The Waste Land
T S Eliot
I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD
APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering 5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten, 10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 15
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, 20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock, 25
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust. 30
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu.
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
'You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; 35
'They called me the hyacinth girl.'
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Od' und leer das Meer.
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, 45
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. 55
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
Unreal City, 60
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. 65
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying 'Stetson!
'You who were with me in the ships at Mylae! 70
'That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
'Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
'Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
'Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
'Or with his nails he'll dig it up again! 75
'You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!'
7 comments:
This poem begins with"April is the cruellst month" which completely contrast with that lovely month of spring, he discuss the natural os death by the passing of seasons.He used summer to indicate that time has passed, Eliot starts to give some visual cues about the waste of modern city. he also employs religion. he shows the reality of a society after the World War I. he introduce Madam Sosostirs a famous clairvoyant who pretends to see the future through cards.he portrays the feelings of hoplessness and neglect in the waste landers, they don't want to work or to make any changes which need sacrifise.
This poem was written by T S Eliot in 1921. He wrote this poem to describe the consequences of World War I.
T S Eliot starts his poem using Latin (Greek), the quote refers to the mythic Cumaean Sibyle who asks Apollo to make her immortal and never dies, but she forgot to ask for eternal youth, so she is getting older and older every day but never dies.
In the first section, the burial of the dead, Eliot begins it describing April as the cruelest month in order to deliver his feeling toward that war and how it made the most beautiful month the cruelest. But despite that the land had grown flowers, Lilacs with its purple color brings hope again to the land. And here comes the winter and cover the cruelty of war with its snow. Summer makes him feel pessimistic and the summer rains reminds him of war and rockets. Then the sun raises and brings hope and optimism, with the sun shine he tries to go back to his previous life. He meets Mary, who seems to be proud of being a German. He remembers his previous life, life before war and freedom.
Now, the poet revels questions for human beings about if there is life in the destroyed places, he is directing these questions to the leaders but he has found no answers. " There is the shadow under this red rock" we can hide under these rock, it became red because of the blood from the dead. He starts to describe how people are afraid in the war and can't hide or do anything useful for themselves. He remembers freedom and his love (he means by that before war he could do anything he wanted but not anymore ).
Madam Sosostris, famous clairvoyant with a wicked back of cards, despite that she has a bad flu, people still goes to her to know more about their future and wives ask about their missing husbands, soldiers. She starts to look in her cards and tells them what will happen and there is something hidden in the cards she can't reach to it. At the end of this quote the poet is being ridicule toward her.
At the end of this section he is taking about London and its people. How they are unaware of their lives after war, they don't care about anything but living their lives in peace. Then suddenly he sees a friend.
Finally, I would like to say it’s a very expressive poem, it reflects the disillusionment with the moral decay of post–World War I Europe and how people are trying to accommodate in life after war.
You are right Kholoud, people changed completely after the war . They became lazy and hopless and winter became their gun against work.
hello :)
''he shows the reality of a society after the world war I'' good for you Huda!
Eliot does describe the circumstances of life after the departure of the world war I. in addition to Huda's point, one can observe that Eliot distinguished himself from other poets by selecting a group of events in order to represent such ''reality''. To begin with, he qout the story of sibyl . then he present a german woman's memories. after that, he talked about the german opera. he accordingly presented Madame sosostris's story. then he moved to indian culture and ''the man with three staves. finally, he presented lonon's life.
all the former stories are presented to show Eliot's point of view about his age. he selected story from different places to insure that life is meaningless if it is not connected and combined with religion
hello again :)
''summer makes him feel pessimistic'' that's right Kholoud.
Eliot described the people after the war holding the idea of ''life in death and death in life''. that huge damages after the war made people pessimistic and they lost the pleasure taste of life which is absolutely becouse of their deviation of religion
thanks wala for your support :-)
good point eman "life in death and death in life" it is the situation of the waste landers who got accustomesd to laziness after the world ww1, they hate to work they depeds on the memories of the past without looking forward to the future
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