My substance gets slowly rejected away

Four on one day. Four. That makes, in sum, the impressive amount of 54 first-round rejections. That's 54. Up until now I've only had brief, fleeting moments of insecurity. But as of now I fear this unanticipated amount of rejection has mutated into a distinctive feeling of dejection.

The worst part of this application marathon is that I have no idea what goes wrong and why. I have work experience that qualifies me for a whole range of jobs and actually for almost all of the jobs I applied for. Only very few were shots in the dark for me. I have the capabilities proven by my academic record. I have outstanding references. I have constantly revised my résumé; I have tried different styles for my cover letter, but I always customized it to the specific job advertised and the company advertising it. I've come to send only a selection of references, not all of them, anymore.

And yet.  
And yet I remain unsuccessful.
And yet I remain without job, without economically viable income, without apartment, without future.

And I don't understand why. Or what I can do to change that.

I know I could compromise more, apply for jobs below my paygrade or my qualifications. But wouldn't that just mean engaging in a trade-off that's ultimately affecting my future negatively? If I now take a job, any job really, in my field, don't I restrict myself from future jobs on my paygrade and fitting my qualifications? I really don't know. And my current confidence crisis does nothing to help me find a reliable answer to this question.  

So in order to bring this thought train to an end, I let R.E.M do the summing-up: