Themes in The Waste Land

This final line is the formal conclusion to an Upanishad, a Hindu sacred treatise. Roughly translated from Sanskrit, it is a prayer for inner peace. Ending “The Waste Land” with this ancient prayer from another culture other than Eliot’s own Western one suggests that this human desire is universal and enduring.

From “El Desdichado [The Unhappy One],” a sonnet by Gérard de Nerval, the line translates as “The Prince of Aquitaine whose palace spire lies low in the dust.” Bringing the poem full circle, Eliot returns to the dust motif introduced in "The Burial of the Dead": “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” Through the quotation from “El Desdichado,” he seems to be issuing a final warning about succumbing to spiritual defeat.

From “Pervigilium Veneris,” a poem generally attributed to Tiberianus, a Roman poet, the quotation translates as “When will I be as the swallow?” In the poem’s final allusion to the story of Philomela, whose suffering ends when she is turned into a bird, the question seems to be a plea for deliverance from the wasteland of modern life as Eliot has described it. The repetition of “O swallow swallow” suggests desperation in the plea.

From Purgatorio, the second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, the line translates as “Then he hid himself in the refining fire.” Suggesting the need for cleansing of the spirit, the quotation supports major themes in “The Waste Land” concerning the degradation of the spirit in modern life. For someone to seek refuge in “the refining fire” perhaps suggests that spiritual rebirth is still possible in modern times.

The phrases “when invited” and the heart’s “beating obedient / To controlling hands” suggest that the gods see humankind as incapable of self-control and consequently believe humans must be controlled. The idea supports primary themes in “The Waste Land,” which is filled with examples of people drifting aimlessly through life, rudderless, and giving in to baser instincts in the pursuit of transitory pleasures.

When the gods hear the thunder, they hear “Damyata,” meaning self-control. Their reaction to the concept appears in the lines that follow.

When demons hear the thunder, they hear “Dayadhyam” which means compassion, a quality in humankind that is not evident throughout “The Waste Land.”

When humans hear the Creator speaking through the thunder, they hear “Datta,” meaning “to give.” The remainder of the passage recounts what men have given up.

The line is a biblical allusion to the Gospel of Luke 24:13–35 that recounts the story of two of Jesus Christ’s disciples traveling to Emmaus; they meet a stranger on the road, the resurrected Christ, but fail to recognize him. The allusion seems to underscore Eliot’s theme of disconnection from religious faith in the modern world.

Water and rock are antithetical motifs in “The Waste Land.” Water is associated with life, growth, and rebirth, while rock summons opposite images suggestive of a barren, sterile wasteland. The contrast between water and rock permeates the poem and supports Eliot’s depictions of modern life as a spiritual wasteland.

In the context of the previous lines, “He who was living is now dead” alludes to Jesus Christ before his resurrection after dying on the cross. The repetition in the two lines and their juxtaposition suggest a similarity between his physical death and the ongoing spiritual death in modern society brought about by the abandonment of religious faith and the corruption of traditional moral values.

“Phlebas the Phoenician” is an allusion to the drowned Phoenician Sailor in Madame Sosostris’s pack of tarot cards described in “The Burial of the Dead,” the first section of “The Waste Land.” The allusion unites “Death by Water” and “The Burial of the Dead” in developing themes relating to death, decay, the transitory nature of life, and the superficial values embraced by the living.

The passage brings section III full circle, back to the title, "The Fire Sermon." In the Buddha’s sermon, fire symbolizes the suffering and depravity that result from lust and the love of worldly pleasures; to end suffering and depravity, they must be forsaken. The message in the Buddha’s sermon is the major theme in this section of “The Waste Land.”

This passage is a repetition of the allusion to the story of Philomela that appears in section II "A Game of Chess." It supports the major theme in this section, the spiritual debasement in modern life, driven by lust and selfish desires.

This line is taken from the end of Paul Verlaine’s poem “Parsifal” and translates as “And O those children’s voices, singing in the cupola!” The allusion once more references the legend of the Fisher King; in Verlaine’s poem, Percival, a knight who has remained physically and spiritually pure in order to drink from the Holy Grail, heals the wounded Fisher King. The allusion’s ironic juxtaposition with the preceding lines emphasizes the loss of innocence and nobility of character in modern times. Also, Percival’s turning away from lust and physical passions is consistent with the message of Buddha’s Fire Sermon, referenced in the title of this section.

“Leman” is the French name for Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Eliot wrote much of “The Waste Land” while convalescing in Lausanne by the lake. The line is also an allusion to Psalm 137, which describes the Israelites being exiled to Babylon: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.” The allusion support the poem’s themes of loss and despair following World War I.

In classical mythology, nymphs are minor spirits represented as beautiful maidens who live in nature. “The nymphs are departed,” a repetition of line 3 above, is another allusion to “Prothalamion.” In Spenser’s poem, nymphs gather flowers to adorn the brides-to-be. In the context of this passage, “nymphs” likely refers to prostitutes who had sexual encounters during the summer with the idle sons of prominent men in London. The allusion reflects the condemnation of lust suggested by the title of section III. It also contrasts the beauty of the Thames as described in Spenser’s poem (1592) with the ugliness and degradation of the river’s present condition. The contrast supports Eliot’s theme of spiritual emptiness in modern society.

Gammon is ham that has been cured or smoked like bacon. The passage, which ends the speaker’s discussion of Lil, suggests that with Albert’s return, Lil’s life proceeded, her misery unabated, as she resumed her duties as his wife. Like the woman in the first half of this section of the poem, sexuality for Lil is not a means of expressing love, and despite the great disparity between their social classes and lifestyles, both are trapped and isolated in lives with little meaning.

The description of the setting ends with this line, marking a turning point in the text. The auditory imagery indicates that someone is coming to her room; the following lines imply that the visitor is her lover. The connotations of “shuffled” in regard to the sound of his footsteps suggest a lack of joy or enthusiasm; even sexual relationships, it seems, are devoid of emotional fulfillment or satisfaction. The idea supports a major theme in “The Waste Land”: that modern life has deadened the spirit and robbed life of meaning.

According to Eliot’s notes, the title of the poem’s second section alludes to the game of chess played in act 2, scene 2 of Women Beware Women, a play by Thomas Middleton (circa 1621). Middleton employs the game of chess device again in A Game at Chess (1624). In both works, playing chess is associated with the deception, betrayal, rape, and sexual seduction of women. The allusion indicates that this section of the poem will address these themes in some way.

The final line in “The Burial of the Dead” alludes to the final line in Charles Baudelaire's poem, "To the Reader." Translated from the French, it means “Hypocrite reader,—my fellow,—my brother!” Baudelaire’s poem develops themes that relate to those in “The Waste Land,” primarily the idea that withdrawing from life through inaction, boredom, fear, pessimism, or acceptance of defeat is worse than death itself.

Madame Sosostris’s being known as “the wisest woman in Europe” suggests a major theme in “The Waste Land”: the dissolution of traditional philosophies and the absence of shared religious beliefs in post-World War I Europe has created a rudderless society. Her tarot cards are “wicked” because they lead people away from the truth in their search for some security and meaning in their empty lives.

The passage introduces the speaker in this section of the poem, Madame Sosostris, a clairvoyant(e) or psychic who supposedly can see the future. Madame Sosostris’s name is an allusion to a character in Aldous Huxley's novel Crome Yellow, in which a man disguises himself as an old woman and pretends to be a fortune teller. The fortunes he tells are dark and disturbing, and some of them are similar in theme to themes in “The Waste Land.” Associating Madame Sosostris with the charlatan in Huxley’s novel implies that she, too, is a fraud.

Translated as “empty and desolate is the sea,” the passage is an allusion to the scene in Tristan und Isolde when a dying Tristan waits for Isolde to return to him. Pairing the classic love story of Tristan and Isolde with a modern story of the “hyacinth girl,” whose lover is now incapable of feeling anything at all, supports the poem’s theme of spiritual death—the idea that even love cannot survive in the emotional sterility of modern post-war society.

The passage marks the conclusion of Marie’s two happy memories of life before the war and indicates her present emotional state. Reading “much of the night” suggests isolation and withdrawal from human relationships, and choosing to “go south in the winter,” instead of going to the mountains where “you feel free,” suggests no longer feeling or seeking to feel joy or fulfillment. Marie’s emotional state further develops the poem’s themes of disillusionment and the deadening of the human spirit in the post-war era.

The poem begins with an unidentified speaker contrasting spring and winter. The contrast is ironic—a paradox: the speaker describes April, the month associated with the return of spring, warmth, and the renewal of life, as causing the greatest pain, whereas winter snow’s covering the earth “kept us warm” is a phrase that suggests comfort and security. April is cruel, according to the speaker, because it evokes “memory and desire”; the “forgetful snow” of winter does not. The idea that remembering the past and feeling desire are now painful experiences to be avoided foreshadows a major theme in the poem: that World War I and the post-war era, the setting of the poem, resulted in a deadening of the human spirit. The theme is also suggested by the title of this section of the poem, “The Burial of the Dead.”

This is a direct quotation from Canto III of The Inferno by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). In The Inferno, Dante remarks "I had not thought death had undone so many" after entering the gates of Dis, the subterranean city of the dead. Thus, Eliot's allusion equates London to hell and the throngs of Londoners to the countless dead. The comparison is metaphorical, for the Londoners are not literally dead, but perhaps spiritually so.

T. S. Eliot's speaker seems to be illustrating the kinds of superstitions that would revive following the dissolution of traditional religion. In the absence of shared religious beliefs, mankind might revert to ancient beliefs in such things as fortune telling, astrology, numerology, palm reading, and spiritualism (communing with the dead). Madame Sosostris represents a figure who offers these rituals.