The word waste is decidedly different from many words with which it is used interchangeably, such as junk or trash. Generally, the latter two evoke the idea that something is not now, nor has it ever been, of value. Waste, on the contrary, is not always waste. Rather, waste is formed as a byproduct of a valuable reaction, and is itself likely composed of the leftovers of something that was once itself valuable. When one wastes food, for instance, it does not mean that the food was inedible, but rather that one simply chose not to eat it. Waste also enables people to recognize that though something may not be present now, just as a wasteland is evocative of an area in which nothing can grow, that does not mean the area has necessarily always been barren and desolate. In ritual to romance, Weston says "Therefore the written word had to be found. It has taken me some nine or ten years longer to complete the evidence, but the chain is at last linked up..." (1) By virtue of analyzing features of a certain story, Weston is able to bring in more evidence and link it to others. Eliot works in The Waste Land of post WWI, but he too acts as a sort of tailor, sewing up what once was into one distinct narrative, despite drawing on so many narratives of the past. The Waste Land is an endeavor of recognizing the components that were present before the waste. Furthermore, the story of the Grail itself speaks of the restoration of a Waste Land connected with the death of an unknown and unnamed knight. Gawain's quest to seek knowledge and understand the past, even as some aspects remain unclear, is a quest to restore the Waste Land. Eliot's is strikingly similar. Ultimately, the final consequence of Gawain and some forms of Perceval's quest is not necessarily to seek the grail for its own sake, but rather, the restoration of the land. Eliot's poem, however iconic, is just as valuable for its restoration of other works and myths as it is as a standalone work.

Similarly, in the myth of Osiris, the God-King is killed and strewn into pieces. When Osiris is revived, he is no longer the divine king of Egypt, bringing unto the kingdom prosperity. Egypt itself was formed upon an oasis in an otherwise uninhabitable desert, a wasteland. However, Osiris is resurrected king of the dead. Eliot does much the same with the stories he tells. They do not necessarily return to public prominence, but they are bandaged and revived. They live on not as the art du jour, but nevertheless, their art is forever preserved in relics. Art brought purpose to humanity, bringing us from the Waste Land. Even as any one form of art becomes obsolete, it remains intrinsically valuable insofar as it influences in some nonlinear progression the art of today.