THE river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leafEliot uses the nymphs, Greek mythological creatures that dwell in springs, rivers and wells, to give the Thames River life. Nymphs were female, playful creatures that interacted a lot with humans, much like a river interacts with people today; however, Eliot says that the nymphs have left the river. The Thames still exists but all its life and original nature are gone. This is what society has done to nature, rid it of all spark, of all life. The contrast between the beautiful and joyful nymphs with the dread of a dead river gives the text a great impact on the reader.
Clutch and sink into the
wet bank. The wind
Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed
(sec 3 line 175).
I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs
Perceived the scene, and foretold the
rest—
I too awaited the expected guest (sec 3 line 228).
Tiresias was perhaps the most famous of Greek soothsayers. He was given the gift of seeing the future by the gods, but was blinded when he stumbled upon Athena during her bath. Why Eliot uses him in this part of the poem, when he is describing a sexual encounter between a man and a woman, is still not clear to me. Maybe Tiresias’ soothsaying could represent the inevitability of the sexual encounter and how humans are such animals that that sex could be predicted. Tiresias is also mentioned in Dante’s Inferno when he is shown in lower hell in the ring of the fraudulent. Dante shows him as a frau while Eliot shows him as a real soothsayer. During Dante’s time, it wouldn’t have been farfetched to believe in people who could predict the future but in the XX century it is far more unlikely to believe it. In The Waste Land that is exactly the case. Likely, Tiresias is simply a tool used by Eliot to unite his text with all kinds of cultures and beliefs and thus make it more universal.
To Carthage then I came
Burning burning burning burning
O Lord
Thou pluckest me out
O Lord Thou pluckest
burning (sec 3 line
307)
The mentioning of Carthage is a very interesting one. This once-great city was burned to oblivion by the Roman Empire during the Punic Wars and it respresents the brutality of humans. The Romans enslaved over 50,000 people and burned the whole city, leaving few records. Much like the Lord did with Sodom and Gomorrah when they were destroyed by fire, the Romans did the same to Carthage. This is likely why Eliot describes the fall of Carthage and the Lord together. “The Fire Sermon” Is finished with this excerpt and thus very majestically states how human passion and impulse, like Roman hatred for Carthage or human decadence in Sodom, lead to fire and destruction.
If there were water
And no rock
If there were
rock
And also water
And water
A
spring
A pool among the rock
If there were the
sound of water only
Not the cicada
And dry grass
singing
But sound of water over a rock
Where the
hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
Drip drop drip drop drop
drop drop
But there is no water (sec 5 line 346)
Despite this stanza not containing any specific allusions to a text or character, after reading it I immediately thought of the Greek Tartarus. Here, people who challenge the Gods faced the worse punishment – desire. King Tantalus for example, was submerged up to his chin in water and placed in front of an apple tree. In that position he was condemned to eternal hunger and thirst. Much like the speaker in the poem who desires water while only obtaining rocks and grass, Tantalus is doomed to dissatisfaction and frustration. This is, I think, is the worse state for a person, to live in perpetual desire for something essential to our life.
Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only
you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always
another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I
do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of
you (sec 5 line 361)?
Since I grew up under Catholicism, I was always told that there was always a guardian angel watching out for me, much like the figure that “walks always beside you.” We can’t see him, like the speaker states, but people who believe feel the presence of another being next to them. Could have Eliot chosen this, or something similar, when he wrote this stanza? He mentions a hooded figure, perhaps the author meant Death, which always accompanies us in life’s journey.
Ganga was sunken, and the limp leavesEliot mentions Hindu mythology in this stanza. Ganga is the name for the Ganges River in India, perhaps one of the most meaningful and important objects to Indian life. When Eliot describes such a great power sunken and limp, it gives the reader a tremendous impact and clearly states how even the most powerful can be in need. Following Ganga, Eliot mentions Himavant, the Hindu god of Snow, and he is believed to represent the Himalayas. How Ganga depends on Himavant might show how even the most powerful and important are not almighty and omnipresent.
Waited for rain, while the black
clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant.
The jungle crouched, humped in
silence (sec 5 line 395).
London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down (sec 5 line 426)
This allusion directly talks about the famous children’s song “London Bridge”. It describes how one of civilization’s most outstanding landmarks, London Bridge, fell. I believe Eliot attempted to use this song to show how society is crippling and falling down without humans noticing. Humans simply forget the event or rid it of importance, like “London Bridge”.
A very interesting part of this study was seeing how all human history and human beliefs can be written down in a single poem. Eliot manages to place Greeks, Romans, Catholics, and Hindus in a way that they all flow flawlessly in a call for human mental revival. I found this one of the most enduring aspects of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land
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