This entire passage appears to reference the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The garden references the place where Jesus prayed the night before his crucifixion, and the agony in stony places references the place where Christ was crucified. However, while Christ prays in the garden, most of his disciples sleep. Judas, who betrayed him, brings the Romans to his location: "Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons." Judas, his betrayer, sleeps as Jesus prays in the gardens. His conscience appears less heavy than that of the one who shall die for all of humanity's sins. As John narrates, "That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die." Christ is bound to die. "He who was living is now dead./ We who were living are now dying/ With a little patience" Christ represented hope for humanity, and yet, he was betrayed and put to depth. Similarly, in the wake of war, humanity betrays all that inspires hope and unity in the name of personal selfishness, and the consequences are far reaching. Humanity, and even single powerful humans, are capable of destroying that which unites or works for them in honor of their own personal greed. It is not that the majority of humanity, for instance, desires war. Rather, a few in power and close may demand it. Similarly, while many desire to see Christ crucified, only the man close to him in Judas is able to see that it is done.

Phlebas is dead, and he maintains no control over his corporeal movement. He moves like a jellyfish, wherever the current takes him. The section immediately following him portrays not Phlebas being a victim of the tides, but rather, a man denying the will of the tides. "The sailor, attentive to the chart and to the sheets. A concentrated will against the tempest and the tide..." Phlebas is likely the drowned Phoenician sailor alluded to by Madame Sosostris, even if it is not explicitly stated. Pound, in fact, puts this beyond any doubt. In stating Phlebas is the only part worth keeping, Pound seems to express a desire to showcase a sense of helplessness or lack of control. Phlebas was once as handsome and tall as you, but what is he now? Even those who are strong may die, drown, and lose agency. Sosostris, in telling her fortune, states that one must be so careful these days and to fear death by water. Even those who were once strong may become weak. My mom always tells me not to mess with tides, and that in the battle with nature I will never win. Corinthians refers to the same concept as well, "[22] Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" Nature and the elements are eternal and indefatigable. In a sense, the seas and oceans are treated as sentient and all powerful objects in and of themselves. They moved Phlebas, and in De Quincey, "The sea was rocking, and shaken with gathering wrath." The sea is increasingly personified as a vengeful and powerful being that we struggle to defy. Pound, in shortening the original, emphasizes this fact.

Not everyone is good or evil in such an objective or religious sense that they are rewarded with heaven or condemned to hell. Many must experience purgatory. Here, the speaker echoes Augustine's confessions of lust and other sins as a youth. Augustine says, " To Carthage I came" and "Thou pluckest me out, O Lord, Thou pluckest me out." Eliot certainly alludes to this desire to gain forgiveness, repent, and enter the kingdom of heaven. However, for the speaker, life on earth is not unlike a state of purgatory. This echoes Buddhism, where one attached to the state of their suffering suffers further. The tired and weary speaker, On Margate Sands, appears disillusioned with life. However, he burns with passion. He burns with a desire for repentance. In this we see the duality of theology and life. Do we repent now for the suffering we face so we may live forever in joy and peace, or do we dissociate ourselves from the suffering, seeing the Earth itself as nothing more than purgatory and walking it as nothing more than the penitence one must pay to live. In Dante, purgatory is filled with all of those who shall eventually enter the kingdom of heaven, but who must at first wait. One of the categories in purgatory is the late repenters, who have little time to forgive those who have wronged them having been killed, for instance, in battle. Here, the speaker struggles with the fact that he has no one to resent. He is not sentenced to suffering. He has not sinned, yet here, on earth, he is in purgatory. He confesses his feelings so he may gain salvation, as in spite of his bleak outlook, he cannot dissociate himself.

Eliot notes here the sexual aggression displayed by the young man who arrives as the guest. Throughout the passage, with the references to the story of Tiresias, Eliot places immense emphasis on the nature of sexual encounters and who derives the most pleasure. However, he also characterizes sex as not necessarily a mutualistic encounter, but rather, one in which there is an aggressor and one who is aggressed upon. In this case, the man has made the decision that he wants a sexual encounter. The woman, also nameless, is not enthused by this, if she is willing to undergo it at all. However, she does not explicitly stop him. "His vanity requires no response, And makes a welcome of indifference." Gourmont's story reverses the roles through the story of spiders, stating, "Scarcely has the fecundation been finished when the ogress turns, leaping, and devours the suitor on the very spot of his amours." Here, though it is again the man who commences the sexual encounter, he is met with resistance and ultimately the victim of the aggression of the female. Eliot writes himself and calls upon stories of sexual encounters as the conquest of one over another while Tiresias witnesses. Tiresias, having been on both sides of the encounter, is aware of how it will go, and foresees the events before they occur. Eliot does not portray sexual encounter in a romantic or sensual sense, but rather, as a conquest for one and an ordeal for another.

Eliot uses the setting of the Thames river to draw a contrast to the poem Prothalamion. In it, the Thames serves as the backdrop for a love story of a twin marriage. Nymphs, referencing the youthfulness and vivacity of the girls being married and in whose honor this poem was written, are present and showcase the joy of this Spring-Summerish time. "There, in a meadow, by the river's side, A flock of nymphs I chanced to espy, All lovely daughters of the flood thereby, With goodly greenish locks, all loose untied, As each had been a bride; And each one had a little wicker basket, Made of fine twigs, entrailed curiously, In which they gathered flowers to fill their flasket" Each verse proclaims their beauty or some other happy symbol, each verse ending with "Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song." Ultimately, however, Eliot in this passage and the wasteland inverts much of the imagery of the poem. For instance, the poem says that "Sweet breathing Zephyrus did softly play" while Eliot also references Hyacinthus, himself often described as having been killed by the jealousy of Zephyrus. Again, flower imagery also appears. Furthermore, Eliot's version seems almost post-apocalyptic. In both stories, England has recently won a war. As Spenser says, "Great England's glory, and the world's wide wonder, Whose dreadful name late through all Spain did thunder, And Hercules' two pillars standing near Did make to quake and fear: Fair branch of honour, flower of chivalry, That fillest England with thy triumph's fame" Ultimately, English victory here is a joyous occasion. Eliot, however, remarks also in the wake of an English victory, but one where glory was as prevalent as destruction.

Chess is used as an allusion throughout this section, but chess is inherently an adversarial activity. As you plan he series of moves you believe will ultimately lead you to checkmate, your opponent does the same. One cannot know what one's opponent is thinking, and one profits from concealing that fact from their opponent. We can see here that life and relationships are not unlike chess matches. Here, the neurotic-seeming speaker attempts to see into the mind of her adversary, the person with whom she currently speaks. The two women speaking in the bar, speak of the chess match between Lil and her husband Albert. Subjects like abortions, aging, and the risk of infidelity define the tenuous nature of their relationship. Similarly, the conversation between Lil and her friend is itself a chess match. Pound utilizes chess as a metaphor for a glorious battle of wits. "This board is alive with light; these pieces are living in form." Middleton, however, uses chess as a metaphor for the more gritty and inglorious battles of human will. The chess match in Middleton is the attempt of the bishop to win the virginity of the pawn. Similarly, Lil must concern herself with marital relations and her husband's growing discontentment. Not all battles of will are simply a form of intellectual fun. Eliot notes, reusing chess imagery, that life is also a selection of inglorious battles. The conversation occurring at a bar also showcases the battle of will that chess can represent with oneself. It is only at the repeated insistence of the bartender that those inside the bar are willing to leave. Chess is not just a game of checkmate, but rather, the calculation of the thoughts and desires of a constantly changing opponent, and sometimes, one's inner self.

This passage may make reference to Virgil's Aeneid, and specifically the role of Venus in the story. Venus is herself a goddess, queen amongst the mortals. As the goddess of love, she has the power to intervene in the affairs of mortals. It is her guidance that helps bring together Dido and Aeneas in the first place. However, she also recognizes that she has been superseded by Jupiter, himself king of the gods. Although his wife Juno was complicit in allowing the love affair to develop, she has developed it in such a way that when it splits per the will of Jupiter, it will likely be messy. Hence, Venus explains to Cupid, who in this case peeps out, to "Phoenician Dido now holds him, staying him with soft words, and I dread what may be the outcome of Juno’s hospitality; at such a turning point of fortune she will not be idle." She then commands him to ensure her love lasts forever. It is that eternal love that ultimately drives Dido to suicide in his absence. Eliot continues his emphasis on tragic love stories, a theme he has expounded on with the stories of Tristan and Isolde and the Austrian Archdukes. Surrounded by destruction and sadness, romantic stories seem out of place. Furthermore, it may be a commentary on the nature of power. Venus, herself a goddess, is superseded by yet another god, and in particular, a male one. Whether or not Eliot is himself a feminist in pointing this out, he nevertheless notes the ever evolving nature of power and fact that but for God, someone is always above you.

Eliot generally looks with disregard at those who try to criticize him. The notes he puts are in response to an insistence that his poem be lengthened, and can be read with a sarcastic tone. Many other notes, including his note on the tarot cards in which he admits to not understanding the composition of the deck and manipulating it to his will, showcase Eliot's view of this work as uniquely his own with little regard to critical or consensus opinion of it. However, the preface goes on to say that the hypocritical reader is one's second self. Eliot, in engaging in creating a work that contains so many references and ideals is bound to contradict himself. He is bound to give two ideas that are inherently contradictory equal standing in his poem. However, just as readers may criticize his work and in so doing be hypocritical, the work is hypocritical in and of itself. As Seven Old Men ends in saying, "In vain my reason tried to cross the bar, The whirling storm but drove her back again; And my soul tossed, and tossed, an outworn wreck, Mastless, upon a monstrous, shoreless sea." Eliot tries to take a sea of media and history and human art and condense it into one narrative. The piece, however, is a piece that depicts a wasteland. It is one soul, one artwork, against the monstrous and shoreless sea of society at large and the social perception of art.

Tarot cards depict vague images which may be adapted with symbology to indicate one of a myriad of things in modern life. For instance, one who draws the hanged man may not necessarily walk the gallows the very next day. However, the symbology remains pertinent even to this day. Similarly, the story of star-crossed lovers dying a tragic death together is one that is repeated throughout the ages. Tristan and Isolde, in addition to being a precursor to Le Morte D'Arthur, could also have images that remind the reader of Romeo and Juliet. Belladonna reminds the reader of the Virgin Mary. Any one card can be compared to and contrasted against millions of situations. A tarot card with the Virgin Mary is itself a form of irony, contrasting the occult with the Christian faith. However, that same card can evoke the story of Tristan and Isolde, albeit Tristan is an English sailor and not a Phoenician one, nor was his end one of drowning. However, his untimely and tragic death brings Isolde, seeking to heal him or at least die alongside him. She is the lady of situations, originally due to be wed to Mark and now in love madly with Tristan. Similarly, Mary did not expect to be with the child of God, however, it altered her life. As Isolde says before her death alongside her lover, "How softly and gently he smiles, how sweetly his eyes open - can you see, my friends, do you not see it? How he glows ever brighter, raising himself high amidst the stars? Do you not see it?" (25) Though his eyes may not be pearls, they are the eyes of a dead sailor, seen one last time by a woman who comes to heal him, love him, or die alongside him.

God speaks to Ezekiel, referring to him as "Son of man" (Ezekiel, 2:1). He says he will speak unto thee. Ezekiel is the chosen prophet to deliver a message to the people of Israel. God tells them that if they obey, they shall be rewarded as the children of gods. If they do not obey, however, they shall be killed and their bodies laid around the altars to their idols. As he states, "I will scatter your bones round about your altars." (Ezekiel, 6:5) The Burial of the Dead is not unlike this. World War One is a war fought over borders, power, and commerce, all of which man often would value above God. The rows and rows of graves after a war fought over such desires seems indicative of the making good of God's promise to spread the people's bones about their altars. Each grave is one individual's altar to their country and cause. It is not to undermine the nobility of these men, however. God may recognize that a man is capable of being redeemed should they accept him. Thus, stony rubbish may represent the graves. What grows out of it is the souls of the people who were slain in a war, taken out of "The Waste Land" and into a new land. As God ends in saying, " Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. [13] And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, [14] And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD." (Ezekiel, 37:12-14) A story exists in WW1 history of a poppy growing from the blood of fallen soldiers in Flanders, Belgium. In the midst of utter desolation, one may in dying escape "The Waste Land" and be transported somewhere better, or from the ashes of the "The Waste Land" something beautiful may grow.

When a caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis, and in so doing becomes a butterfly, it becomes markedly more beautiful — at least in the common opinion. Simultaneously, however, it becomes harder to follow. A caterpillar crawls around the ground in predictable and trackable movements. Butterflies have the gift of flight and of beauty, making them a more delightful yet more fleeting sight. Eliot chooses, in renaming and restarting the poem, to allow it to undergo metamorphosis. The original title and opening are decidedly easier to follow, yet they lack a certain poetic beauty present, at least in my opinion, in the draft as published. That is not to say the prior one is without its merits. A caterpillar must have existed for a butterfly to emerge. However, one can see in the plea in this epigraph a woman yearning for death. Whether or not she will be reborn is an open question, but having existed in the same predictable form only to whither has brought her agony. The works emphasized here operate under the theme of beauty emerging from death or rebirth. As Sybil states, eventually she will wither and become irrelevant, but she will still have a voice: "I will go as far as having to suffer transformation, and I will be viewed as non-existent, but still known as a voice: the fates will bequeath me a voice." (1) Older art forms are enfranchised by Eliot to have that same voice, even if they do not themselves undergo metamorphosis. Similarly, at Trimalchio's feast, the gutted pig provides sausage and blood pudding. Out of the death of one entity, itself considered unworthy, another more practical one emerges. However, it depended on that which preceded it. Marlow also explains in Conrad that, "I heard once more, not his own voice, but the echo of his magnificent eloquence thrown to me from a soul as translucently pure as a cliff of crystal." (6) Kurtz no longer exists in corporeal form. Sybil will not when she withers enough. However, their voices live on in those who will dare to hear them. One may become something more beautiful or may simply die, but voices live on amongst those who will hear them.

The word waste is decidedly different from many words with which it is used interchangeably, such as junk or trash. Generally, the latter two evoke the idea that something is not now, nor has it ever been, of value. Waste, on the contrary, is not always waste. Rather, waste is formed as a byproduct of a valuable reaction, and is itself likely composed of the leftovers of something that was once itself valuable. When one wastes food, for instance, it does not mean that the food was inedible, but rather that one simply chose not to eat it. Waste also enables people to recognize that though something may not be present now, just as a wasteland is evocative of an area in which nothing can grow, that does not mean the area has necessarily always been barren and desolate. In ritual to romance, Weston says "Therefore the written word had to be found. It has taken me some nine or ten years longer to complete the evidence, but the chain is at last linked up..." (1) By virtue of analyzing features of a certain story, Weston is able to bring in more evidence and link it to others. Eliot works in The Waste Land of post WWI, but he too acts as a sort of tailor, sewing up what once was into one distinct narrative, despite drawing on so many narratives of the past. The Waste Land is an endeavor of recognizing the components that were present before the waste. Furthermore, the story of the Grail itself speaks of the restoration of a Waste Land connected with the death of an unknown and unnamed knight. Gawain's quest to seek knowledge and understand the past, even as some aspects remain unclear, is a quest to restore the Waste Land. Eliot's is strikingly similar. Ultimately, the final consequence of Gawain and some forms of Perceval's quest is not necessarily to seek the grail for its own sake, but rather, the restoration of the land. Eliot's poem, however iconic, is just as valuable for its restoration of other works and myths as it is as a standalone work.

Similarly, in the myth of Osiris, the God-King is killed and strewn into pieces. When Osiris is revived, he is no longer the divine king of Egypt, bringing unto the kingdom prosperity. Egypt itself was formed upon an oasis in an otherwise uninhabitable desert, a wasteland. However, Osiris is resurrected king of the dead. Eliot does much the same with the stories he tells. They do not necessarily return to public prominence, but they are bandaged and revived. They live on not as the art du jour, but nevertheless, their art is forever preserved in relics. Art brought purpose to humanity, bringing us from the Waste Land. Even as any one form of art becomes obsolete, it remains intrinsically valuable insofar as it influences in some nonlinear progression the art of today.