"I will show you fear in a handful of dust" - The Wasteland 1. The Burial of the Dead

T.S Eliot's masterpiece, The Wasteland, is composed of four parts. The first of these is entitled "The Burial of the Dead".

April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

This first sentence of the poem is very interesting as it talks with strange opposites. April is the cruelest month yet it breed lilacs, a beautiful flower, from dead land. In April, spring begins its blossoming of the land after the cold winter. This time is usually related with new life, animals have their offsprings and flowers bloom. Why does Eliot compare Spring with death? Later, Eliot writes "Winter kept us warm, covering (sec 1 line 5)", again the narrator gives the reader an apparent paradox. How can winter keep us warm?

Throughout the first stanza we see actions that are completely out of the narrators control, spring, summer, rain, and sunlight. The narrator even shows how he cannot control it, "Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee (sec 1 line 8) The narrator, Marie, even is forced to read at night because she can't go outside at that time and during winter she has to move south, "I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter (sec 1 line 18)." Perhaps its this feeling of powerlessness that makes the narrator feel the seasons and nature as powerful and maybe even mortal. However, positive feelings and liberty are still given by the author, "In the mountains, there you feel free (sec 1 line 17)."

The second stanza changes from location and it now speaks of a desert land. The description of the area places it almost as a post-apocalypse location. "The dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,/ And the dry stone no sound of water (sec 1 line 23-24)." This makes the reader feel hopeless and barren, yet the reader is still given some hope of life, "There is shadow under this red rock (sec 1 line 25). What could Eliot mean with this dreaded description? Perhaps a criticism of the destruction of society? The author mentions the "Son of man", which refers to Christianity. The "son of man" is a Biblical reference, as it is mentioned dozens of times, especially when regarding the Prophet Ezekiel. In the Bible, David also predicts Jesus and he menitons him as "the son of man". With this comes a "heap of broken images" which might refer to idols of religion. "I will show you fear in a handful of dust (sec 1 line 30)." This phrase is very interesting. It inmediately reminded me of God talking in the Ancient Testament, especially during Sodom and Gomorrah. It shows power from the person showing the dust and powerlessness from the viewer. Another allusion to religion and its decay on society? Yet Eliot still keeps the reader with hope of safety and salvation with the "red rock".

There is shadow under this red rock
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

Under the shadow of the red rock, the narrator will show the reader something different form anything he has ever seen. Could Eliot be urging the reader to change perspective regarding society in order to save it? Is a change of perspective the only hope left for the world?

In "The Burial of the Dead", Eliot uses different languages on ocassions, what effect could this bring on the text?

Frish weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?

This might give the reader feelings of powerlessness if he doesn't understand the language, or it might be the entrance of a second narrator in the various occassions German is used. The meaning of language I hope can be revealed to me as I read on.

While hearing T.S. Eliot's reading of the poem, I felt dread and pessimism. His entonation accented negative words such as "cruellest" or "dead" in the first stanza. However, when the poem talks about the archduke's and riding a sled, Eliot changes his tone to a more cheerful one. Later though, he goes back to a more dreary tone in the second stanza when he uses the word "no", this in the poem feels hopeless when he mentions "no shelter, no relief, no sound of water." In the first stanza, Eliot enjambs "winter", saying very quickly, perhaps to differentiate the cold of witner with the warmth and fast-pace of his view of winter.