Episodes

8 episodes in this season

A Mighty Maze

62 min

The Abdication of Belief

64 min

Wisdom of the Age

62 min

Disturb the Universe

62 min

Downward to Darkness

62 min

Now Playing

The Ruins of Meaning

64 min

As an Endless Dream

62 min

Unfathomable Reservoirs of the Absurd

62 min

Ideas of the 20th Century

TV Series

20261h 4m

DocumentaryTalkWar & Politics

Now playing

The Ruins of Meaning

Season 1 · Episode 6 · Mar 19, 2026

In lecture six, we explore the profound impact of World War I on Western intellectual thought through the poetry of W. B. Yeats and T. S. Eliot, examining how both poets grappled with the collapse of traditional values and the search for meaning in a fractured civilization. We analyze Yeats's cyclical view of history in "The Second Coming" and his quest for spiritual permanence in "Sailing to Byzantium," alongside Eliot's fragmented vision in "The Waste Land," which depicts a spiritually barren modern world. The lecture concludes by highlighting how both poets, despite their different approaches, ultimately argue that life requires connection to something eternal or larger than oneself to have meaning.

More details

Ideas of the 20th Century

TV Series

20261h 4m

DocumentaryTalkWar & Politics

Now playing

The Ruins of Meaning

Season 1 · Episode 6 · Mar 19, 2026

More details