I. The Burial of the Dead
The first section of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is composed of four different vignettes, all of them being old from a different speaker. The first part is told in an autobiographical style and is told from the point of a woman. In this part, she recalls her past childhood that was filled with sledding and claiming to people that she was a German, and not a Russian. This is significant to the poem because the woman could be stating that she was meant to be a member of the Austrian imperial family that had been recently defeated. Along with her remarks of her current existence, she mixes in a meditative state of the seasons to describe her existence's barrenness. The second part is told from a
II. A Game of Chess
The second section of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is split up into two different parts depicting the two different settings present in the modern world at the time. The first part is about a woman who would either be royal or simply very wealthy. The imagery in this section is very straight to the point as it's demanding the readers to expect a high-class setting enclosed with expensive materials. The allusion here is Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra; the speaker is meant to be portrayed as living an extraordinary life, much like Cleopatra did in Shakespeare's tragedy. As the speaker goes on, the vocabulary describes possible fake outcomes as it's stated that sometime modern times are too much or overwhelming. Because of this overwhelming feeling, the speaker starts talking in somewhat of a neurotic state because the formation of the poem falls apart; lines are indented, there are fragmented sentences, one word replies, etc. The way she speaks, however, is in a lyrical format as if she is singing; she cries out waiting for her lover. The spastic break down also mirrors how the speaker is feeling as she isn't in her normal state of mind. Towards the end of this section, the speaker plans a trip for herself and a follow game of chess, referencing the title of this particular part.
For the second section of this poem, the story line dramatically changes along with the tone, setting, and mood. Now we are in a barroom with the main speaker talking about her good friend Lil and her life with her husband. She is telling this story to many others in the bar with commentary between herself and Lil to add to the story for the others. Albert (Lil's husband) is coming home from the war and the speaker believed Lil needs to clean up for if she doesn't, some other woman will come along and steal him away. Lil makes snarky remarks throughout this section to make the speaker just as bad as Lil does with such comments. In her defence, she blames the abortion pills she took for her last child for changing her appearance. Lil and the speaker banter back on forth until the bartender repeatedly says "HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME", indicating last call for the bar. The goodnight sequence at the very end of this part is to indicate all the individuals parting and also referencing. Shakespeare's Hamlet when Ophelia says her parting words before suicide.
III. The Fire Sermon
Through the use of imagery, the speaker is explaining the Thanes River in England. The stanza starts out in the setting of wall, with leaves fallen off the rivers and on the surroundings of the river. The speakers speaks of “nymphs”, which are mythological mischievous creatures. But seeing as they are departed from the Thanes, it has lost its extraordinary qualities. The signs of life, such as cigarette butts are absent from the river. The tone of the poem changes dramatically, from the change of weather to the constant shadow of death. In the second stanza, speaker talks of rats in a disgusted tone, fat and useless, ruining the vegetation. This is symbolic, the rat standing for death and decay something green and lively, such as the vegetation. The rat is a reoccurring symbol throughout the entire poem “The Wasteland”. More into the stanza the speaker speaks of skeletons and bones, in relation to the rat scurrying around their graves. The third stanza is comprised of sounds and “twit[s]” that birds make, and the sounds of children.
There is a significant change in tone within the tone at the beginning of the fourth stanza. Recognizing London as an “unreal city” in the middle of a dirty winter, the snow painted brown by the business of the city. At the beginning of the firth stanza, the speaker uses imagery to paint the picture of twilight, causing the sky to turn violet. Workers leave their desks, a sailor home from sea, and a typist leaves her work, only to go home and prepare for a date later in the evening. She, being the typist, is recognized as being poor because as the speaker states she uses her couch as a bed in her small apartment. Her date is an average man, a small house real estate agent. After the couple has finished dinner, the speaker suggests that they become more physical, described by “caresses” and as he “assaults” the women. The indifference the women has towards their sexual intercourse is shown later in the stanza, as her date leaves her bed unnoticed; similar to a “one night stand” situation. The stanza ends describing the beauty of the women, calming her hair that was tangled.
The speaker returns to the setting of the Thanes River in England, but the tone has changed exponentially. There is music by the waters, recognized by the “whining of a mandoline”, also there is “chatter and clatter” where the Thanes was absent of before. There is a recognized change when the speaker describes the Thanes River for the second time. There is oil and tar, which show the pollution from citizens and the industries that are now being built around the river. The King and Queen of England were scene paddling peacefully down the river, and pieces of conversation from individuals surrounding the river are also shown, some of women gossiping and others describing the dirty and mindless ways of labor workers. The final stanza within “The Fire Sermon” changes tone once more, to dark and helpless. Referring to the religious side of England, the repetition of “burning” describes the impotent struggle of a man, showing the cheap sexual encounters that require no romance between two lovers.
The wasteland is the hopelessness in modern day society that comes with cheap and mindless sex. The main event within The Fire Sermon, the date between two strangers, is compared to the gossiping of women down by the Thanes River in England, and the mindless work of lower class men. The idea of romance has been worn down and lost all meaning in modern day society, therefore true love has become abandoned and deserted; just like a wasteland.
V. What The Thunder Said
The first section of this part refers to Jesus Christ and his death. It references the gardens of Gethsemane, where the disciples of Christ were said to have prayed before his crucifixion. The "torchlight red on sweaty faces" alludes to the guards that took Christ away to his death, as well as his disciples, for they locked themselves away after his death, together in a room. The "thunder of spring over distant mountains" refers to an earthquake, supposed darkness that fell over the earth, and other supernatural events that took place after his death. The people that are dying refers to a line in the bible, from Luke 15:24 "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry." Jesus died on a cross, but on the third day after his crucifixion rose back upon the earth, and then unto heaven.
The next stanza describes another wasteland, this time without water, only rock. There is no peace in this wasteland, for there is no silence, no solitude, no shelter from anything. There is "dry sterile thunder without rain," meaning that what normally brings life, water, is absent, making it a desolate place. The speaker starts to obsess over the exclusion of water from this wasteland, using the onomatopoeia of the sounds of water dripping.
The following stanza references Luke 24:13-35 and an Antarctic expedition. In Luke 24, two disciples on their way home meet Christ, however they don't recognize him now that he is resurrected. On the Antarctic expedition, a group of hikers always believed that there was one more group member than they could count.
The speaker talks about fallen civilizations in the next few sections. The transition from focus on western civilizations and their remnants progresses to a focus on eastern civilization. This shift suggests that eastern civilization is what will give the world hope, for their civilizations haven't fallen into fragments.
"What The Thunder Said" refers to Hindu legend, where the voice of thunder could give [Datta], sympathize [Dayadhvam] and control [Damyata]. Through thunder, life is dictated. In the last few stanzas, the speaker uses the three DA derivatives to showcase what thunder does in the world.