The repetition of "what" and "think" shows us the frustration of wanting something and at the same time questioning whether we even what that.

“Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that. You forget some things, dont you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.” ― Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Already this book is filled with lots of death but this line really stands out. He says it as if the tree should give shelter but a dead tree is weak and rotten.

The drowned Phlebas saw eternity in the sea.

http://crossroadstarot.com/Images/10swords.jpg

Hyacinths feed into the death motif inasmuch as they are short-lived flowers. They rise from bulbs, making them self-sufficient, perhaps hyacinth girl is also. self-sufficient. Later Eliot invokes "the violet hour," I picture this flower in pink or violet. Maybe a reach.

http://yesofcorsa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Hyacinth-Wallpaper-HQ.jpg

These dry summer mountains are so different from the sheltering winter mountains in the beginning of the poem. The mountain is dead, and still able to work destruction even with "teeth that cannot spit." We get away from death by water and leap into the jaws of death by thirst...escaping the misery is impossible.

Obviously on some level a warning about our helplessness in the face of death, but also reminds me of Marie talking about her childhood feeling free in the mountains. She was "free" and Phlebas was "handsome and tall," but the trajectory seems to point down for everyone in more ways than physical as they approach death (whether by old age or not).

A desert wasteland? no life.

The evidence of what once was has left, but in a cruel manner.

A feeling of being amongst death

I always saw April as one of the more beautiful months. But sometimes beauty is the greatest cause of pain for those who can't relate to it.

I find this reference to the London bridge interesting here. The last time it was mentioned in the poem was the end of the first book. This seems to bring the poem full circle by having the first and last book end with a similar mention while also referencing death

This book is called The Fire Sermon, but is only here at the end that we get fire. This book, like much of the poem, has a motif of water. In this book specifically, we have the Thames, damp ground, the sailor home from sea, fisherman, the river, barges, and more. There is little to do with heat or flames. In a piece with so little to do with fire, it makes us ask the question: why is this section called The Fire Sermon? It is followed by a reference to the Lord. Is the poem referencing Hell?

This directly links to the epigraph included at the beginning of the poem. It's about Cumaean Sibyl, an oracle and prophetess for Apollo, who made her immortal. In that piece, she is saying all she wants is to die, and I find this section of the poem to directly relate to that. She is neither living nor dead since she was immortal, and the heart of the light could be Apollo as he is the god of the sun and light. The last piece translates to "empty and desolate as the sea," which supports the contrast of life and death we see in the poem. This section can be so strongly connected to that opening piece, I don't see how it could be anything other than intentional.

Are the bodies being considered as angels?

This feels like a direct address to the reader. It feels didactic and adds to the overall sense of a religious sermon or teaching that comes from the section as a whole. It implicates the reader in the poem and asks the reader to address their own mortality.

This obsession with "rock" and "water" can be tied to images of nature and a state of constant flow to dry and cracked. If this section or book lacks water, then it lacks flow and a substance it needs for survival in a natural sense. Again, we are faced with imagery of death in a metaphor.

A reference to the cards that were drawn within the first book, as well as the line implying that great things that once were, are fading,

Here we see the theme of death again, but this time describing how mountains are dead without water just like humans would be.

Death seems to have surprised man people and made them question the reality of its coming.

It's ironic that "April is the cruelest month", because April usually represents spring, birth, rejuvenation, etc. This suggests that death is present in the "waste land". Even though spring brings life, it also brings death; whatever is born must die.

This part of the poem is creating a contrast with nature because we usually see objects of nature as something lively, but here they are being represented as something lifeless.

The brain/human trying to make sense of his life before it's too late. This is the time when people decide to take stock of their lives and really take account of themselves. Death is a great motivator!

These two lines indicate that the wheels are always turning. The circle of life. The only thing constant is change!

Changing over the years, these different stages he encountered are his memories from his past. Up and down and back and forth. Ultimately ending in death.

I believe this is our drown Phoenician that was referenced in the tarot reading from the first book. The cards in a tarot reading will usually indicate your current position in life and future paths, and I feel like this whole book is a sort of warning that the recipient of the tarot reading was supposed to get. When we look to the last line of the book, it's ominous and warns caution.

This is about modernity and how we inherit this world where the past remains and death residents in the slums of the streets. It's the grit and the grime, it's the hustle and bustle, it's the city life at its rawest form.

Things that were ruined are regaining life, while the things that were alive are now being ruined by those things regaining life. Nature was ruined by man and revives, and now man is ruined by nature, because he no longer knows how to live within it.

reminds me of graveyard poets in England, reflecting the idea that in the end, everyone dies just the same. He can be anyone and this is a realization often reached when close to death

these lines of dramatic dialogue insinuate many things, such as: death being serious and sad while at the same time being obscured and normal, the dialogue suggests several speakers, at least two and adds to the context of book 1. The last stanza opens with "unreal city" so to ask about a corpse planted in a garden is justifiable in regards to the current conditions

The circle of life, revolves around death and life but also the in-between and what we don't know about the after life is a big mystery, which takes us back to the unseen, the living dead, or just the dead. It reminds me of the lilacs that bloom from dead land, which could possibly signify that even though we lose people, we also gain new life.

Decaying, passing life, getting older, leading up to death.

Antigone is portraying herself as a martyr. She intentionally disobeyed Creon, not only to stay true to her beliefs, but also because she knew she would be put to death. Thus, she would become immortalized as a symbol of rebellion and would expose the corruption and injustice behind Creon and his power. She also seemed to be driven by her own pride and inability to compromise her beliefs and therefore lost her life in return. Antigone then killed herself as another act of pride, so she would be able to be in control of her own demise, rather than be executed by the hands of another. Antigone's actions and motives demonstrate that she too was fighting for power in the situation, whether it be because of her pride or seeing herself as the role of martyr.

In the final pages of the play, doom is really the only word to describe the sequence of events. Antigone kills herself before Creon changes his mind, and as a result, Creon's wife and son both commit suicide as well. By trying to establish order through dictatorial edicts, Creon alienates the people he is trying to protect and ultimately, they turn their back on him. Literally, they would rather die than live another moment in his Thebes. And like all Greek tragedies, this play proved to be incredibly ironic. In trying to keep order, Creon unleashes utter chaos upon Thebes.

Interesting that the prompt is gender fluidity.

Barthes, Roland. 1967. “Death of the Author.” Edited by Brian O’Doherty. Translated by Richard Howard. Aspen 5+6 (Fall/Winter): Item 3. http://www.ubu.com/aspen/aspen5and6/threeEssays.html#barthes.

What occurs when the physical body dies.......... cells, energy................

It may be 'death' or even God that is always with him

life equates with death So what is 'living' then? Nothing more?

Sounds logical, in the abstract. But the explanation is often known to “kill the joke”, to decrease the humour potential. In some cases, it transforms the explainee into the butt of a new joke. Something similar has been said about hermeneutics and æsthetics. The explanation itself may be a new form of art, but it runs the risk of first destroying the original creation.

death in water: river ran red with blood: cf. Aeschylus Persae