Analysis of Eliot's poem "The Waste Land". barren land

The action takes place in England after the First World War. The poem is based on the myth of the search for the Holy Grail and the legend of the poor fisherman. The parts of the poem are fragmentary and do not form a unity.

The poem begins with an epigraph - the myth of the Sibyl. She wished herself eternal life, forgetting to wish for eternal youth: “Otherwise I saw the Cumaean Sibyl in a bottle. The children asked her: “Sibyl, what do you want?”, and she answered: “I want to die.”

Part I. Burial of the dead

The cruel month of April forces nature to awaken from winter sleep: flowers and trees grow from dead earth. It's raining in the city of Starnbergersee. Marie and her friend are sitting in a cafe and talking. Marie talks about how she went sledding in the mountains with her cousin.

In Part I, Sibyl turns into the fortune teller Madame Sosostris. She has a bad cold, but, nevertheless, she makes a prediction on the cards to the person who came to her. He must die from the water: “Here,” she says, “here is your card - a drowned man, a Phoenician sailor... / But I don’t see the Hanged Man. Your death is by water."

The image of London - a ghostly city where the war took place. The sailor calls out to Stetson's acquaintance and asks him whether the dead man who was buried in the garden a year ago has sprouted: “Will he flourish this year - / Or perhaps an unexpected frost has struck his bed?” The sailor receives no answer.

Part II. Game of chess

The couple plays chess in complete silence, waiting for a knock on the door. They have nothing to talk about with each other. The room is described: an aquarium without fish, a painting depicting the transformation of Philomela into a nightingale, scolded by the rapist king. Finally, Lil’s acquaintance comes in, and the hostess advises her that before her husband Albert arrives from the front, she should put herself in order and put her jaw back in place, otherwise he will leave for someone else:

Lil, take everything out and make plug-ins.
He said: I can’t look at you.
And I can't, I say, think about Albert,
He wasted three years in the trenches, he wants to live,
If not with you, there will be others.

Lil is 31 years old, she gave birth to five children, and in last time was near death. Albert returns on Sunday.

Part III. Fire sermon.

At night, a fisherman fishes from the bank of the Thames. He thinks about King Tireus, who dishonored Philomela.

Mr. Eugenides - the "one-eyed merchant" from Madame Sozostris' fortune telling - invites a man to the Cannon Street Hotel.

The third part ends with a call to God to free the burning man from asceticism.

Eliot D.. barren land.
The action takes place in England after the First World War. The poem is based on the myth of the search for the Holy Grail and the legend of the poor fisherman. The parts of the poem are fragmentary and do not form a unity.
The poem begins with an epigraph - the myth of the Sibyl. She wished herself eternal life, forgetting to wish for eternal youth: “And then I also saw the Kuma Sibyl in a bottle. The children asked her: “Sibyl, what do you want?”, and she answered: “I want to die.”
Part I. Burial of the dead
The cruel month of April forces nature to awaken from its winter sleep: flowers and trees grow from the dead earth. It's raining in the city of Starnbergersee. Marie and her friend are sitting in a cafe and talking. Marie talks about how she went sledding in the mountains with her cousin.
The author calls the son of man to come where the dead tree does not provide shade. He promises to show fear - a handful of dust.
In Part I, Sibyl turns into the fortune teller Madame Sosostris. She has a bad cold, but, nevertheless, she makes a prediction on the cards to the person who came to her. He must die from the water: “Here,” she says, “here is your card - a drowned man, a Phoenician sailor. But I don’t see the Hanged Man. Your death is from water.”
The image of London - a ghostly city where the war took place. The sailor calls out to Stetson's acquaintance and asks him whether the dead man who was buried in the garden a year ago has sprouted: "Will he flourish this year - Or perhaps an unexpected frost has struck his bed?" The sailor receives no answer.
Part II. Game of chess
The couple plays chess in complete silence, waiting for a knock on the door. They have nothing to talk about with each other. The room is described: an aquarium without fish, a painting depicting the transformation of Philomela into a nightingale, scolded by the rapist king. Finally, Lil’s acquaintance comes in, and the hostess advises her that before her husband Albert arrives from the front, she should put herself in order and put her jaw back in place, otherwise he will leave for someone else:
Lil, take everything out and make plug-ins.
He said: I can’t look at you.
And I can't, I say, think about Albert,
He wasted three years in the trenches, he wants to live,
If not with you, there will be others.
Lil was 31 years old, had given birth to five children, and was last close to death. Albert returns on Sunday.
Part III. Fire sermon.
At night, a fisherman fishes from the bank of the Thames. He thinks about King Tireus, who dishonored Philomela.
Mr. Eugenides - the "one-eyed merchant" from Madame Sozostris' fortune telling - invites a man to the Cannon Street Hotel.
In this part of the poem, the Sibyl is the female hypostasis of the blind soothsayer Tiresias: “I, Tiresias, am a prophet, trembling between the sexes, a blind old man with a wrinkled female breast. In the purple hour, I see how, having finished with affairs, people are drawn to houses.” Tiresias predicts the meeting between the typist and the sailor: he caresses her, she dispassionately endures his caresses. When the sailor leaves, the typist sighs with relief and turns on the gramophone. The typist recalls the facts of her biography. She was subjected to debauchery in Richmond, in Moorgate, on Moorgate beach. The third part ends with a call to God to free the burning man from asceticism. Part IV. Death by water. Phlebus the Phoenician dies in the water after two weeks. His body is gnawed by the sea current. The author calls on everyone to honor the deceased Phlebus: “Remember Phlebus: he was full of strength and beauty.” Part V What did the thunder say? The last part of the poem begins with a description of the barren land: thunderclaps in dead mountains, there is no water here, only rocks, stones, sand underfoot, dry grass, cracks in the soil. Someone else is walking next to the two heroes across the barren land. But they don't know him, they don't see his face. They hear thunder in the purple sky, see an incomprehensible city over the mountains, pass Jerusalem, Athens, and ghostly London. They see in a crevice of rocks an empty chapel with broken windows and a cemetery: In this putrefactive depression between the mountains, the grass sings in the weak moonlight to the drooping graves near the chapel - This is an empty chapel, a dwelling of the wind, The windows are broken, the door is swinging. And only here the grass grows and the rain begins. And then the thunder says: “Yes. What have we given?” - the blood of Jesus Christ, “the blood of a trembling heart,” which no one will find. But many are looking for it, considering the blood of Jesus the key to life. The poem ends with the fisherman sitting by the canal, fishing and wondering if he will restore order to his lands and the fact that London Bridge is collapsing.

The events of the poem take place in Great Britain, in the period after the end of the First World War. The work is based on the legend of the search for the Grail and the myth of the poor fisherman. The book is divided into 5 parts that have no connection with each other.

At the beginning there is an epigraph that mentions the myth of the Cumaean Sibyl. About how she, wanting to live forever, forgot to ask for unfading youth. Over time, having grown old, Sibyl lived for centuries in the body of an old woman and she had only one desire - to die.

Part 1. Burial of the dead

April has arrived, forcing nature to wake up from hibernation. It is raining heavily in a town near Lake Stanbergersee. A woman named Marie is talking to a friend while sitting in a cafe. She talks about the trip to her cousin, about how she rode a sleigh down the mountain.

In Part 1, Sibyl takes on the guise of the fortune teller Madame Sozotris. She has a cold, but agrees to tell fortunes to the man who came to her. A woman predicts that her visitor will die from water.

A sailor meeting an acquaintance calls out to him and asks about the dead man who was buried last year. “Will he flourish…” the man wonders, but never receives an answer.

Part 2. Playing chess

The couple decides to play chess while waiting for guests. The game takes place in complete silence, as they cannot find a topic for conversation. The author also describes the interior of the room: an empty aquarium and a painting that depicts the transformation of Philomela into a bird.

A woman named Lil, a friend of the owner of the house, arrives. The owner advises her to take care of her own appearance and insert new teeth. After all, if she doesn’t do this, then there is a high probability that her husband will leave her. Lil is still young, she is only 31 years old. However, she already has 5 children. The last birth was very difficult, the woman was on the verge of death.

After several days, Lil's husband returns. On this occasion, they invite their neighbor to visit them.

Part 3. Fire Sermon

In the dead of night, a fisherman sits on the banks of the Thames. He is immersed in thoughts about King Tereus, who violated his wife Philomela. A one-eyed merchant named Eugenides, mentioned in Madame Sozortris' fortune telling, invites a fisherman to the Cannon Street Hotel.

Now the Sibyl appears in the role of the prophet Tiresias, who awaits the meeting of the sailor and the typist. Once together, the sailor begins to caress the girl, but she does not react. Then the sailor leaves. The typist, left alone, does not immediately notice the absence of the sailor. She decides to turn on the gramophone and begins to remember her past relationships with men.

Part 4. Death by water

A Phoenician named Phlebus dies in the water two weeks later. The author calls to honor his memory, because he was handsome and full of strength.

Part 5. What the thunder said

The final part of the poem describes a barren land: there is no water, the earth is riddled with cracks, and there are only mountains around.

Two people walk together. A third person is walking not far from them, but people do not see his face, they only feel someone’s presence nearby. Thunderclaps are heard. People see a city over the mountains and then pass over Jerusalem, Athens and London. They want to find the blood of Jesus to gain eternal life. However, they will not be able to get what they want.

The author's main message is that humanity is dooming itself to exist in barren lands. And this will not stop as long as wars take place all around, taking the lives of innocent people, while trees die, because the ground around them is soaked in blood.

Picture or drawing Eliot The Waste Land

Other retellings for the reader's diary

Summary A time to live and a time to die Remarque
Spring. One of the Russian villages is occupied by German soldiers. The snow slowly melts, and corpses mixed with water and mud begin to appear. Early in the morning the Germans will lead the partisans captured the day before to be executed. There is a woman among those captured.

Part I. Burial of the dead

The cruel month of April forces nature to awaken from its winter sleep: flowers and trees grow from the dead earth. It's raining in the city of Starnbergersee. Marie and her friend are sitting in a cafe and talking. Marie talks about how she went sledding in the mountains with her cousin.

Part II. Game of chess

Lil, take everything out and make plug-ins.

He said: I can’t look at you.

And I can't, I say, think about Albert,

He wasted three years in the trenches, he wants to live,

If not with you, there will be others.

Lil was 31 years old, had given birth to five children, and was last close to death. Albert returns on Sunday.

Part III. Fire sermon.

At night, a fisherman fishes from the bank of the Thames. He thinks about King Tireus, who dishonored Philomela.

Mr. Eugenides - the "one-eyed merchant" from Madame Sozostris' fortune telling - invites a man to the Cannon Street Hotel.

In this part of the poem, the Sibyl is the female hypostasis of the blind soothsayer Tiresias: “I, Tiresias, am a prophet trembling between the sexes / A blind old man with a wrinkled female breast. / In the purple hour, I see how people / Having finished with their affairs, are drawn to their houses...” Tiresias predicts the meeting between the typist and the sailor: he caresses her, she dispassionately endures his caresses. When the sailor leaves, the typist sighs with relief and turns on the gramophone. The typist recalls the facts of her biography. She was subjected to debauchery in Richmond, in Moorgate, on Moorgate beach. The third part ends with a call to God to free the burning man from asceticism. Part IV. Death by water. Phlebus the Phoenician dies in the water after two weeks. His body is gnawed by the sea current. The author calls on everyone to honor the deceased Phlebus: “Remember Phlebus: he was full of strength and beauty.” Part V What did the thunder say? The last part of the poem begins with a description of a barren land: thunderclaps in the dead mountains, there is no water here, only rocks, stones, sand underfoot, dry grass, cracks in the soil. Someone else is walking next to the two heroes across the barren land. But they don't know him, they don't see his face. They hear thunder in the purple sky, see an incomprehensible city over the mountains, pass Jerusalem, Athens, and ghostly London. They see in a crevice of rocks an empty chapel with broken windows and a cemetery: In this putrefactive depression between the mountains, the grass sings in the weak moonlight to the drooping graves near the chapel - This is an empty chapel, a dwelling of the wind, The windows are broken, the door is swinging. And only here the grass grows and the rain begins. And then the thunder says: “Yes. What have we given? - the blood of Jesus Christ, “the blood of a trembling heart,” which no one will find. But many are looking for it, considering the blood of Jesus the key to life. The poem ends with the fisherman sitting by the canal, fishing and wondering if he will restore order to his lands and the fact that London Bridge is collapsing.

Part I. Burial of the dead

Part II. Game of chess

Lil was 31 years old, had given birth to five children, and was last close to death. Albert returns on Sunday.

Part III. Fire sermon.

At night, a fisherman fishes from the bank of the Thames. He thinks about King Tireus, who dishonored Philomela.

Mr. Eugenides - the "one-eyed merchant" from Madame Sozostris' fortune telling - invites a man to the Cannon Street Hotel.

The third part ends with a call to God to free the burning man from asceticism.

Part IV. Death by water.

Phlebus the Phoenician dies in the water after two weeks. His body is gnawed by the sea current. The author calls on everyone to honor the deceased Phlebus: “Remember Phlebus: he was full of strength and beauty.”

Part V What did the thunder say?

The last part of the poem begins with a description of a barren land: thunderclaps in the dead mountains, there is no water here, only rocks, stones, sand underfoot, dry grass, cracks in the soil.

Someone else is walking next to the two heroes across the barren land. But they don't know him, they don't see his face. They hear thunder in the purple sky, see an incomprehensible city over the mountains, pass Jerusalem, Athens, and ghostly London. They see an empty chapel with broken windows and a cemetery in a crevice of rocks:

In this putrid depression between the mountains
The grass sings in the faint moonlight
To the drooping graves near the chapel -
This is an empty chapel, the home of the wind,
The windows are broken, the door is shaking.
And only here the grass grows and the rain begins.

And then the thunder says: “Yes. What have we given? - the blood of Jesus Christ, “the blood of a trembling heart,” which no one will find. But many are looking for it, considering the blood of Jesus the key to life.

The poem ends with the fisherman sitting by the canal, fishing and wondering if he will restore order to his lands and the fact that London Bridge is collapsing.