The first time around I read the poem I frankly had no idea what it was about. I skimmed through it quickly and didn’t pay attention neither to the message nor the metaphor that was trying to come across. I immediately recurred to the title in order to have a general idea of what the poem would be about. The Waste Land, this title gave me an impression of having a depressive and hateful theme, I interpreted as being discriminatory against society and perceiving human beings as a disgraceful an useless race. Keeping this in mind I reread the poem, this time around it had a whole new meaning.
The initial stanza talked about the seasons and how Marie, the character introduced, was being affected by them, it was as if her life and the things she went through were guided by the season that was taking place, for instance:
“In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.”
(Part I, Stanza 1, Line 17-18)
This just comes to show how nature is of great influence to human beings life. In a sort of way we are controlled by nature.
On this stanza I also noticed a miserable subject since it states that April is the cruelest month, but this has a meaning behind it. During April the season of spring is taking place and it is during this season that flowers begin to grow, animals breed and animals are born, indeed it is a season characterized by life and the rebirth of beings living on earth. So why is it that the narrator finds April to be a cruel month? To me it can only mean that she detests life and the creatures that make part of it. It is so depressing how such a beautiful creation can seem to be to someone something so shameful.
Along the lines of this stanza I found a statement that seemed to me something completely contradictory and out of place: “Winter kept us warm…” (Part I, Stanza I, Line 5) Winter is the time of the year when the temperature hits its lowest, snow falls and the weather becomes chilly, so how come the narrator is stating that winter kept them warm? As I read the next line I somehow interpreted along the idea of hating life, that the narrator felt that snow covered the earth, it was sort of her own way of construing that snow covered all that was dreadful, to her meaning earth, thus everything seemed as if it had gone away and she was left to feel the warmth portrayed as something calm and serene. This stanza as a whole talks about Marie spending time with a significant other; they talked, drank coffee and even conversed about their childhood memories. It is a passage in which even though abhorrence towards the world is introduced, beautiful and romantic imagery is still present which I’m sensing won’t be found in the rest of the poem.
The second stanza goes about a whole different scenario in which I predict Marie is not the character, but a soldier or someone who witnessed human destruction and war, maybe Marie’s significant other. This narrator feels lonely and lost, walking among rubbish he refers to humans as “…Son of men” (Part I, Stanza 2, Line 2) and acknowledges that they will never understand the vast destruction of civilizations were no hope is left.
“And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water…” (Part I, Stanza 2, Line 23-24)
He is referring to a state of absolute disillusion, after witnessing human devastation, were no hope is left and you are protected by nothing, but still the narrator tries to point out there is always some sort of faith remaining in your mind:
“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;” (Part I, Stanza 2, Line 25-29)
I understand this passage as a leap of faith, as the soldier continues to stride along the field, tiered after war, with no shelter, water nor relief, he sights a rock which will give him shelter for a while this reflect that even though we sometimes feel like there is no door out and that we have fallen lower than anybody, there is always, even if it is minimum, a way to get up on our feet.
The third stanza I couldn’t decipher so clearly, I just recognize it talked about a fortune teller that read the cards, she was reading them to someone which would soon face death himself or that someone close to him had deceased. I don’t quite get what this has to do with the rest of The Waste Land, could they be basing this stanzas idea on the concept of death and how tragic it is?
Lastly the forth stanza I believe talks about resentment towards war and its effects. It initiates with a depressive mood by stating how the London Bridge was covered under the brown fog of winter, the narrator indeed affirm s that “I had not thought death had undone so many.” (Part I, Stanza 4, Line 63)When he comes across someone he knew, instead of correctly asking him about how his flowers had grown, he remarks,
“That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” (Part I, Stanza 4, Line 72-73)
In effect the narrator has been traumatized by war and death to such a degree that his ordinary life is affected by it. He doesn’t think straightly but rather conveys everything by means of death and anger.
The second part of The Waste Land begins off by talking about a woman. This woman I perceive is very wealthy and material wise has everything she desires. She is a rich, extremely groomed woman surrounded by fine furniture.
“Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion;” (Part II, Stanza 1, Line 83-85)
She is so wealthy and posses everything she wishes, but otherwise this woman is completely lacking on her emotional side. Contrasting to everything she owns material wise, she is completely deficient on feelings and emotional fulfillment.
On the end of this stanza it becomes night, and the women’s house is lighted by candles and a fire place. Above the fire place frame lies a dolphin which I believe represents the lack of freedom this woman feels. A dolphin is supposed to be liberated and at no cost be able to swim with freedom in the ocean, on this poem the dolphin is: “…sad light carvèd dolphin swam.” (Part II, Stanza 1, Line 96) Meaning the dolphin is stuck always above the fire place, swimming among the flames. As I read on I came upon Philomel which I knew had extreme significance to the stanza, and since I didn’t know what it mean I searched on line and came to find this was a girl which was raped by her brother-in-law which latter cut her tongue off so that she couldn’t tell anybody, all that she could pronounce was jug-jug. I interpret this as the inability of the woman to express her emotions or even her incapability to admit her loneliness and grief by being overcome with materialistic things.
The lines that continue can’t be considered stanzas since they are thrown in randomly and in no specific order. I believe they are placed in that way to emphasize on the idea that is being communicated through them. This idea consists of the women talking to her lover on how unsatisfied she is with him, she considers they don’t communicate well, thus her partner never tells her what he is thinking or doing:
“My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.
What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
I never know what you are thinking. Think.” (Part II, Stanza 3, Line 1-4)
The ideas thrown are disorganized and random, the women is speaking intensely, angry and disappointed, thus reflecting her loneliness.
The last stanza on this second part talks about two completely distinct women from the one mentioned above. The circumstances take place in a bar that is about to close which we derive from the constant interruptions along the stanza “HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME”
(Part II, Stanza 5, Line 152) These two women are talking about Lil and her husband Albert which will soon return home. One of them, I presume to be Mary, is telling the other which I deduce is Lil, to straighten up and look more beautifully, starting off by getting a pair of teeth, or else when returning, her husband would leave her and find someone else which could satisfy him. Resentful of hearing this comment, Lil answers she has been taking certain pills to prevent her from becoming pregnant since she has already five kids and initially didn’t want any. These pills are what have been causing Lil to age so rapidly when actually she is only thirty-one. Finally Albert returns and they all go to dinner, but what surprised me about this stanza is its rhythmic ending, as the three characters say goodbye:
“Goodnight Bill. Goodnight Lou. Goodnight May. Goodnight.
Ta ta. Goodnight. Goodnight.
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.”
(Part II, Stanza 5, Line 170-172)
The initial stanza talked about the seasons and how Marie, the character introduced, was being affected by them, it was as if her life and the things she went through were guided by the season that was taking place, for instance:
“In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.”
(Part I, Stanza 1, Line 17-18)
This just comes to show how nature is of great influence to human beings life. In a sort of way we are controlled by nature.
On this stanza I also noticed a miserable subject since it states that April is the cruelest month, but this has a meaning behind it. During April the season of spring is taking place and it is during this season that flowers begin to grow, animals breed and animals are born, indeed it is a season characterized by life and the rebirth of beings living on earth. So why is it that the narrator finds April to be a cruel month? To me it can only mean that she detests life and the creatures that make part of it. It is so depressing how such a beautiful creation can seem to be to someone something so shameful.
Along the lines of this stanza I found a statement that seemed to me something completely contradictory and out of place: “Winter kept us warm…” (Part I, Stanza I, Line 5) Winter is the time of the year when the temperature hits its lowest, snow falls and the weather becomes chilly, so how come the narrator is stating that winter kept them warm? As I read the next line I somehow interpreted along the idea of hating life, that the narrator felt that snow covered the earth, it was sort of her own way of construing that snow covered all that was dreadful, to her meaning earth, thus everything seemed as if it had gone away and she was left to feel the warmth portrayed as something calm and serene. This stanza as a whole talks about Marie spending time with a significant other; they talked, drank coffee and even conversed about their childhood memories. It is a passage in which even though abhorrence towards the world is introduced, beautiful and romantic imagery is still present which I’m sensing won’t be found in the rest of the poem.
The second stanza goes about a whole different scenario in which I predict Marie is not the character, but a soldier or someone who witnessed human destruction and war, maybe Marie’s significant other. This narrator feels lonely and lost, walking among rubbish he refers to humans as “…Son of men” (Part I, Stanza 2, Line 2) and acknowledges that they will never understand the vast destruction of civilizations were no hope is left.
“And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water…” (Part I, Stanza 2, Line 23-24)
He is referring to a state of absolute disillusion, after witnessing human devastation, were no hope is left and you are protected by nothing, but still the narrator tries to point out there is always some sort of faith remaining in your mind:
“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;” (Part I, Stanza 2, Line 25-29)
I understand this passage as a leap of faith, as the soldier continues to stride along the field, tiered after war, with no shelter, water nor relief, he sights a rock which will give him shelter for a while this reflect that even though we sometimes feel like there is no door out and that we have fallen lower than anybody, there is always, even if it is minimum, a way to get up on our feet.
The third stanza I couldn’t decipher so clearly, I just recognize it talked about a fortune teller that read the cards, she was reading them to someone which would soon face death himself or that someone close to him had deceased. I don’t quite get what this has to do with the rest of The Waste Land, could they be basing this stanzas idea on the concept of death and how tragic it is?
Lastly the forth stanza I believe talks about resentment towards war and its effects. It initiates with a depressive mood by stating how the London Bridge was covered under the brown fog of winter, the narrator indeed affirm s that “I had not thought death had undone so many.” (Part I, Stanza 4, Line 63)When he comes across someone he knew, instead of correctly asking him about how his flowers had grown, he remarks,
“That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” (Part I, Stanza 4, Line 72-73)
In effect the narrator has been traumatized by war and death to such a degree that his ordinary life is affected by it. He doesn’t think straightly but rather conveys everything by means of death and anger.
The second part of The Waste Land begins off by talking about a woman. This woman I perceive is very wealthy and material wise has everything she desires. She is a rich, extremely groomed woman surrounded by fine furniture.
“Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion;” (Part II, Stanza 1, Line 83-85)
She is so wealthy and posses everything she wishes, but otherwise this woman is completely lacking on her emotional side. Contrasting to everything she owns material wise, she is completely deficient on feelings and emotional fulfillment.
On the end of this stanza it becomes night, and the women’s house is lighted by candles and a fire place. Above the fire place frame lies a dolphin which I believe represents the lack of freedom this woman feels. A dolphin is supposed to be liberated and at no cost be able to swim with freedom in the ocean, on this poem the dolphin is: “…sad light carvèd dolphin swam.” (Part II, Stanza 1, Line 96) Meaning the dolphin is stuck always above the fire place, swimming among the flames. As I read on I came upon Philomel which I knew had extreme significance to the stanza, and since I didn’t know what it mean I searched on line and came to find this was a girl which was raped by her brother-in-law which latter cut her tongue off so that she couldn’t tell anybody, all that she could pronounce was jug-jug. I interpret this as the inability of the woman to express her emotions or even her incapability to admit her loneliness and grief by being overcome with materialistic things.
The lines that continue can’t be considered stanzas since they are thrown in randomly and in no specific order. I believe they are placed in that way to emphasize on the idea that is being communicated through them. This idea consists of the women talking to her lover on how unsatisfied she is with him, she considers they don’t communicate well, thus her partner never tells her what he is thinking or doing:
“My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me.
Speak to me. Why do you never speak? Speak.
What are you thinking of? What thinking? What?
I never know what you are thinking. Think.” (Part II, Stanza 3, Line 1-4)
The ideas thrown are disorganized and random, the women is speaking intensely, angry and disappointed, thus reflecting her loneliness.
The last stanza on this second part talks about two completely distinct women from the one mentioned above. The circumstances take place in a bar that is about to close which we derive from the constant interruptions along the stanza “HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME”
(Part II, Stanza 5, Line 152) These two women are talking about Lil and her husband Albert which will soon return home. One of them, I presume to be Mary, is telling the other which I deduce is Lil, to straighten up and look more beautifully, starting off by getting a pair of teeth, or else when returning, her husband would leave her and find someone else which could satisfy him. Resentful of hearing this comment, Lil answers she has been taking certain pills to prevent her from becoming pregnant since she has already five kids and initially didn’t want any. These pills are what have been causing Lil to age so rapidly when actually she is only thirty-one. Finally Albert returns and they all go to dinner, but what surprised me about this stanza is its rhythmic ending, as the three characters say goodbye:
“Goodnight Bill. Goodnight Lou. Goodnight May. Goodnight.
Ta ta. Goodnight. Goodnight.
Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.”
(Part II, Stanza 5, Line 170-172)
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