterfall of his affection has dried up; his body remains like sand. This branch of the mango tree (his body) that looks dried says – now no bird comes here; I am a written line with no meaning— life has burned out. He finds his life devoid of love, and writing poetry is a compensatory experience for him. This paper is intended to read into the psyche of the poet, analysing the poems written during and after the period that caused him all the losses with reference to his biographical narratives. The anguish forms the core of Nirālā’s poetry, which the poet was trying to pour out from within. His ‘Saroj Smriti’ he wrote lamenting the death of his daughter, is considered the best-ever written elegy in Hindi.

Antonio Machado (1875–1939), a Spanish poet, and T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), an English poet, played pivotal roles in revitalizing Spanish and English poetry during the first half of the 20th century. Despite distinct historical, cultural, and linguistic milieus, both poets shared a deep preoccupation with the inner world of individuals amidst the upheavals of modern society. Their experiences of war seemed to have shaped significantly their poetic identities.

The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked the collapse of Spain’s imperial era, leaving a deep scar on the national psyche. In response, the “Generación del 98” emerged, examining Spain’s decline and envisioning its renewal. Machado, closely associated with this movement, explored identity, memory, and historical disillusionment. Influenced by Symbolism and Modernism, his early poetry features dreamlike imagery and introspective themes, transitioning later to a more direct style engaging Spain’s sociopolitical reality. Campos de Castilla (1912) marks a turning point, using the Castilian landscape as a metaphor for national decline. Cancionero apócrifo (1924-36) introduces heteronyms like Juan de Mairena and Abel Martín, allowing philosophical dialogues on knowledge and poetic discourse. During the Spanish Civil War, Machado’s poetry took on a more political tone, blending mourning with resistance. His literary evolution captures both the crises of his time and the effort to preserve Spain’s cultural memory.

For T. S. Eliot, World War I (1914–1918) epitomized the moral and spiritual disintegration of modern society The Waste Land (1922), a cornerstone of Modernist literature, reflects alienation and existential anxiety in a fragmented civilization. Through intricate symbolism, the poem depicts the chaos following Western civilization’s collapse while hinting at spiritual renewal, a theme that later defined his poetry. Eliot’s conversion to Christianity in 1927 marked a shift in focus. During World War II, Four Quartets (1943) reached the pinnacle of his poetic achievements, contemplating spiritual redemption through philosophical and theological lenses. Together, these works establish Eliot as a towering Modernist poet who examined the crises of modern civilization, the void of human existence, and the possibility of spiritual recovery.

Both poets reflect the early 20th-century shift from an optimistic modern outlook to a fragmented, experimental, and often pessimistic view of modernity. They grapple with the collapse of traditional values and articulate the anxieties of a rapidly changing world, shaped by wars and political turmoil. Their works offer valuable insights into early 20th-century Modernist literature beyond linguistic traditions.

This study moves beyond traditional qualitative comparisons and employs digital methodologies to explore their complete poetic works. Computational tools uncover patterns and connections that remain hidden in traditional qualitative approaches. Part-of-speech (POS) analysis examines syntactic patterns, while word frequency and N-gram analysis highlight lexical preferences. TF-IDF analysis extracts keywords reflecting thematic priorities, such as Eliot’s focus on temporality, mortality, and existential disillusionment, and Machado’s emphasis on Spanish landscapes, memory, and national identity. Topic modeling maps existential and political concerns, while sentiment analysis tracks emotional fluctuations in response to societal upheavals. Eder’s Zeta method examines stylistic evolution, shedding light on shifting thematic and lexical tendencies. Comparatively, Machado situates his reflections within Spain’s sociopolitical landscape, blending national identity with personal memory, while Eliot navigates the breakdown of Western traditions and the search for meaning in a fragmented world. Machado’s symbolic landscapes contrast with Eliot’s cultural and historical references, yet both poets seek renewal amid decline.

Initial findings suggest thematic and stylistic parallels as well as key differences between Machado and Eliot. Both poets grapple with the collapse of traditional values and the search for renewal, but their approaches reflect unique cultural milieus. Machado’s poetry, deeply rooted in Spanish landscapes and folk traditions, emphasizes cultural memory and national identity. Eliot’s works, informed by a broader Western intellectual tradition, focus on philosophical abstractions and the fragmentation of modernity. Machado’s early Modernist-influenced work transitions to historical and political engagement, while Eliot’s poetry evolves from postwar despair to spiritual contemplation. Sentiment analysis confirms Eliot’s shift toward positive sentiment after his conversion, indicating an increased focus on redemption and renewal.

This research also highlights the dynamic potential of combining traditional literary scholarship with computational technologies. While traditional qualitative studies tend to focus on select works, digital approaches allow for an inclusive examination of a poet’s entire oeuvre. For example, Eliot’s fragmented style poses challenges for co-occurrence analysis due to frequent shifts in tone and subject, while Machado’s symbolic language complicates sentiment analysis. These limitations underscore the need to integrate computational and traditional methods for nuanced interpretation.

By bridging linguistic and cultural divides, this study emphasizes the universality of human concerns reflected in poetry. Both Eliot and Machado engage with themes of identity, spirituality, and societal upheaval, crafting works that resonate with the crises and possibilities of their time. Their poetry reflects the shared anxieties of modernity, while their distinct approaches illuminate the richness of their respective traditions. Digital methodologies not only enrich the study of these poets but also provide new ways to explore the intersection of tradition and modernity in global literature. This interdisciplinary approach underscores the transformative potential of combining literature and technology, paving the way for future scholarship at the intersection of the humanities and digital innovation.