This summary is simple and easy to understand.
* This poem is an epic in 'Modernist poetry' it has 443 lines.
* It is in 5 parts which deal with different situations ; but the themes of sexual perversion, lack of spirituality, lethargy, apathy, gloom, hopelessness, despair and degeneration are prevalent in this poem.
* The poem is highly fragmented, incoherent, full of allusions and it contains lines from other languages. These all make the poem very difficult for a student or a casual reader to understand, leave alone enjoying the poem. It may be a good poem for those who have a vast knowledge of literatures of different European languages.
* Thanks to Ezra Pound, the man of letters and a good friend of Eliot, who reduced this poem from 1000 lines to 443 lines. So much portion was unnecessary. That is the reason this poem got hostile criticism in the beginning. It was I.A. Richards, Cleanth Brooks and some others gave favourable comments on the poem and then this poem started making a mention as a good piece of art in Modernist Poetry.
Part - 1.
Burial of the Dead
Situation it contains :
1. Marie's recollections of her sexual experiences.
2. Tiresias' reference to Biblical Waste land
3. Guilty love of Hyacinth girl.
4. Sosostris' Tarrot pack episode
5. Unreal City ( London)
6. Tiresias speaking to Stetson, a soldier who participated in Punic war.
Most of the portion is narrated by Tiresias, the blind prophet. He represents the humanity of the past and the present.
The idea Eliot wants to convey and the situation he has chosen for that, are :
* The Modern man is spiritually dead. He merely exists not lives. He wishes to be in a lethargic state. To lead a spiritual life, it needs some effort in the form of penance and suffering which is difficult for the modern man. So, he doesn't even try it.
Situation through which the idea is conveyed.......
The poet begins the poem by saying that April is the cruellest month for the spiritually dead modern man. April is the month when nature experiences regeneration. It should be welcomed whole heartedly. But, the lazy and inactive modern man likes winter because they can be inactive being in his cozy warm bed.
( These lines remind us of the beginning lines of The General Prologue to Canterbury tales. But the ideas are in contrast.)
Idea -
* The poet wants to say that the modern man is rootless and pleasure seeking and is averse to any change.
There are certain relations forbidden to have sexual relationship in a good society. But the modern man is unmindful of this.
Situation -
The poet has used the legendary figure German Princes Marie. She is a wanderer who has lost her roots.
Marie is wooed by her cousin. They go into the forest in a sledge. She is afraid of the fast movement of the sledge. He asks her to hold him tight. This triggers sexual desire in both of them and they enjoy it. Next, they continue to go southward to seek such pleasure time and again.
Idea -
Modern man lives in a spiritually barren land. He is just a handful of dust. Death is a shadow that follows him in the morning (his youth) and it comes infront of him in the evening ( old age) and it is temporary. It scares him. But, one shadow is permanent. That is the shadow of red rock ( a church). It is time for modern man to seek this shadow and come for protection. It is to say that only religion can save the doomed modern man.
Idea - guilty love
Here, we find four lines in German taken from Wagner's opera 'Tristan and Isolde' . It irritates the reader who doesn't know German.
These lines mean .....
A sailor is singing a song. The wind blows fresh from the homeland signifying the yearning to go back to his home. Now, he is separated from his beloved and wishes to join her soon.
Quote from Tristan and Isolde,
Tristan is lying on a beach and is dying. He is waiting for Isolde. But there is no sign of any ship being there. He is frustrated.
Marie recounts the sensual experiences she had a year ago. She says she was given hyacinth flowers and people called her hyacinth girl.
In both these cases, love is frustrating because it is not a love it is lust. Real love wouldn't give any pain. Adultery meets a tragic end is the message here.
A man who had experience of ecstasy could see the light, like mystics, if that was from a pure relationship of wife and husband and not from an extra marital affair. Such pleasure from guilty love experiences only darkness.
PACK OF CARDS
A fake fortune teller, Madame Sosostris uses certain cards to foretell the customers about their future. But she is a cheat.
Cards she uses :
a) A card with Phoenician soldier drowned in the sea and his eyes have turned into pearls.
b) A card having Belladonna's pictures. She is known for manipulating sex intrigues.
c) Man with three staves , Fisher King representative of the degenerated humanity which needs 3 fold remedy, to give, to sympathize and to control.
d) The wheel - symbolises flux of life and cycle of seasons.
e) One eyed merchant - Smyrna (Syrian) merchant brought religion and sexuality to Europe. Now, he has lost one eye indicates that he has lost religion and only sexuality is remained with him. It could also mean he brought homosexuality ( a highly perverted form of sex)
f) Card having a hanged man's picture - He is Jesus. He covers his head with a hood. So, Sosostris could not recognize him. Modern man can't see Jesus.
g) Crowd of people walking in the ring --
People leading a mechanical, monotonous life full of boredom.
UNREAL CITY
The people walking on the London bridge are spiritually dead.
The line " I had not thought Death had done so many" is from Dante's Inferno.
The common people walking there are listless. The sound of bell ringing nine times suggests beginning of the torturous routine of these listless people. They don't listen the sound of holy nine.
Then, Tiresias sees Stetson, the soldier who fought in Punic war along with Tiresias. All wars are same. They bring death, destruction and devastation. They give the same experience of gloom and hopelessness.
Turesias then asks Stetson whether the corpse he planted in his garden has sprouted.
The dog which keeps digging the grave is a metaphor for our conscience. It digs up the buried spirituality in us.
This section concludes with the line " You, hypocrite, you are like me. You are my brother.
Part - 2
THE GAME OF CHESS.
This section begins with a scene of a bedroom and dressing table of a highly fashionable elite lady. Her chair is like a throne studded with jewels. The mirror is held up on a wooden pillar that has beautiful carvings of creepers and cupids. Some jewelry is scattered on her table. The room is brightly lit and is filled with a strong odor of artificial scents.
Huge logs of wood are burning in the fireplace which is framed by colored stones. A figure of dolphin is carved on the fireplace which seems to swim in coloured light.
A scene carved on the mantle piece seems to show the story of Philomela who was raped by the barbarous king Taurus ( her brother-in-law. She was transformed into a nightingale. Even now, maidens like Philomela are being raped but they are not transformed into nightingales because they have not undergone suffering nor penance. Nightingales still sing the tales of their exploitation. But it is heard as "jug jug" to the modern wastelanders.
Some figures carved on the mantle piece seem to lean out to listen to any sound from around the silent room. They hear the foot steps that climb the stairs and get into the room. The lady is excited. She knows that it is her lover. The excitement is so strong that her hair spread wildly.
Mating takes place. It is too mechanical, devoid of emotions. The lady says she has bad nerves that day. She wants him to stay and talk to her. But the man is silent and absent minded. She complains that he always thinks something else. After awhile, he is baffled and says, "They place we live is infested with numerous rats that seem to eat the bones of dead men.
At this point, a sound is heard. The man says that it is the sound of wind blowing under the door. When the sound is heard again, she insists him to listen to it carefully. He again says the same thing. The lady gets angry and says that he sees nothing, listens nothing and remembers nothing. In response to it, he says that he remembers a line from the play 'The Tempest' " Those were the pearls that were his eyes". At this idiotic response from the man, the lady scorns at him and questions if he is alive. And if he is alive, he has meaningless things in his mind.
Then, she asks him what she should do. She warns him she would walk into the street half naked. Further she asks him what they should do the next day. The man reminds her of his routine. They would have hot bath at 10. They would go out in the car if it rains. They would play chess and wait eagerly for the knock on the door. ( Arrival of another man who comes there to have sex with the lady)
Now, the scene shifts to a small tavern where poor and middle class men and women take liquor.
Lil and her friends are taking liquor and talking. It is closing time but the women are not bothered about that. A man shouts to warn that they should finish drinking and vacate the place as it is time to close. Lil's friend says to Lil that the latter needs a makeover as her husband, a soldier, would be back home. She says that Lil looks old and ugly. She should buy a set of teeth and look pretty lest her husband should abandon her and find some other woman. There are many women who are ready to give him company. Here, there is an indication that she is one among those women who is eager to give company to Lil's husband. At this point, another call is given to finish and go out. But the women are so engrossed in their talk that they just ignore the warning. Lil's friend warns Lil that she should not regret later that her husband eloped with a pretty woman. At this, Lil reveals that she looks old because she took pills to bring about an abortion. She is just 31 and has six children and she was about to die at the sixth delivery. At this point once again warning is given twice in a high pitch but the women still don't heed to the warning and continue their talk. Lil's friend says that Albert ( Lil's husband) would arrive on Sunday and they all will have a get together and enjoy hot pig. At this point impatient warnings keep coming. Only then the women depart.
PART 3
FIRE SERMON
(Here, 'fire' stands for lust )
In this section also, the poet's target is sex that is just like animal copulation. How some men force unyielding girls, poor women to brutal sex. Rich men use them to satisfy their lust and forget them.
The scenes ,/ episodes that we come across in this section are :
a) Scene of the bank of River Thames during early days of winter.
b) Tiresias fishing behind a gas house.
c) A car carrying Mr. Sweney to Mrs. Porter.
d) Arrival of Syrian merchants
e) Mr. Carbancular's evening visit to a lady typist's house.
f) Tiresias reminiscence of sound of music
g) Episodes of three Themes daughters.
The opening lines bring about the picture of River Thames. The river bank is desolate now. The picknic goers are not coming as it is the beginning of winter. It used to be filled with good for nothing young sons of rich businessmen and the women they brought along with them for enjoyment. Now, that the young men have not given their address to those women with whom they had moments of romance and sex. This is how the relationships are in the modern world. No bond, no morality, there is only lust. Tiresias weeps. He requests River Thames to flow till he stops his short song.
The scene abruptly changes now. Long ago, once Tiresias was fishing behind a gas house. He heard a soft noise of a rat creeping through the grass. He remembers his brother Fisher King who had lost his father and became cripple.
Next he saw white dead bodies on wet ground and bones on a dry garret. These bones had been trampled upon by many rats year after year ( these are ugly scenes that depict status of the modern man.)
He then hears the sound of motor cars now and then that carry Sweney, a lustful person, to Mrs. Porter, a woman of loose character. Mrs. Porter and her daughter wash their feet with soda water to keep their skin glowing so that they can attract more visitors. Even children are used to satisfy the lust of rich but characterless men. Here, a line from an opera is used. " Oh ! These children Voices singing in the choir"
The next passage again brings back the episode of the rape of Philomela and her transformation.
Next, there is a mention of Syrian merchants who have come with their goods and religion. They are homosexuals. Once Tiresias was invited to have lunch with one of these merchants and spend a weekend with him.
Next, the scene changes. Now it is the unkept small room of a woman living alone . She is a typist in an office. She comes home tired, picks up the clothes she had hung them for drying before she had gone to her office. She piles them on divan which serves as her bed. She cooks her evening meal and eats. At dusk, her lover Carbancular arrives. He straight away makes advances. She has neither a desire nor any interest in love making. But, she doesn't stop him. She lays down. The man doesn't mind about her indifference or disinterest. He just wants to have it. When he finishes it, he kisses her mechanically to indicate that he is going off. He vanishes from there. The woman says, " I am glad that it is over". This shows that the act had no love, no feelings of fulfilment. It was not an expression of love but an act of animal copulation. After his departure, the woman puts a record on the gramophone and listens to music to relieve herself of the boredom. This music takes Tiresias back to Queen Victoria Street where he used to hear the music of mandolin and sounds of clatter of soldiers from a pub. There is a church, decorated with silver and gold but nobody cares to go there.
Tiresias is unhappy with the way River Thames is being polluted from spilling oil and tar by the ships that sail on the river. Tiresias remembers that the same river saw beautiful moments beautiful barge sailing on it carrying Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester. They had nice time then. As they sailed down the river, they heard the sound of bells coming from the white towers of the prison situated there. This shows the contrast of freedom ( of Queen Elizabeth) and the captivity of the prisoners.
Next episode gives us the account of three Thames daughters brutally assaulted and violated by lusty men. The helpless girls had been used and humiliated.
The first girl says that she was violated at Richmond and Kew ( picnic spots). She was raped in a narrow boat.
The second girl says that she was forced to yield by her friend. He regrets after the act and tries to solace her by promising that he would change his ways for the better. The girl feels that it is futile to resent on her part as nothing would change by her resentment.
The third girl says that she had been violated on the sands of Margret. She feels that the life of the poor is insignificant. They are vulnerable to exploitation.
PART - 4
DEATH BY WATER
Water stands for regeneration and purification. Now, for the Wastelanders it has become a source of destruction. Man had become greedy and sensuous. Such people die a cruel death.
The poet takes the example of Phlebas, a tall and handsome Phoenician soldier, indulged in amassing wealth and leading a sensuous life drowned in the sea. He was dead a fortnight ago. His body moved with the current. It rose and fell at the bottom of the river. It is strange that the body passed the stages of life in reverse order. At last his body was caught in a whirlpool and vanished.
PART - 5
WHAT THE THUNDER SAID
Idea -
Jesus Christ did not die when he was crucified. We, modern people are giving him a slow death by not following his preaching. We are rootless and aimless wanderers now. We all are in a land of spiritual sterility. The quest for something worthy is still on. God shows us the way to salvation. He speaks to us in many ways. We should be ready to listen to him. Understand and follow his commands. Every individual should come out of his cocoon ( selfishness) and do something good for others. This way he can attain salvation.
Scenes / episodes used to convey the above ideas.
1. Arrest of Jesus Christ and his crucification
2. Sir Parcifal reaches Chapel Perilous.
3. Journey of two disciples of Christ
4. Aimless wandering of modern Wastelanders
5. God Prajapathi speaks to humanity
6. Tiresias's closing comments.
The opening lines take us to the scene when Jesus was crucified. A band of dirty men holding torches that give red light search and arrest Jesus. Here, red signifies violence. There is a death like silence in the garden. Jesus is arrested and taken to Pilate, the Roman Governor who interrogates Jesus. Jesus feels humiliated. Then, he is placed in a prison. Here also Jesus suffers a lot. A mob creates chaos because of the rumour that Jesus would be released. At last Jesus is crucified to the satisfaction of all. There is a thunder at the distant mountain indicating rain. This signifies that regeneration is at hand. Something good is going to happen.
Tiresias says that Jesus did not die when he was crucified. Because, he lived on in the hearts of many followers. But now, we the modern wastelanders are killing him day by day in a slow manner. The humanity which was alive when Jesus was crucified is dead now. We are so lethargic and we don't even make an effort to live a meaningful life.
The scene abruptly changes and shifts to the mountain where Sir Parcifal and his men have come very close to Chapel Perilous where the holy grail is kept.
The mountain is full of rocks and there is no water there. This suggests that there is no spirituality. There is thunder but no rain. Parcifal says that they are quite thirsty but there is no water. Their sweat is dried and their feet are in the sand. The place is so horrible that they can neither sit nor stand. The men feel that some red sullen faces are looking at them and sneering from their mud houses. This may be because they are in a state of hallucination. They hear some sounds. Cicada, a cricket like insect makes an irritating sound. The wind blowing through the grass makes a whispering sound. A hermit thrush makes a sound that resembles the sound of water drops. They are si so thirsty that this sound comes as a hope for awhile. But they are deceived. Intense thirst here indicates the intense desire of the questers to find the holy grail.
The next passage describes the journey of two disciples of Jesus Christ. They are on their way to Emmaus, a biblical Waste land. One of them feels that there is a third person walking along with them. The person's head is covered by a hood that makes them difficult to make out whether it is he or she.
This passage suggests that Jesus is always with us. But, we fail to see his presence because of our ignorance and lack of faith.
The next passage describes the aimless wanderers who have been uprooted from their mother land. They are walking in an endless open land which has cracks here and there. Some wanderers stumble and fall into the cracks. A city on top of a mountain cracks, falls, rebuilds itself and bursts again. The towers ( churches) break and fall down. This Indicates that breakdown of spirituality. Many people have gone mad. A woman is seen spreading her hair and plucks them as though they are strings of a musical instrument. Bats with human babies' face fly there. Churches seem to be upside down. Still, sound of bells come from the churches to warn the people to go and say the prayer. Empty wells and cisterns also make sound. But, no sound is heard by the Wastelanders. They have gone deaf to such good sounds.
The next is scene is again at Chapel Perilous. The questers lead by Sir Parcifal are close to the chapel. The chapel is empty. There are no windows and the doors flap due to wind. There are open graves showing dry bones. These all look horrifying but harmless. A cock crows from the top of a tree. A damp gust of wind starts blowing. This suggests the beginning of regeneration and rebirth of spirituality.
The next passage takes the reader to India. There is a famine and river Ganga is about to dry. The leaves of the trees are withered. At this time, dark clouds are seen over The Himalayas. But there is no rain. Desperate people pray God Prajapathi for rain. Then, the God replies through thunder.
First, the God utters 'Da'. This represents 'Datta', and it means 'to give'. Every person should give himself or herself to some noble cause. This is possible when one listens to one's heart and not mind. We see that heroes and martyrs laid down their lives for noble cause because they were emotionally excited. The sacrifice of those good souls is not recorded anywhere. Sacrifices might go unnoticed but they are supreme.
Next, the God once again utters 'Da'. This time it stands for 'Dayadhvam'. It means 'sympathize' . It happens very rarely when we come out of the prison called selfishness. When God speaks to our soul, our ego and pride are asleep. Dayadhvam' is essential for spiritual regeneration.
The thunder repeats 'Da'. This time it represents 'Damyata'. It means, 'self control'. This quality makes the life easy and comfortable. A person who has control over his passions and desires can easily sail through the ocean of life.
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