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T.S. ELIOT – THE WASTE LAND Short Summary in Hindi
मैडम सोसोस्ट्रिस ने बात की थी। "व्हाट द थंडर सेड" शिफ्ट
समुद्र से चट्टानों और पहाड़ों तक के स्थान। वर्णनकर्ता बारिश के लिए रोता है, और अंत में वह आता है।
इसके साथ आने वाली गड़गड़ाहट बृहदारण्यक से निकली त्रि-आयामी उक्ति में प्रवेश करती है
उपनिषद: "दत्त, दयाध्वम, दमयता": देना, सहानुभूति देना, नियंत्रण करना। इनके साथ
आज्ञाओं, आशीर्वाद संभव है, सभ्यता के पतन के बावजूद जो चल रहा है -- "लंदन
पुल नीचे गिर रहा है नीचे गिर रहा है।"
महत्वपूर्ण तथ्य
बंजर भूमि के बारे में
1922 में प्रकाशित होने पर "द वेस्ट लैंड" ने सनसनी मचा दी थी। यह आज सबसे व्यापक रूप से है
बीसवीं सदी की अंग्रेजी भाषा की कविता का अनुवाद और अध्ययन किया। यह शायद आश्चर्यजनक है
कविता की लंबाई और उसकी कठिनाई, लेकिन आधुनिक जीवन की एलियट की दृष्टि, जो कि घिनौने आवेगों से त्रस्त है,
जब पाठकों ने पहली बार इसका सामना किया तो व्यापक उदासीनता, और व्यापक आत्मीयता ने एक पंच पैक किया।
बेशक, "द वेस्ट लैंड" एलियट की मूल रूप से तैयार की गई कविता नहीं है। इलियट का करीबी दोस्त और
सहयोगी, एज्रा पाउंड ने कविता को महत्वपूर्ण रूप से संशोधित किया, जिसमें प्रमुख कटौती और संपीड़न का सुझाव दिया गया। धन्यवाद
पाउंड के भारी संपादन के साथ-साथ सुझाव (विशेष रूप से उनके तूफानी से प्रासंगिक दृश्यों के बारे में,
शत्रुतापूर्ण विवाह) हाई-वुड से, "द वेस्ट लैंड" ने आधुनिकतावादी कविता को परिभाषित किया और संभवतः बन गया
सदी की सबसे प्रभावशाली कविता। एक वक्ता की आवाज से रहित, कविता निरंतर बदलती रहती है
इसके स्वर और रूप, इसके बजाय एलियट की पर्याप्त काव्य से कई मोहक आवाजों को एक साथ जोड़ते हैं
प्रदर्शनों की सूची; डांटे ने मंच को बकवास ध्वनियों के साथ साझा किया (एक तकनीक जो एलियट के सूखेपन को भी प्रदर्शित करती है
बुद्धि)। यह मानते हुए कि इस शैली ने आधुनिक दुनिया के विखंडन का सबसे अच्छा प्रतिनिधित्व किया, एलियट ने पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया
आधुनिक संस्कृति की बाँझपन और परंपरा और अनुष्ठान की कमी। इस निराशावादी दृष्टिकोण के बावजूद, कई
इसके पौराणिक, धार्मिक अंत को मानवता के नवीनीकरण के अवसर के बारे में आशान्वित पाते हैं।
"द वेस्ट लैंड" के अंतिम संस्करण पर पाउंड का प्रभाव महत्वपूर्ण है। कविता के समय
रचना, एलियट बीमार थे, अपने नर्वस ब्रेकडाउन से उबरने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे थे और खराब हो रहे थे
एक दुखी शादी। पाउंड ने उसे समर्थन और दोस्ती की पेशकश की; एलियट में उनका विश्वास और प्रशंसा
चरित्र सूची
बयान करनेवाला
कविता के पात्रों का वर्णन करना सबसे कठिन है, वह कई अलग-अलग आकार और रूप धारण करता है। पर
कई बार कथावाचक स्वयं एलियट प्रतीत होता है; अन्य समय में वह पूरी मानवता के लिए खड़ा होता है। आग में
उपदेश" वह एक बिंदु पर ग्रिल लीजेंड के फिशर किंग हैं, दूसरे अंधे भविष्यवक्ता टायर्सियस पर।
जब वह एलियट को प्रतिबिंबित करता प्रतीत होता है, तो उसके विचार जिस हद तक आत्मकथात्मक हैं, वह अस्पष्ट है।
मैडम सोसोस्ट्रिस
एल्डस हक्सले के उपन्यास क्रोम येलो में एक प्रसिद्ध क्लैरवॉयंट का उल्लेख किया गया है और एलियट द्वारा उधार लिया गया है
टैरो कार्ड एपिसोड। वह एक बुरी सर्दी से पीड़ित है, लेकिन फिर भी "वह सबसे बुद्धिमान महिला के रूप में जानी जाती है"
यूरोप, / ताश के एक दुष्ट पैक के साथ।"
स्टेटसन
कथावाचक का एक मित्र, जो उसके साथ युद्ध में लड़ा था। कौन सा युद्ध? यह असपष्ट है। शायद पुनिक
युद्ध या प्रथम विश्व युद्ध, या दोनों, या न ही।
अमीर महिला
नाम से कभी नहीं पुकारा जाता, वह "ए गेम ऑफ चेस" के दीप्तिमान ड्राइंग रूम में बैठती है। उसका आभाष होता है
विलासिता से घिरा होना, लेकिन इसकी सराहना या आनंद लेने में असमर्थ। वह इलियट की पत्नी की ओर इशारा कर सकती है
विविएन।
फिलोमेला
ओविड्स मेटामोर्फोसिस का एक पात्र। उसके प्रतिशोध लेने के बाद, उसके बाद, टेरियस द्वारा बलात्कार किया गया था
अपनी बहन के साथ, एक कोकिला में रूपांतरित।
एक टाइपिस्ट
अकेला, आधुनिक दुनिया का प्राणी। उसके पास एक "यंग मैन कार्बुनकुलर" आता है, जो उसके साथ सोता है
उसकी। उसे फिर से अकेला छोड़ दिया जाता है, उसके साथ सिर्फ उसका दर्पण और एक ग्रामोफोन।
मिस्टर यूजीनाइड्स
स्मिर्ना का एक व्यापारी (अब इज़मिर, तुर्की में)। शायद एक आँख वाला व्यापारी जिसे मैडम
सोसोस्ट्रिस संदर्भित करता है।
फलेबास
एक फोनीशियन व्यापारी जिसे "डेथ बाय वॉटर" में पानी में मृत पड़ा हुआ बताया गया है। शायद वही
डूब गया फोनीशियन नाविक जिसे मैडम सोसोस्ट्रिस संदर्भित करता है।
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Robert Frost Facts
Robert Frost Awards:
1. Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (In 1924, he won the first of four Pulitzer Prizes for the book New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes. He would win additional Pulitzers for Collected Poems in 1931, A Further Range in 1937, and A Witness Tree in 1943.)
2. American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Poetry (1939)
3. Robert Frost Medal (1941)
4. United States Poet Laureate (1958)
5. Congressional Gold Medal (1960)
6. Bollingen Prize (1963)
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One word substitution
| One Word Substitution | Phrase |
| Mariticide | The killing of one's husband |
| Parricide | The killing of parents |
| Genocide | The killing of a whole race |
| Infanticide | The killing of a newborn child |
| Regicide | The killing of a king |
| Homicide | The killing of a human being |
| Suicide | The killing of oneself |
| Patricide | The killing of a father |
| Matricide | The killing of a mother |
| Fratricide | The killing of one's brother |
| Sororicide | The killing of one's sister |
| Uxoricide | The killing of one's wife |
| Dipsomania | Morbid compulsion to keep on consuming alcohol |
| Kleptomania | Morbid compulsion to steal |
| Bibliokleptomania | Morbid compulsion to steal books |
| Pyromania | Morbid compulsion to start a fire |
| Megalomania | Morbid delusion of power, importance or godliness |
| Nymphomania | Morbid, uncontrollable desire on the part of a woman |
| Satyromania | Morbid, uncontrollable desire on the part of a man |
| Monomania | A person with a one-track mind |
| Mythomania | The compulsion to tell lies |
| Mania | Madness with an obsession with something |
Figures of speech
Hyperbole: An extravagant statement; to give emphasis or to give heightened effect exaggeration is done for it and this is
Types of Poems
ABC
A poem that has five lines and creates a mood, picture, or feeling. Lines 1 through 4 are made up ofwords, phrases or clauses while the first word of each line is in alphabetical order. Line 5 is one sentencelong and begins with any letter.
Acrostic
Poetry that certain letters, usually the first in each line form a word or message when read in a sequence.
Ballad
A poem that tells a story similar to a folk tale or legend which often has a repeated refrain. Read moreabout ballads.
Ballade
Poetry which has three stanzas of seven, eight or ten lines and a shorter final stanza of four or five. Allstanzas end with the same one line refrain.
Blank verse
A poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter and is often unobtrusive. The iambic pentameter formoften resembles the rhythms of speech. Example: Alfred Tennyson's "Ulysses".
Biography
A poem written about one self's life, personality traits, and ambitions. Example: Jean Ingelow's "One Morning, Oh! So Early".
Burlesque
Poetry that treats a serious subject as humor. Example: E. E. Cummings "O Distinct".Canzone
Medieval Italian lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza.
Carpe diem
Latin expression that means 'seize the day.' Carpe diem poems have a theme of living for today.
Cinquain
Poetry with five lines. Line 1 has one word (the title). Line 2 has two words that describe the title. Line 3has three words that tell the action. Line 4 has four words that express the feeling, and line 5 has one wordwhich recalls the title. Read more about cinquain poetry.
Classicism
Poetry which holds the principles and ideals of beauty that are characteristic of Greek and Roman art,architecture, and literature.
Concrete
Also known as "size poetry". Concrete poetry uses typographical arrangements to display an element ofthe poem. This can either be through re-arrangement of letters of a word or by arranging the words as ashape. Read more about concrete poetry.
Couplet
This type of poem is two lines which may be rhymed or unrhymed. Example: Walt Whitman's "To You".
Dramatic monologue
A type of poem which is spoken to a listener. The speaker addresses a specific topic while the listener unwittingly reveals details about him/herself.
Hyperbole.
Oxymoron: When contradictory terms or words appear side by side, there will be always Oxymoron.
Metaphor : Here comparison is not direct but indirect or not could be called as implied comparison between two unlike objects that actually have something important in common.
Lyric .A lyric is a short poem that expresses personal emotions or thoughts of the speaker.
Personification .In this figure of speech non – livings, objects, abstract ideas or qualities are spoken of as persons or human beings.
Irony. When one thing is said which means the exact opposite is Irony. On the other hand irony the words used suggest the opposite of their literal meaning.
TGT PGT quiz on Shakespear
1. The line “There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow” occurs in
Explain:- SPEECH Hamlet to Horatio in Act V, Scene II in Hamlet. When Horatio warns Hamlet that he will lose the duel with Laertes, he reveals that he’s decided to give in to God’s “providence” i.e. fate. The reference to the “ fall of the sparrow is from Mathew 10.29 . Hamlet argues with Horatio that God controls everything even something as trivial as a sparrow’s death.
2. “The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.” This line occurs in Shakespeare’s
Explain:- this is Prospero’s speech in “ The Tempest” in Act V, Scene I. By this statement, subtle revelation after years of living in exile and plotting his return to Italy. The Tempest’s emphasis on mercy and forgiveness are hallmarks of Shakespeare’s “ romances” i. e. four plays (The Tempest, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline) written late in the playwrights career. Prospero's capacity to forgive those who have betrayed him, Miranda’s empathy, Ariel’s mercy, and Gonzalo’s though fulness dramatize the triumph of the human spirit.
3. William Shakespeare belonged to the
Explain:- William Shakespeare belonged to the Elizabethan Age. This age is remembered as the time of a great wave of English nationalism. The Renassaince in England coincided with the reign of Elizabeth –I who was the Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until 1603-50. It is often referred to Elizabethan age or period. The arts flourished under Elizabeth-I. Her personal love for poetry, music and drama helped to establish a climate in which it was fashionable for the wealthy members of the Court. Shakespeare was known as the best playwrights during the age.
4. “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale/ Her infinite variety”.
Explain:-
5. Fortinbras is a character in Shakespeare's.
Explain:- Fortinbras, a young man is a character in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. S everal characters will reflect Hamlet, but Fortinbras is the first to be named in the play in whom we see a likeness to the Prince of Denmark.
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English literature poet laureate with detail
English literature poet laureate
John Dryden (1631-1700).
Laureate 1668-88.
Appointed in 1668 by King Charles II, who gave John Dryden a formal royal warrant that awarded him the official titles of Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal. This role continued under King James II.
As a powerful satirist, Dryden was a strong advocate and spokesman for his monarch, and "the best poet, dramatist, translator and critic of the age" [Levin in Verses of the Poets Laureate]
In 1689, sacked [or fired] by William III for failing to take an oath of allegiance.
Thomas Shadwell (1643?-1692).
Laureate 1689-92.
The successful dramatist Thomas Shadwell was chosen in large part because he was a Protestant Whig, essential to replace the Catholic Dryden. met an inglorious end in 1693,
A weak poet, a heavy drinker, and an opium user, Shadwell died from an overdose of opium, which he took in part to relieve his gout. He was said to have found the laureateship unimportant. Disrespected by John Dryden, among others, for his poetry as well as for his politics.
Shadwell wrote a yearly ode on the monarch's birthday, and introduced the tradition of writing a New Year ode; his odes are crashingly uninspired and mechanistic, as if written by an unusually dimwitted computer program.
Nahum Tate (1652-1715).
Laureate 1692-1715.
Born in Dublin, Tate was awarded the Poet Laureate position (and its £100 per year) but the post of Historiographer Royal (and its annual £200) became a separate assignment.
Tate is most known today for his authorship of the widely loved Christmas carol "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night". He is notorious for his (creative?) revision of Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, giving it a happy ending.
In response to public events, Tate wrote poems for victories against the French (1704), the Act of Union between the Parliaments of England and Scotland (1707), and the signing of the Peace of Utrecht with France (1713).
Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718).
Laureate 1715-18.
Nicholas Rowe was celebrated as a dramatist rather than as a poet. The Poet Laureate's role was now general praise of the sovereign, rather than political and historical. In addition to the annual New Year ode, the Laureate acquired the duty of writing a birthday ode to the monarch, a practice which was to last over 100 years.
Laurence Eusden (1688-1730).
Laureate 1718-30.
Eusden never published a book of poetry. His work is mediocre.
Colley Cibber (1671-1757).
Laureate 1730-57.
The poetry of dramatist Colley Cibber was conscientious but not inspired.
William Whitehead (1715-85).
Laureate 1757-85. [The appointment was first offered to and declined by Thomas Gray.]
William Whitehead (a respectable though perhaps dull dramatist) was good humored and amiable. For example, he defended the poetry of Laureates in a comic poem "A Pathetic Apology For All Laureates, Past, Present, And To Come".
Whitehead was conscientious, and saw himself as a non-partisan spokesman for the whole country. Astonishingly for a political appointee, he appeared to see no requirement "to defend the King or support the government". Sadly, this reflects the idea that the Laureate's influence had weakened so much that the official poems were unlikely to influence opinions, even though the times were important politically, with rebellion in the American colonies and war in Europe.
Thomas Wharton (1728-90).
Laureate 1785-90. Professor of Poetry at Oxford, Wharton was the only eighteenth-century laureate who was not primarily a dramatist. William Wordsworth andSamuel Taylor Coleridge admired his work.
Henry James Pye (1745-1813).
Laureate 1790-1813.
Before Pye's appointment, the Sovereign or the Lord Chamberlain (a member of the Royal Household) awarded the Poet Laureateship directly. William Pitt (the first Prime Minister involved in appointing a Laureate) offered the position to Henry James Pye, a politician more than a poet. Thereafter, the Prime Minister submits names for royal approval. Then the monarch commands the Lord Chamberlain to issue a warrant of appointment.
Robert Southey (1774-1843).
Laureate 1813-43. [In a bizarre double-offer the appointment was offered to two writers concurrently. Fortunately, Sir Walter Scott turned down the approach by Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool.]
Robert Southey accepted the suggestion of the post from the Prince Regent. When Scott declined the offer, he suggested Southey also, so the situation ended well.
During Southey's tenure, George IV became monarch in 1820, and abandoned the requirement for regular odes to the monarch.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
Laureate 1843-50.
William Wordsworth, at 73, was the oldest Poet Laureate to be appointed. He accepted the position on the agreement that he would not have obligations to write poetry on demand.
Since Wordsworth, the job of Poet Laureate has been purely honorary, and appointees have been able to interpret the role as they wish.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92).
Laureate 1850-92. [The appointment was first offered to and (to our benefit) declined by Samuel Rogers.]
Alfred Tennyson raised the stature of the Poet Laureate hugely. His laureate poems include The Charge Of The Light Brigade(the suicidal charge by the Light Brigade down a valley at Balaclava during the Crimean war).
Tennyson's death was mourned publicly by millions. In respect, no appointment was made to the post of Poet Laureate for four years.
Alfred Austin (1835-1913).
Laureate 1896-1913.
A pompous man, least successful of the Poets Laureate.
Robert Bridges (1844-1930).
Laureate 1913-30.
Uninterested in fame and praise, Bridges wrote little and destroyed his papers before his death.
John Masefield (1878-1967).
Laureate 1930-67.
Born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, England, Masefield apprenticed to be a merchant marine officer. While training, he became ill in Chile, returned to England, then worked in factories and bars in the United States. In 1897 he returned to England, working on newspapers and his own writing (poems, stories, and plays). Masefield published his first volume of poems in 1902. He served during World War I in the Red Cross in France and on a hospital ship at Gallipoli. His simple and moving poems include the famous Sea Fever.
Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-72).
Laureate 1968-72.
Anglo-Irish Cecil Day-Lewis was a poet, critic, and educator who enjoyed the honor of being the Poet Laureate. A student at Oxford with Auden. A committed Communist though naive politically. Hi poetry are often romantic and melancholy. Also he wrote detective stories (using the pseudonym Nicholas Blake).
Sir John Betjeman (1906-84).
Laureate 1972-84.
Born in Highgate (North London). Sir John Betjeman wrote humorous and accessible poetry. Betjeman commemorated royal events such as The Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Ted Hughes (1930-98).
Laureate 1984-1998. [Appointed on the refusal of poet Philip Larkin.]
Born in Yorkshire. A fierce, sometimes ferocious, poet of the natural and the mythological worlds, of "the struggle in the soil as well as in the soul" [Levin in Verses of the Poets Laureate]. Also authored poetry and plays for children.
Despite the "no obligations" clause, Hughes did write in commemoration of royal events, such as the christening of Prince Henry of Wales in 1985.
Andrew Motion (1952-present).
Laureate 1999-2012.
Andrew Motion, an acclaimed poet and biographer, teaches creative writing at the University of East Anglia. He promotes poetry among young people. His poems addressing many public events as well and royal occasions, including the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. A critic, and a free-form poet who interweaves the personal, the historical, the legendary, and the political.
Carol Ann Duffy (1955-present). Laureate 2009-present.
Carol Ann Duffy (poet, university professor, playwright, and freelance writer) is the first woman and the first Scottish-born poetry to be appointed Poet Laureate. She graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Liverpool in 1977.
Her books like Feminine Gospels (2002) and Mrs Scrooge show her skill in long narrative poems, written in an accessible style and often including surreal imagery. Other work, like Rapture (2005) are poems of passion and love. She also writes poetry (such as The Hat, 2007) for children.
Not-quite Poets Laureate of Great Britain.
These poets were not Poets Laureate, for the reasons given.
Ben Jonson (1573-1637), a playwright and poet, a volatile satirist of explosive temperament and "a great lover and praiser of himself", was not formally appointed as Poet Laureate. John Dryden was the first appointed Poet Laureate, as shown by the official royal record (starts in a new window).
At best, Jonson was a "common law" poet laureate (as in "common law" husband).
Some believe Jonson to be the greatest English poet and dramatist of the seventeenth century. Many praise his charm and good humor. His vigor and productivity is clear.
Jonson learned the trade of bricklayer, fought with English troops in Flanders, then returned to London to become an actor and playwright, a writer of masques (short pageant-like plays), and a tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh's son.
In 1597 Jonson was imprisoned for involvement in the satire The Isle of Dogs, which authorities found seditious. He was tried for killing a fellow actor in a duel in 1598. Imprisioned for this, he converted to Catholicism to be spared death for murder. He was released provided that he forfeit all his possessions, and that he receive a felon's brand on his thumb.Charged with treason for his tragedy Sejanus, His Fall (1603) and then briefly imprisoned for views in Eastward Ho (1604), Jonson (a Catholic) was under deep suspicion after Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot (1605). This situation may have motivated him, shortly thereafter, to reconvert to Anglicanism. He did become court poet to King James I.
One of Jonson's most famous poems, "To Celia", begins "Drink to me, only, with thine eyes...". Buried upright in Westminster Abbey, standing on his feet in the northern aisle of the Nave (and not in Poets' Corner) beneath the inscription "O Rare Ben Johnson"
William Davenant, or Sir William D'Avenant. After Jonson's death, dramatist Davenant [D'Avenant] inherited Jonson's office and pension, again as an unofficial appointment
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Notes on feminism literature
Notes on feminism literature
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Forms of Literature
Forms of Literature
1. POETRY
● Poetry, form of literature, spoken or written, that emphasizes rhythm, other intricate patterns of sound and imagery, and the many possible ways that words can suggest meaning.
● The word itself derives from a Greek word, poesis, meaning “making” or “creating.”
● poetry in its simplest definition is organized in units called lines as well as in sentences, and often in stanzas, which are the paragraphs of poetry
● The way a line of poetry is structured can be considered a kind of garment that shapes and clothes the thought within it.
● The oldest and most longstanding genres for classifying poetry are epic, a long narrative poem centered around a national hero, and lyric, a short poem expressing intense emotion.
Elements:
Stanza
•A unit of lines grouped together
•Similar to a paragraph in prose
Couplet
A stanza consisting of two lines that rhyme
Quatrain
A stanza consisting of four lines
Mood
The feeling a poem creates for the reader
Tone
The attitude a poet takes toward his/her subject
Imagery
•Representation of the five senses: sight, taste,touch, sound, and smell
•Creates mental images about a poem’s subject
Metaphor
An implied comparison between two objects or ideas
Personification
Giving human traits or characteristics to animals or inanimate objects
Simile
A direct comparison between two objects orideas that uses the words “like” or “as”
Symbol
A word or object thathas its own meaningand represents anotherword, object or idea
Alliteration
The repetition of aninitial (beginning)sound or consonant intwo or more wordsnext to each other in aline of a poem
Assonance
The repetition of avowel sound in two ormore words in the lineof a poem
Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates anoise or action
Refrain
The repetition of one or more phrases or line sat certain intervals,usually at the end of each stanza
Repetition
A word or phrase repeated within a line or stanza
Rhyme Scheme
The pattern in which end rhyme occurs
2. FICTION
● literary works of imagination: novels and stories that describe imaginary people and events
● The latin word fingere “to make, shape,” from which fiction is derived, is also the spurce of English effigy, feign, figment and figure.
Elements:
Plot
Events that form a significant pattern of action with a beginning, a middle and an end. They move from one place or event to another in order to form a pattern. The plot is also called a narrative.
Author's Role in Plot
1. Plot grows out of the characters.
2. The author is always in control of what happens; fiction manipulates events; it is created.
3. Central focus of the story has to be intriguing
Plot Techniques
1. Suspense: Frequently involves dilemma.
2. Flashback: The author waits until the story is moving and then flashes back to reveal biographical data or deep psychological reasons why a character acts as s/he does. It focuses more on why things happen, rather than on what happens.
3. Telescoping: It's a matter of economy. The author can't describe every motion of the character or event during the time the story covers. S/he has to choose the significant and merely suggest the others by saying they happened, without much description
4. Foreshadowing: The outcome of a conflict is often hinted at or "foreshadowed" before the climax and resolution. These clues are usually very subtle; you don't realize they are foreshadowing clues until you've finished the story.
Conflict in Plot
Plot usually involves one or more conflicts, which are problems that need to be solved. The "movement" towards a solution is what drives the narrative forward, and is what occupies most of the protagonist's time. Here are the major types of conflict:
1. Man's struggle against nature
2. Man against man
3. Man against society
4. Man against himself (i.e. a portrayal of an inner struggle)
The first three types are said to be "external conflicts", while the last is "internal conflict".
Setting
Setting is defined as the physical location and the time of a story. In short stories, one or both of these elements are often not defined.
Mood or Atmosphere
The mood is the feeling the reader gets while reading the story. The author helps to create the mood by using carefully chosen descriptive or evocative words. It can be compared to the use of music in films. Examples of mood are: hostile, optimistic, threatening, ominous, bitter, defiant, etc..
Theme
The theme is a recurring social or psychological issue, like aging, violence, alienation or maturity. The author or poet weaves the theme into the plot, which is used as a vehicle to convey it. The title of the story or poem is often of significance in recognizing the theme.
Symbolism
In literature, a symbol is an object, event or a character that's used to represent an abstract idea; it is something which stands for something else. Symbols are clues to what's going on in the story and often stand for key parts of the theme. A symbol is related to metaphor and simile insofar as it's a type of figurative (indirect/dual) language. The key thing to remember is that readers aren't told that something is a symbol, unlike a metaphor (the flower ofmy love) or a simile (my love is like a flower). A symbol just sits there inside the story... readers are simply expected to understand its symbolic existence.
Point of View
Different points of view allow for different ways of understanding the characters' motives and events.
Characters and Irony
3. DRAMA
● Drama is a type of literature usually written to be performed.
● it concerns the written text, or script, for the performance
● Many of the most honored and influential works of literature around the world have been dramas.
Elements:
Focus
“The frame that directs attention to what is most significant and intensifies the dramatic meaning”.
There are 4 closely related areas of focus:
1. the focus of the scene
2. the focus of the audience
3. the focus of the character
4. the focus of the actor.
Tension
“The force that engages the performers and audience in the dramatic action”.
Space
“The personal and general space used by the actors. It focuses on the meaning of the size and shape of
distances between actor and actor, actor and objects (props and sets) and actor and audience.”
Mood
“The atmosphere created. Mood concentrates the dramatic action and moves the audience in emotionally appropriate directions.”
Contrast
“The use of difference to create dramatic meaning.”
Contrast is an effective means to emphasise, heighten or intensify. Contrasting colours stand out on the
stage. Contrasting sizes, shapes and sounds draw attention.
Symbol
“The use of objects, gestures or persons to represent meaning beyond the literal.”
Role
Taking on a role requires performers to accept the physicality, attitudes and beliefs of the characters they are playing.
Types of Nonfiction:
Narrative Nonfiction is information based on fact that is presented in a format which tells a story.
Essays are a short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. A short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
A Biography is a written account of another person’s life.
An Autobiography gives the history of a person’s life, written or told by that person. Often written in Narrative form of their person’s life.
Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express one’s thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds, and gesture. Generally delivered in the form of an address or discourse.
Finally there is the general genre of Nonfiction. This is Informational text dealing with an actual, real-life subject. This genre of literature offers opinions or conjectures on facts and reality. This includes biographies, history, essays, speech, and narrative non fiction. Nonfiction opposes fiction and is distinguished from those fiction genres of literature like poetry and drama which is the next section we will discuss.
Genres of Fiction:
Drama is the genre of literature that’s subject for compositions is dramatic art in the way it is represented. This genre is stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.
Poetry is verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the reader. The art of poetry is rhythmical in composition, written or spoken. This genre of literature is for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
Fantasy is the forming of mental images with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.
Humor is the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical. Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement which meant to entertain. This genre of literature can actually be seen and contained within all genres.
A Fable is a story about supernatural or extraordinary people Usually in the form of narration that demonstrates a useful truth. In Fables, animals often speak as humans that are legendary and supernatural tales.
Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of folktale or fable. Sometimes the stories are about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.
Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential science, either actual or imagined. Science fiction is one of the genres of literature that is set in the future or on other planets.
Short Story is fiction of such briefness that is not able to support any subplots.
Realistic Fiction is a story that can actually happen and is true to real life.
Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of “folk” that was handed down by word of mouth. Folklore is a genre of literature that is widely held, but false and based on unsubstantiated beliefs.
Historical Fiction is a story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.
Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by literature that is frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting. Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader.
A Tall Tale is a humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with an here of nonchalance.
Legend is a story that sometimes of a national or folk hero. Legend is based on fact but also includes imaginative material.
Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets. Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown.
Mythology is a type of legend or traditional narrative. This is often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods. A body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a particular person.
Fiction in Verse is full-length novels with plot, subplots, themes, with major and minor characters. Fiction of verse is one of the genres of literature in which the narrative is usually presented in blank verse form.
The genre of Fiction can be defined as narrative literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. In fiction something is feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story.
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1. POETRY
● Poetry, form of literature, spoken or written, that emphasizes rhythm, other intricate patterns of sound and imagery, and the many possible ways that words can suggest meaning.
● The word itself derives from a Greek word, poesis, meaning “making” or “creating.”
● poetry in its simplest definition is organized in units called lines as well as in sentences, and often in stanzas, which are the paragraphs of poetry
● The way a line of poetry is structured can be considered a kind of garment that shapes and clothes the thought within it.
● The oldest and most longstanding genres for classifying poetry are epic, a long narrative poem centered around a national hero, and lyric, a short poem expressing intense emotion.
Elements:
Stanza
•A unit of lines grouped together
•Similar to a paragraph in prose
Couplet
A stanza consisting of two lines that rhyme
Quatrain
A stanza consisting of four lines
Mood
The feeling a poem creates for the reader
Tone
The attitude a poet takes toward his/her subject
Imagery
•Representation of the five senses: sight, taste,touch, sound, and smell
•Creates mental images about a poem’s subject
Metaphor
An implied comparison between two objects or ideas
Personification
Giving human traits or characteristics to animals or inanimate objects
Simile
A direct comparison between two objects orideas that uses the words “like” or “as”
Symbol
A word or object thathas its own meaningand represents anotherword, object or idea
Alliteration
The repetition of aninitial (beginning)sound or consonant intwo or more wordsnext to each other in aline of a poem
Assonance
The repetition of avowel sound in two ormore words in the lineof a poem
Onomatopoeia
A word that imitates anoise or action
Refrain
The repetition of one or more phrases or line sat certain intervals,usually at the end of each stanza
Repetition
A word or phrase repeated within a line or stanza
Rhyme Scheme
The pattern in which end rhyme occurs
2. FICTION
● literary works of imagination: novels and stories that describe imaginary people and events
● The latin word fingere “to make, shape,” from which fiction is derived, is also the spurce of English effigy, feign, figment and figure.
Elements:
Plot
Events that form a significant pattern of action with a beginning, a middle and an end. They move from one place or event to another in order to form a pattern. The plot is also called a narrative.
Author's Role in Plot
1. Plot grows out of the characters.
2. The author is always in control of what happens; fiction manipulates events; it is created.
3. Central focus of the story has to be intriguing
Plot Techniques
1. Suspense: Frequently involves dilemma.
2. Flashback: The author waits until the story is moving and then flashes back to reveal biographical data or deep psychological reasons why a character acts as s/he does. It focuses more on why things happen, rather than on what happens.
3. Telescoping: It's a matter of economy. The author can't describe every motion of the character or event during the time the story covers. S/he has to choose the significant and merely suggest the others by saying they happened, without much description
4. Foreshadowing: The outcome of a conflict is often hinted at or "foreshadowed" before the climax and resolution. These clues are usually very subtle; you don't realize they are foreshadowing clues until you've finished the story.
Conflict in Plot
Plot usually involves one or more conflicts, which are problems that need to be solved. The "movement" towards a solution is what drives the narrative forward, and is what occupies most of the protagonist's time. Here are the major types of conflict:
1. Man's struggle against nature
2. Man against man
3. Man against society
4. Man against himself (i.e. a portrayal of an inner struggle)
The first three types are said to be "external conflicts", while the last is "internal conflict".
Setting
Setting is defined as the physical location and the time of a story. In short stories, one or both of these elements are often not defined.
Mood or Atmosphere
The mood is the feeling the reader gets while reading the story. The author helps to create the mood by using carefully chosen descriptive or evocative words. It can be compared to the use of music in films. Examples of mood are: hostile, optimistic, threatening, ominous, bitter, defiant, etc..
Theme
The theme is a recurring social or psychological issue, like aging, violence, alienation or maturity. The author or poet weaves the theme into the plot, which is used as a vehicle to convey it. The title of the story or poem is often of significance in recognizing the theme.
Symbolism
In literature, a symbol is an object, event or a character that's used to represent an abstract idea; it is something which stands for something else. Symbols are clues to what's going on in the story and often stand for key parts of the theme. A symbol is related to metaphor and simile insofar as it's a type of figurative (indirect/dual) language. The key thing to remember is that readers aren't told that something is a symbol, unlike a metaphor (the flower ofmy love) or a simile (my love is like a flower). A symbol just sits there inside the story... readers are simply expected to understand its symbolic existence.
Point of View
Different points of view allow for different ways of understanding the characters' motives and events.
Characters and Irony
3. DRAMA
● Drama is a type of literature usually written to be performed.
● it concerns the written text, or script, for the performance
● Many of the most honored and influential works of literature around the world have been dramas.
Elements:
Focus
“The frame that directs attention to what is most significant and intensifies the dramatic meaning”.
There are 4 closely related areas of focus:
1. the focus of the scene
2. the focus of the audience
3. the focus of the character
4. the focus of the actor.
Tension
“The force that engages the performers and audience in the dramatic action”.
Space
“The personal and general space used by the actors. It focuses on the meaning of the size and shape of
distances between actor and actor, actor and objects (props and sets) and actor and audience.”
Mood
“The atmosphere created. Mood concentrates the dramatic action and moves the audience in emotionally appropriate directions.”
Contrast
“The use of difference to create dramatic meaning.”
Contrast is an effective means to emphasise, heighten or intensify. Contrasting colours stand out on the
stage. Contrasting sizes, shapes and sounds draw attention.
Symbol
“The use of objects, gestures or persons to represent meaning beyond the literal.”
Role
Taking on a role requires performers to accept the physicality, attitudes and beliefs of the characters they are playing.
Types of Nonfiction:
Narrative Nonfiction is information based on fact that is presented in a format which tells a story.
Essays are a short literary composition that reflects the author’s outlook or point. A short literary composition on a particular theme or subject, usually in prose and generally analytic, speculative, or interpretative.
A Biography is a written account of another person’s life.
An Autobiography gives the history of a person’s life, written or told by that person. Often written in Narrative form of their person’s life.
Speech is the faculty or power of speaking; oral communication; ability to express one’s thoughts and emotions by speech, sounds, and gesture. Generally delivered in the form of an address or discourse.
Finally there is the general genre of Nonfiction. This is Informational text dealing with an actual, real-life subject. This genre of literature offers opinions or conjectures on facts and reality. This includes biographies, history, essays, speech, and narrative non fiction. Nonfiction opposes fiction and is distinguished from those fiction genres of literature like poetry and drama which is the next section we will discuss.
Genres of Fiction:
Drama is the genre of literature that’s subject for compositions is dramatic art in the way it is represented. This genre is stories composed in verse or prose, usually for theatrical performance, where conflicts and emotion are expressed through dialogue and action.
Poetry is verse and rhythmic writing with imagery that evokes an emotional response from the reader. The art of poetry is rhythmical in composition, written or spoken. This genre of literature is for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
Fantasy is the forming of mental images with strange or other worldly settings or characters; fiction which invites suspension of reality.
Humor is the faculty of perceiving what is amusing or comical. Fiction full of fun, fancy, and excitement which meant to entertain. This genre of literature can actually be seen and contained within all genres.
A Fable is a story about supernatural or extraordinary people Usually in the form of narration that demonstrates a useful truth. In Fables, animals often speak as humans that are legendary and supernatural tales.
Fairy Tales or wonder tales are a kind of folktale or fable. Sometimes the stories are about fairies or other magical creatures, usually for children.
Science Fiction is a story based on impact of potential science, either actual or imagined. Science fiction is one of the genres of literature that is set in the future or on other planets.
Short Story is fiction of such briefness that is not able to support any subplots.
Realistic Fiction is a story that can actually happen and is true to real life.
Folklore are songs, stories, myths, and proverbs of a person of “folk” that was handed down by word of mouth. Folklore is a genre of literature that is widely held, but false and based on unsubstantiated beliefs.
Historical Fiction is a story with fictional characters and events in a historical setting.
Horror is an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by literature that is frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting. Fiction in which events evoke a feeling of dread in both the characters and the reader.
A Tall Tale is a humorous story with blatant exaggerations, swaggering heroes who do the impossible with an here of nonchalance.
Legend is a story that sometimes of a national or folk hero. Legend is based on fact but also includes imaginative material.
Mystery is a genre of fiction that deals with the solution of a crime or the unraveling of secrets. Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown.
Mythology is a type of legend or traditional narrative. This is often based in part on historical events, that reveals human behavior and natural phenomena by its symbolism; often pertaining to the actions of the gods. A body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a particular person.
Fiction in Verse is full-length novels with plot, subplots, themes, with major and minor characters. Fiction of verse is one of the genres of literature in which the narrative is usually presented in blank verse form.
The genre of Fiction can be defined as narrative literary works whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. In fiction something is feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story.
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LITERARY FORMS
LITERARY FORMS
SATIRE
Satire is a work of art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement , contempt, scorn, or indignation. It differs from the comic in that comedy evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself, while satire derides i.e. it uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt that exists outside the work itself. That butt may be an individual, or a type of person, a class, an institution, a nation or even mankind.
Satire may be classified as follows:
i. Formal satire: In it the satiric persona speaks out in the first person. This ‘I’may address either the reader or else a character within the work itself.
ii. Horatian satire: In it, the speaker manifests the character of an urbane, witty and tolerant man of the world, who is moved more often to worry amusement than to indignation at the spectacle of human folly, pretentiousness, and hypocrisy, and who uses a relaxed and informal language to evoke from readers a wry smile at human failings and absurdities.
iii. Juvenalian Satire: In it, the character of the speaker is that of a serious moralist who uses a dignified and public style of utterance to decry modes of voice and error which are no less dangerous because they are ridiculous, and who undertakes to evoke from readers contempt, moral indignation, or an unillusioned sadness at the aberrations of humanity.
iv. Indirect Satire: It is cast in some other literary form than that of direct address to the reader. Fictional narrative is an example. In it the objects of the satire are characters who make themselves and their opinions ridiculous by what they think, say or do. One type of indirect satire is Menippean satire, modeled on Greek form developed by the Cynic philosopher Menippus. It is sometimes called Varronian satire, after a Roman imitator, Varro.
LYRIC
A lyric is any short poem uttered by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind
or a process of perception, thought and feeling. Although the lyric is uttered in the first
person, the “I” in the poem need not be the poet who wrote it. Some lyrics such as John
Milton’s sonnet “when I consider how my light is spent” and S. T. Coleridge’s “Frost at
Midnight” the references to the known circumstances of the author’s life make it clear that
we are to read the poem as a personal expression. Even in such personal lyrics, both the
character and the utterance of the speaker may be formalized and altered by the author in a
way that is conducive to the desired artistic effect.
ODE
An Ode is a long lyric poem, serious in subject, dignified in style and elaborate in
structure. It is generally rhymed and often written in the form of an address, in varies or
irregular meter. The Pindaric ode, named after the Greek poet Pindar were written in triads,
composed of two stanzas called “strophe ‘and “antistrophe”, followed by an epode,
different in shape. E.g. Thomas Gray’s “The Progress of Poesy” and the “Bard”. Horatian
Ode named after the Latin poet Horace was generally monostrophic and composed of many
stanzas, all of the same shape. e.g. Collin’s “Ode to Simplicity” The English Ode or
Irregular Ode was introduced in 1656 by Abraham Cowley. He imitated the Pindaric style
and matter but disregarded the strophic triad and allowed each stanza to find its own pattern
of varying line length, number of lines and rhyme scheme. Shelley’s “Ode to the West
Wind” is an example of this type of ode.
ELEGY
In Greek and Roman times, elegy denoted any poem written in elegiac
meter(alternating hexameter and pentameter lines). In its limited and present usage, the
term elegy means a formal and sustained lament in verse for the death of a particular
person, usually ending in a consolation. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “In Memorium” (1850),
on the death of Arthur Hallam, and W.H. Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” are
examples. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is different from these
personal lament in that it is a somber meditation on mortality.
The dirge is also a versified expression of grief on the occasion of a particular’s
person’s death. But differs from the elegy in that it is short, is less formal and is usually
represented as a text to be sung. Threnody is now used as an equivalent for dirge and
monody for an elegy or dirge which is presented as the utterance of a single person. John
Milton’s “Lycidas” written on the occasion of the death of his learned friend Edward King
and Mathew Arnold’s “Thyrsis” written on the occasion of the death of A.H. Clough are
monodies
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SATIRE
Satire is a work of art of diminishing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of amusement , contempt, scorn, or indignation. It differs from the comic in that comedy evokes laughter mainly as an end in itself, while satire derides i.e. it uses laughter as a weapon, and against a butt that exists outside the work itself. That butt may be an individual, or a type of person, a class, an institution, a nation or even mankind.
Satire may be classified as follows:
i. Formal satire: In it the satiric persona speaks out in the first person. This ‘I’may address either the reader or else a character within the work itself.
ii. Horatian satire: In it, the speaker manifests the character of an urbane, witty and tolerant man of the world, who is moved more often to worry amusement than to indignation at the spectacle of human folly, pretentiousness, and hypocrisy, and who uses a relaxed and informal language to evoke from readers a wry smile at human failings and absurdities.
iii. Juvenalian Satire: In it, the character of the speaker is that of a serious moralist who uses a dignified and public style of utterance to decry modes of voice and error which are no less dangerous because they are ridiculous, and who undertakes to evoke from readers contempt, moral indignation, or an unillusioned sadness at the aberrations of humanity.
iv. Indirect Satire: It is cast in some other literary form than that of direct address to the reader. Fictional narrative is an example. In it the objects of the satire are characters who make themselves and their opinions ridiculous by what they think, say or do. One type of indirect satire is Menippean satire, modeled on Greek form developed by the Cynic philosopher Menippus. It is sometimes called Varronian satire, after a Roman imitator, Varro.
LYRIC
A lyric is any short poem uttered by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind
or a process of perception, thought and feeling. Although the lyric is uttered in the first
person, the “I” in the poem need not be the poet who wrote it. Some lyrics such as John
Milton’s sonnet “when I consider how my light is spent” and S. T. Coleridge’s “Frost at
Midnight” the references to the known circumstances of the author’s life make it clear that
we are to read the poem as a personal expression. Even in such personal lyrics, both the
character and the utterance of the speaker may be formalized and altered by the author in a
way that is conducive to the desired artistic effect.
ODE
An Ode is a long lyric poem, serious in subject, dignified in style and elaborate in
structure. It is generally rhymed and often written in the form of an address, in varies or
irregular meter. The Pindaric ode, named after the Greek poet Pindar were written in triads,
composed of two stanzas called “strophe ‘and “antistrophe”, followed by an epode,
different in shape. E.g. Thomas Gray’s “The Progress of Poesy” and the “Bard”. Horatian
Ode named after the Latin poet Horace was generally monostrophic and composed of many
stanzas, all of the same shape. e.g. Collin’s “Ode to Simplicity” The English Ode or
Irregular Ode was introduced in 1656 by Abraham Cowley. He imitated the Pindaric style
and matter but disregarded the strophic triad and allowed each stanza to find its own pattern
of varying line length, number of lines and rhyme scheme. Shelley’s “Ode to the West
Wind” is an example of this type of ode.
ELEGY
In Greek and Roman times, elegy denoted any poem written in elegiac
meter(alternating hexameter and pentameter lines). In its limited and present usage, the
term elegy means a formal and sustained lament in verse for the death of a particular
person, usually ending in a consolation. Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “In Memorium” (1850),
on the death of Arthur Hallam, and W.H. Auden’s “In Memory of W.B. Yeats” are
examples. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is different from these
personal lament in that it is a somber meditation on mortality.
The dirge is also a versified expression of grief on the occasion of a particular’s
person’s death. But differs from the elegy in that it is short, is less formal and is usually
represented as a text to be sung. Threnody is now used as an equivalent for dirge and
monody for an elegy or dirge which is presented as the utterance of a single person. John
Milton’s “Lycidas” written on the occasion of the death of his learned friend Edward King
and Mathew Arnold’s “Thyrsis” written on the occasion of the death of A.H. Clough are
monodies
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T.S. ELIOT – THE WASTE LAND Short Summary
T.S. ELIOT –
THE WASTE LAND Short Summary
The poem begins with a section entitled .......
"The Burial of the Dead." In it, the narrator -- perhaps a representation of Eliot himself -- describes the seasons. Spring brings "memory and desire," and so the narrator's memory drifts back to times in Munich, to childhood sled rides, and to a possible romance with a "hyacinth girl." The memories only go so far, however. The narrator is now surrounded by a desolate land full of "stony rubbish." He remembers a fortune-teller named Madame Sosostris who said he was "the drowned Phoenician Sailor" and that he should "fear death by water." Next he finds himself on London Bridge, surrounded by a crowd of people. He spots a friend of his from wartime, and calls out to him.
the poem on his own in similar ways; rather, the two men seemed to have genuinely collaborated on molding what was already a loose and at times free-flowing work. Pound, like Eliot a crucible of modernism, called for compression, ellipsis, reduction.
The poem grew yet more cryptic; references that were previously clear now became more obscure. Explanations were out the window. The result was a more difficult work -- but arguably a richer one.Eliot did not take all of Pound's notes, but he did follow his friend's advice enough to turn his sprawling work into a tight, elliptical, and fragmented piece.
Once the poem was completed, Pound lobbied on its behalf, convincing others of its importance. He believed in Eliot's genius, and in the impact "The Waste Land" would have on the literature of its day. That impact ultimately stretched beyond poetry, to novels, painting, music, and all the other arts. John Dos Passos's Manhattan Transfer owes a significant debt to "The Waste Land," for example. Eliot's take on the modern world profoundly shaped future schools of thought and literature, and his 1922 poem remains a touchstone of the English-language canon.
Character List
The Narrator
The most difficult to describe of the poem's characters, he assumes many different shapes and guises. At times the Narrator seems to be Eliot himself; at other times he stands in for all humanity. In "The Fire
Sermon" he is at one point the Fisher King of the Grail legend, at another the blind prophet Tiresias.
When he seems to reflect Eliot, the extent to which his ruminations are autobiographical is ambiguous.
Madame Sosostris
A famous clairvoyant referred to in Aldous Huxley's novel Crome Yellow and borrowed by Eliot for the
Tarot card episode. She suffers from a bad cold, but is nonetheless "known to be the wisest woman in
Europe, / With a wicked pack of cards."
Stetson
A friend of the Narrator's, who fought in the war with him. Which war? It is unclear. Perhaps the Punic
War or World War I, or both, or neither.
The Rich Lady
Never referred to by name, she sits in the resplendent drawing room of "A Game of Chess." She seems
to be surrounded by luxury, but unable to appreciate or enjoy it. She might allude to Eliot's wife
Vivienne.
Philomela
A character from Ovid's Metamorphoses. She was raped by Tereus, then, after taking her vengeance
with her sister, morphed into a nightingale.
A Typist
Lonely, a creature of the modern world. She is visited by a "young man carbuncular," who sleeps with
her. She is left alone again, accompanied by just her mirror and a gramophone.
Mr. Eugenides
A merchant from Smyrna (now Izmir, in Turkey). Probably the one-eyed merchant to whom Madame Sosostris refers.
Major Themes
Death
Two of the poem‟s sections -- “The Burial of the Dead” and “Death by Water” --refer specifically to this
theme. What complicates matters is that death can mean life; in other words, by dying, a being can pave
the way for new lives. Eliot asks his friend Stetson: “That corpse you planted last year in your garden, /
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” Similarly, Christ, by “dying,” redeemed humanity and
thereby gave new life. The ambiguous passage between life and death finds an echo in the frequent
allusions to Dante, particularly in the Limbo-like vision of the men flowing across London Bridge and
through the modern city.
Rebirth
The Christ images in the poem, along with the many other religious metaphors, posit rebirth and resurrection as central themes. The Waste Land lies fallow and the Fisher King is impotent; what is needed is a new beginning. Water, for one, can bring about that rebirth, but it can also destroy.
The Seasons
"The Waste Land" opens with an invocation of April, “the cruellest month.” That spring be depicted as ruel is a curious choice on Eliot‟s part, but as a paradox it informs the rest of the poem to a great degree. What brings life brings also death; the seasons fluctuate, spinning from one state to another, but, like history, they maintain some sort of stasis; not everything changes. In the end, Eliot‟s “waste land” is
almost seasonless: devoid of rain, of propagation, of real change. The world hangs in a perpetual limbo,
awaiting the dawn of a new season.
Lust
Perhaps the most famous episode in "The Waste Land" involves a female typist‟s liaison with a “carbuncular” man. Eliot depicts the scene as something akin to a rape. This chance sexual encounter
carries with it mythological baggage – the violated Philomela, the blind Tiresias who lived for a time as a woman. Sexuality runs through "The Waste Land," taking center stage as a cause of calamity in “The
Fire Sermon.” Nonetheless, Eliot defends “a moment‟s surrender” as a part of existence in “What the Thunder Said.” Lust may be a sin, and sex may be too easy and too rampant in Eliot‟s London, but action is still preferable to inaction. What is needed is sex that produces life, that rejuvenates, that restores – sex, in other words, that is not “sterile.”
Love
The references to Tristan und Isolde in “The Burial of the Dead,” to Cleopatra in “A Game of Chess,”
and to the story of Tereus and Philomela suggest that love, in "The Waste Land," is often destructive.
Tristan and Cleopatra die, while Tereus rapes Philomela, and even the love for the hyacinth girl leads
the poet to see and know “nothing."
Water
"The Waste Land" lacks water; water promises rebirth. At the same time, however, water can bring
about death. Eliot sees the card of the drowned Phoenician sailor and later titles the fourth section of his poem after Madame Sosostris‟ mandate that he fear “death by water.” When the rain finally arrives at the close of the poem, it does suggest the cleansing of sins, the washing away of misdeeds, and the start
of a new future; however, with it comes thunder, and therefore perhaps lightning. The latter may portend fire; thus, “The Fire Sermon” and “What the Thunder Said” are not so far removed in imagery, linked by
the potentially harmful forces of nature.
History
History, Eliot suggests, is a repeating cycle. When he calls to Stetson, the Punic War stands in for World
War I; this substitution is crucial because it is shocking. At the time Eliot wrote "The Waste Land," the
First World War was definitively a first - the "Great War" for those who had witnessed it. There had
been none to compare with it in history. The predominant sensibility was one of profound change; the
world had been turned upside down and now, with the rapid progress of technology, the movements of
societies, and the radical upheavals in the arts, sciences, and philosophy, the history of mankind had
reached a turning point.
Eliot revises this thesis, arguing that the more things change the more they stay the same. He links a
sordid affair between a typist and a young man to Sophocles via the figure of Tiresias; he replaces a line
from Marvell‟s “To His Coy Mistress” with “the sound of horns and motors”; he invokes Dante upon
the modern-day London Bridge, bustling with commuter traffic; he notices the Ionian columns of a bar
on Lower Thames Street teeming with fishermen. The ancient nestles against the medieval, rubs
shoulders with the Renaissance, and crosses paths with the centuries to follow. History becomes a blur.
Eliot‟s poem is like a street in Rome or Athens; one layer of history upon another upon another.
Summary and Analysis of Section I: "The Burial of the Dead"
"The Waste Land" begins with an excerpt from Petronius Arbiter‟s Satyricon, in Latin and Greek, which
translates as: “For once I saw with my own eyes the Cumean Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys
asked her, „Sibyl, what do you want?‟ she answered, „I want to die.‟” The quotation is followed by a
dedication to Ezra Pound, Eliot‟s colleague and friend, who played a major role in shaping the final
version of the poem.
The poem proper begins with a description of the seasons. April emerges as the “cruellest” month,
passing over a desolate land to which winter is far kinder. Eliot shifts from this vague invocation of time
and nature to what seem to be more specific memories: a rain shower by the Starnbergersee; a lake
outside Munich; coffee in that city‟s Hofgarten; sledding with a cousin in the days of childhood.
The second stanza returns to the tone of the opening lines, describing a land of “stony rubbish” – arid,
sterile, devoid of life, quite simply the “waste land” of the poem‟s title. Eliot quotes Ezekiel 2.1 and
Ecclesiastes 12.5, using biblical language to construct a sort of dialogue between the narrator –- the “son
of man” -– and a higher power. The former is desperately searching for some sign of life -– “roots that
clutch,” branches that grow -- but all he can find are dry stones, dead trees, and “a heap of broken
images.” We have here a forsaken plane that offers no relief from the beating sun, and no trace of water.
Suddenly Eliot switches to German, quoting directly from Wagner‟s Tristan und Isolde. The passage
translates as: “Fresh blows the wind / To the homeland / My Irish child / Where do you wait?” In
Wagner‟s opera, Isolde, on her way to Ireland, overhears a sailor singing this song, which brings with it
ruminations of love promised and of a future of possibilities. After this digression, Eliot offers the reader
a snatch of speech, this time from the mouth of the “hyacinth girl.” This girl, perhaps one of the
narrator's (or Eliot's) early loves, alludes to a time a year ago when the narrator presented her with
hyacinths. The narrator, for his part, describes in another personal account –- distinct in tone, that is,
from the more grandiloquent descriptions of the waste land, the seasons, and intimations of spirituality
that have preceded it –- coming back late from a hyacinth garden and feeling struck by a sense of
emptiness. Looking upon the beloved girl, he “knew nothing”; that is to say, faced with love, beauty,
and “the heart of light,” he saw only “silence.” At this point, Eliot returns to Wagner, with the line
“Oed‟ und leer das Meer”: “Desolate and empty is the sea.” Also plucked from Tristan und Isolde, the
line belongs to a watchman, who tells the dying Tristan that Isolde‟s ship is nowhere to be seen on the
horizon.
From here Eliot switches abruptly to a more prosaic mode, introducing Madame Sosostris, a “famous
clairvoyante” alluded to in Aldous Huxley‟s Crome Yellow. This fortune-teller is known across Europe
for her skills with Tarot cards. The narrator remembers meeting her when she had “a bad cold.” At that
meeting she displayed to him the card of the drowned Phoenician Sailor: “Here, said she, is your card.”
Next comes “Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,” and then “the man with three staves,” “the Wheel,”
and “the one-eyed merchant.” It should be noted that only the man with three staves and the wheel are
actual Tarot cards; Belladonna is often associated with da Vinci‟s "Madonna of the Rocks," and the one-
eyed merchant is, as far as we can tell, an invention of Eliot‟s.
Finally, Sosostris encounters a blank card representing something the one-eyed merchant is carrying on
his back – something she is apparently “forbidden to see.” She is likewise unable to find the Hanged
Man among the cards she displays; from this she concludes that the narrator should “fear death by
water.” Sosostris also sees a vision of a mass of people “walking round in a ring.” Her meeting with the
narrator concludes with a hasty bit of business: she asks him to tell Mrs. Equitone, if he sees her, that
Sosostris will bring the horoscope herself.
The final stanza of this first section of "The Waste Land" begins with the image of an “Unreal City”
echoing Baudelaire‟s “fourmillante cite,” in which a crowd of people –- perhaps the same crowd
Sosostris witnessed –- flows over London Bridge while a “brown fog” hangs like a wintry cloud over
the proceedings. Eliot twice quotes Dante in describing this phantasmagoric scene: “I had not thought
death had undone so many” (from Canto 3 of the Inferno); “Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled”
(from Canto 4). The first quote refers to the area just inside the Gates of Hell; the second refers to
Limbo, the first circle of Hell.
It seems that the denizens of modern London remind Eliot of those without any blame or praise who are
relegated to the Gates of Hell, and those who where never baptized and who now dwell in Limbo, in
Dante‟s famous vision. Each member of the crowd keeps his eyes on his feet; the mass of men flow up a
hill and down King William Street, in the financial district of London, winding up beside the Church of
Saint Mary Woolnoth. The narrator sees a man he recognizes named Stetson. He cries out to him, and it
appears that the two men fought together in a war. Logic would suggest World War I, but the narrator
refers to Mylae, a battle that took place during the First Punic War. He then asks Stetson whether the corpse he planted last year in his garden has begun to sprout. Finally, Eliot quotes Webster and
Baudelaire, back to back, ending the address to Stetson in French: “hypocrite lecteur! – mon semblable,
– mon frère!”
Analysis
Eliot‟s opening quotation sets the tone for the poem as a whole. Sibyl is a mythological figure who
asked Apollo “for as many years of life as there are grains in a handful of sand” (North, 3).
Unfortunately, she did not think to ask for everlasting youth. As a result, she is doomed to decay for
years and years, and preserves herself within a jar. Having asked for something akin to eternal life, she
finds that what she most wants is death. Death alone offers escape; death alone promises the end, and
therefore a new beginning.
Thus does Eliot begin his magisterial poem, labeling his first section “The Burial of the Dead,” a title
pulled from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. He has been careful to lay out his central theme
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THE WASTE LAND Short Summary
The poem begins with a section entitled .......
"The Burial of the Dead." In it, the narrator -- perhaps a representation of Eliot himself -- describes the seasons. Spring brings "memory and desire," and so the narrator's memory drifts back to times in Munich, to childhood sled rides, and to a possible romance with a "hyacinth girl." The memories only go so far, however. The narrator is now surrounded by a desolate land full of "stony rubbish." He remembers a fortune-teller named Madame Sosostris who said he was "the drowned Phoenician Sailor" and that he should "fear death by water." Next he finds himself on London Bridge, surrounded by a crowd of people. He spots a friend of his from wartime, and calls out to him.
- The next section, "A Game of Chess," transports the reader abruptly from the streets of London to a gilded drawing room, in which sits a rich, jewel-bedecked lady who complains about her nerves and wonders what to do. The poem drifts again, this time to a pub at closing time in which two Cockney women gossip. Within a few stanzas, we have moved from the upper crust of society to London's low- life.
- "The Fire Sermon" opens with an image of a river. The narrator sits on the banks and muses on the deplorable state of the world. As Tiresias, he sees a young "carbuncular" man hop into bed with a lonely female typist, only to aggressively make love to her and then leave without hesitation. The poem returns to the river, where maidens sing a song of lament, one of them crying over her loss of innocence to a similarly lustful man. "Death by Water," the fourth section of the poem, describes a dead Phoenician lying in the water -- perhaps the same drowned sailor of whom Madame Sosostris spoke. "What the Thunder Said" shifts locales from the sea to rocks and mountains. The narrator cries for rain, and it finally comes. The thunder that accompanies it ushers in the three-pronged dictum sprung from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "Datta, dayadhvam, damyata": to give, to sympathize, to control. With these commandments, benediction is possible, despite the collapse of civilization that is under way -- "London bridge is falling down falling down falling down." About The Waste Land "The Waste Land" caused a sensation when it was published in 1922. It is today the most widely translated and studied English-language poem of the twentieth century. This is perhaps surprising given the poem's length and its difficulty, but Eliot's vision of modern life as plagued by sordid impulses, widespread apathy, and pervasive soullessness packed a punch when readers first encountered it. Of course, "The Waste Land" is not quite the poem Eliot originally drafted. Eliot's close friend and colleague, Ezra Pound, significantly revised the poem, suggesting major cuts and compressions. Thanks to Pound's heavy editing, as well as suggestions (specifically about scenes relevant to their stormy, hostile marriage) from Haigh-Wood, "The Waste Land" defined Modernist poetry and became possibly the most influential poem of the century. Devoid of a single speaker's voice, the poem ceaselessly shifts its tone and form, instead grafting together numerous allusive voices from Eliot's substantial poetic repertoire; Dante shares the stage with nonsense sounds (a technique that also showcases Eliot's dry wit). Believing this style best represented the fragmentation of the modern world, Eliot focused on the sterility of modern culture and its lack of tradition and ritual. Despite this pessimistic viewpoint, many find its mythical, religious ending hopeful about humanity's chance for renewal. Pound's influence on the final version of "The Waste Land" is significant. At the time of the poem's composition, Eliot was ill, struggling to recover from his nervous breakdown and languishing through an unhappy marriage. Pound offered him support and friendship; his belief in and admiration for Eliot were enormous. In turn, however, he radically trimmed Eliot's long first draft (nineteen pages, by some accounts), bringing the poem closer to its current version. This is not to say Eliot would not have revised
the poem on his own in similar ways; rather, the two men seemed to have genuinely collaborated on molding what was already a loose and at times free-flowing work. Pound, like Eliot a crucible of modernism, called for compression, ellipsis, reduction.
The poem grew yet more cryptic; references that were previously clear now became more obscure. Explanations were out the window. The result was a more difficult work -- but arguably a richer one.Eliot did not take all of Pound's notes, but he did follow his friend's advice enough to turn his sprawling work into a tight, elliptical, and fragmented piece.
Once the poem was completed, Pound lobbied on its behalf, convincing others of its importance. He believed in Eliot's genius, and in the impact "The Waste Land" would have on the literature of its day. That impact ultimately stretched beyond poetry, to novels, painting, music, and all the other arts. John Dos Passos's Manhattan Transfer owes a significant debt to "The Waste Land," for example. Eliot's take on the modern world profoundly shaped future schools of thought and literature, and his 1922 poem remains a touchstone of the English-language canon.
Character List
The Narrator
The most difficult to describe of the poem's characters, he assumes many different shapes and guises. At times the Narrator seems to be Eliot himself; at other times he stands in for all humanity. In "The Fire
Sermon" he is at one point the Fisher King of the Grail legend, at another the blind prophet Tiresias.
When he seems to reflect Eliot, the extent to which his ruminations are autobiographical is ambiguous.
Madame Sosostris
A famous clairvoyant referred to in Aldous Huxley's novel Crome Yellow and borrowed by Eliot for the
Tarot card episode. She suffers from a bad cold, but is nonetheless "known to be the wisest woman in
Europe, / With a wicked pack of cards."
Stetson
A friend of the Narrator's, who fought in the war with him. Which war? It is unclear. Perhaps the Punic
War or World War I, or both, or neither.
The Rich Lady
Never referred to by name, she sits in the resplendent drawing room of "A Game of Chess." She seems
to be surrounded by luxury, but unable to appreciate or enjoy it. She might allude to Eliot's wife
Vivienne.
Philomela
A character from Ovid's Metamorphoses. She was raped by Tereus, then, after taking her vengeance
with her sister, morphed into a nightingale.
A Typist
Lonely, a creature of the modern world. She is visited by a "young man carbuncular," who sleeps with
her. She is left alone again, accompanied by just her mirror and a gramophone.
Mr. Eugenides
A merchant from Smyrna (now Izmir, in Turkey). Probably the one-eyed merchant to whom Madame Sosostris refers.
Phlebas
A Phoenician merchant who is described lying dead in the water in "Death by Water." Perhaps the same
drowned Phoenician sailor to whom Madame Sosostris refers.
A Phoenician merchant who is described lying dead in the water in "Death by Water." Perhaps the same
drowned Phoenician sailor to whom Madame Sosostris refers.
Major Themes
Death
Two of the poem‟s sections -- “The Burial of the Dead” and “Death by Water” --refer specifically to this
theme. What complicates matters is that death can mean life; in other words, by dying, a being can pave
the way for new lives. Eliot asks his friend Stetson: “That corpse you planted last year in your garden, /
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” Similarly, Christ, by “dying,” redeemed humanity and
thereby gave new life. The ambiguous passage between life and death finds an echo in the frequent
allusions to Dante, particularly in the Limbo-like vision of the men flowing across London Bridge and
through the modern city.
Rebirth
The Christ images in the poem, along with the many other religious metaphors, posit rebirth and resurrection as central themes. The Waste Land lies fallow and the Fisher King is impotent; what is needed is a new beginning. Water, for one, can bring about that rebirth, but it can also destroy.
What the poet must finally turn to is Heaven, in the climactic exchange with the skies: “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” Eliot‟s vision is essentially of a world that is neither dying nor living; to break the spell, a profound change, perhaps an ineffable one, is required. Hence the prevalence of Grail imagery in the poem; that holy chalice can restore life and wipe the slate clean; likewise, Eliot refers frequently to
baptisms and to rivers – both “life-givers,” in either spiritual or physical ways.
baptisms and to rivers – both “life-givers,” in either spiritual or physical ways.
The Seasons
"The Waste Land" opens with an invocation of April, “the cruellest month.” That spring be depicted as ruel is a curious choice on Eliot‟s part, but as a paradox it informs the rest of the poem to a great degree. What brings life brings also death; the seasons fluctuate, spinning from one state to another, but, like history, they maintain some sort of stasis; not everything changes. In the end, Eliot‟s “waste land” is
almost seasonless: devoid of rain, of propagation, of real change. The world hangs in a perpetual limbo,
awaiting the dawn of a new season.
Lust
Perhaps the most famous episode in "The Waste Land" involves a female typist‟s liaison with a “carbuncular” man. Eliot depicts the scene as something akin to a rape. This chance sexual encounter
carries with it mythological baggage – the violated Philomela, the blind Tiresias who lived for a time as a woman. Sexuality runs through "The Waste Land," taking center stage as a cause of calamity in “The
Fire Sermon.” Nonetheless, Eliot defends “a moment‟s surrender” as a part of existence in “What the Thunder Said.” Lust may be a sin, and sex may be too easy and too rampant in Eliot‟s London, but action is still preferable to inaction. What is needed is sex that produces life, that rejuvenates, that restores – sex, in other words, that is not “sterile.”
Love
The references to Tristan und Isolde in “The Burial of the Dead,” to Cleopatra in “A Game of Chess,”
and to the story of Tereus and Philomela suggest that love, in "The Waste Land," is often destructive.
Tristan and Cleopatra die, while Tereus rapes Philomela, and even the love for the hyacinth girl leads
the poet to see and know “nothing."
Water
"The Waste Land" lacks water; water promises rebirth. At the same time, however, water can bring
about death. Eliot sees the card of the drowned Phoenician sailor and later titles the fourth section of his poem after Madame Sosostris‟ mandate that he fear “death by water.” When the rain finally arrives at the close of the poem, it does suggest the cleansing of sins, the washing away of misdeeds, and the start
of a new future; however, with it comes thunder, and therefore perhaps lightning. The latter may portend fire; thus, “The Fire Sermon” and “What the Thunder Said” are not so far removed in imagery, linked by
the potentially harmful forces of nature.
History
History, Eliot suggests, is a repeating cycle. When he calls to Stetson, the Punic War stands in for World
War I; this substitution is crucial because it is shocking. At the time Eliot wrote "The Waste Land," the
First World War was definitively a first - the "Great War" for those who had witnessed it. There had
been none to compare with it in history. The predominant sensibility was one of profound change; the
world had been turned upside down and now, with the rapid progress of technology, the movements of
societies, and the radical upheavals in the arts, sciences, and philosophy, the history of mankind had
reached a turning point.
Eliot revises this thesis, arguing that the more things change the more they stay the same. He links a
sordid affair between a typist and a young man to Sophocles via the figure of Tiresias; he replaces a line
from Marvell‟s “To His Coy Mistress” with “the sound of horns and motors”; he invokes Dante upon
the modern-day London Bridge, bustling with commuter traffic; he notices the Ionian columns of a bar
on Lower Thames Street teeming with fishermen. The ancient nestles against the medieval, rubs
shoulders with the Renaissance, and crosses paths with the centuries to follow. History becomes a blur.
Eliot‟s poem is like a street in Rome or Athens; one layer of history upon another upon another.
Summary and Analysis of Section I: "The Burial of the Dead"
"The Waste Land" begins with an excerpt from Petronius Arbiter‟s Satyricon, in Latin and Greek, which
translates as: “For once I saw with my own eyes the Cumean Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys
asked her, „Sibyl, what do you want?‟ she answered, „I want to die.‟” The quotation is followed by a
dedication to Ezra Pound, Eliot‟s colleague and friend, who played a major role in shaping the final
version of the poem.
The poem proper begins with a description of the seasons. April emerges as the “cruellest” month,
passing over a desolate land to which winter is far kinder. Eliot shifts from this vague invocation of time
and nature to what seem to be more specific memories: a rain shower by the Starnbergersee; a lake
outside Munich; coffee in that city‟s Hofgarten; sledding with a cousin in the days of childhood.
The second stanza returns to the tone of the opening lines, describing a land of “stony rubbish” – arid,
sterile, devoid of life, quite simply the “waste land” of the poem‟s title. Eliot quotes Ezekiel 2.1 and
Ecclesiastes 12.5, using biblical language to construct a sort of dialogue between the narrator –- the “son
of man” -– and a higher power. The former is desperately searching for some sign of life -– “roots that
clutch,” branches that grow -- but all he can find are dry stones, dead trees, and “a heap of broken
images.” We have here a forsaken plane that offers no relief from the beating sun, and no trace of water.
Suddenly Eliot switches to German, quoting directly from Wagner‟s Tristan und Isolde. The passage
translates as: “Fresh blows the wind / To the homeland / My Irish child / Where do you wait?” In
Wagner‟s opera, Isolde, on her way to Ireland, overhears a sailor singing this song, which brings with it
ruminations of love promised and of a future of possibilities. After this digression, Eliot offers the reader
a snatch of speech, this time from the mouth of the “hyacinth girl.” This girl, perhaps one of the
narrator's (or Eliot's) early loves, alludes to a time a year ago when the narrator presented her with
hyacinths. The narrator, for his part, describes in another personal account –- distinct in tone, that is,
from the more grandiloquent descriptions of the waste land, the seasons, and intimations of spirituality
that have preceded it –- coming back late from a hyacinth garden and feeling struck by a sense of
emptiness. Looking upon the beloved girl, he “knew nothing”; that is to say, faced with love, beauty,
and “the heart of light,” he saw only “silence.” At this point, Eliot returns to Wagner, with the line
“Oed‟ und leer das Meer”: “Desolate and empty is the sea.” Also plucked from Tristan und Isolde, the
line belongs to a watchman, who tells the dying Tristan that Isolde‟s ship is nowhere to be seen on the
horizon.
From here Eliot switches abruptly to a more prosaic mode, introducing Madame Sosostris, a “famous
clairvoyante” alluded to in Aldous Huxley‟s Crome Yellow. This fortune-teller is known across Europe
for her skills with Tarot cards. The narrator remembers meeting her when she had “a bad cold.” At that
meeting she displayed to him the card of the drowned Phoenician Sailor: “Here, said she, is your card.”
Next comes “Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,” and then “the man with three staves,” “the Wheel,”
and “the one-eyed merchant.” It should be noted that only the man with three staves and the wheel are
actual Tarot cards; Belladonna is often associated with da Vinci‟s "Madonna of the Rocks," and the one-
eyed merchant is, as far as we can tell, an invention of Eliot‟s.
Finally, Sosostris encounters a blank card representing something the one-eyed merchant is carrying on
his back – something she is apparently “forbidden to see.” She is likewise unable to find the Hanged
Man among the cards she displays; from this she concludes that the narrator should “fear death by
water.” Sosostris also sees a vision of a mass of people “walking round in a ring.” Her meeting with the
narrator concludes with a hasty bit of business: she asks him to tell Mrs. Equitone, if he sees her, that
Sosostris will bring the horoscope herself.
The final stanza of this first section of "The Waste Land" begins with the image of an “Unreal City”
echoing Baudelaire‟s “fourmillante cite,” in which a crowd of people –- perhaps the same crowd
Sosostris witnessed –- flows over London Bridge while a “brown fog” hangs like a wintry cloud over
the proceedings. Eliot twice quotes Dante in describing this phantasmagoric scene: “I had not thought
death had undone so many” (from Canto 3 of the Inferno); “Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled”
(from Canto 4). The first quote refers to the area just inside the Gates of Hell; the second refers to
Limbo, the first circle of Hell.
It seems that the denizens of modern London remind Eliot of those without any blame or praise who are
relegated to the Gates of Hell, and those who where never baptized and who now dwell in Limbo, in
Dante‟s famous vision. Each member of the crowd keeps his eyes on his feet; the mass of men flow up a
hill and down King William Street, in the financial district of London, winding up beside the Church of
Saint Mary Woolnoth. The narrator sees a man he recognizes named Stetson. He cries out to him, and it
appears that the two men fought together in a war. Logic would suggest World War I, but the narrator
refers to Mylae, a battle that took place during the First Punic War. He then asks Stetson whether the corpse he planted last year in his garden has begun to sprout. Finally, Eliot quotes Webster and
Baudelaire, back to back, ending the address to Stetson in French: “hypocrite lecteur! – mon semblable,
– mon frère!”
Analysis
Eliot‟s opening quotation sets the tone for the poem as a whole. Sibyl is a mythological figure who
asked Apollo “for as many years of life as there are grains in a handful of sand” (North, 3).
Unfortunately, she did not think to ask for everlasting youth. As a result, she is doomed to decay for
years and years, and preserves herself within a jar. Having asked for something akin to eternal life, she
finds that what she most wants is death. Death alone offers escape; death alone promises the end, and
therefore a new beginning.
Thus does Eliot begin his magisterial poem, labeling his first section “The Burial of the Dead,” a title
pulled from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. He has been careful to lay out his central theme
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