Eliot’s reference to Philomena comments on the notion of a voice, in particular, the connection between a voice and humanity. In “The Metamorphises of Ovid”, Philomena, the princess of Athens, is raped by Tereus, king of Thrace. After Philomena seeks revenge by serving Tereus his own son to eat, she is pursed, and is changed into a nightingale as she escapes. Eliot references this change and the rape, calling it “so rudely forced” on line 100. He then continues, referring to the nightingale, who had an involiable voice”. Eliots use of the conjuction “yet” while focusing on the nightingale and her voice suggests a contrast between the rape of Philomena, and her new form as a bird. When regarding the “The Metamorphosis of Ovid”, one comes across the line, “she [Philomena] tries to swear, to call upon the gods as witnesses, that she had been a prey of violence, but after all, she had no voice-- just gestures”. In the original mythology, Philomena is rendered speechless, seeking divine security and affirmation of what had happened to her. Though much more elaborate and descriptive of the intensity of the rape, this line recalls the line “so rudely forced”, and further clarifies Philomena’s perspective and expression. Eliot’s contrast between Philomena’s silenced state as her state as a bird is further sharpened by the “involiable voice” of the nightingale. This description of Philomena’s voice suggests that she is now able to express herself in an invincible manner as a bird. Despite Elliot’s seemingly optimistic understanding of Philomena’s story, I see her transformation as an event of further silencing and death. She has lost her voice, as well as her humanity, as she is now a bird. Adding onto this theme of death through her transformation, Eliot describes how her nightingale’s cries “filled all the desert”. The mention of the desert is interesting, as it possibly refers to the idea of a wasteland, a place for Eliot of conceptual death. This twisted understanding of death and a loss of humanity is also reflected in the story of Sybill, who is left to age into nothing but a voice through divine cruelty. Finally, the idea of the feminine voice after death is also portrayed in “A Martyred Woman” by Charles Baudelaire. As the narrator speaks to a dead corpse, they demand, “Tell me, ghastly head, did he glue on your cold teeth the kisses of the last farewell?”. Again the notion of male violence is brought up, furthered by the mention of “cold teeth” which could imply the male actor kissed the deceased woman after her death, or refer to a silent mouth, as in one that doesn’t move to generate heat. Despite this gruesome description, the narrator still asks the woman to speak, as if her voice still remained with her corpse. These stories describe acts of male violence against women, and subsequent dehumanization and death of those women. Despite the violence and death, the female voice strangely persists. Ultimately, this persistence seems cruel and draws attention from the horrific experiences and silencing of these women.

In this final stanza of "The Burial of the Dead", Eliot comments on the human conception of death under industrialism. On line sixty two to sixty five he describes a large crowd flowing over a bridge, stating "death had undone do many", (a line taken from line 57 of Canto III from Dante's Inferno). As Eliot regards this crowd of living pedestrians in London, he relates them to Dante's crowd of the dead with the phrase "undone by death". Interestingly, Eliot also comments on their breathing, which he describes as short and infrequent sighs. The crowds' sighs suggest unhappiness, stress, and tension. Eliot's mention of their breath evokes the relationship between the breath and spirit- after all, the latin word from which spirit is derived, spiritus, means "breath". <br /> Eliot's commentary on the spirits of the crowd, as well as their state of being "undone" suggests defeat and perpetual disappointment for those individuals. Interestingly, Dante's damned crowd are described as "opportunists who were... merely concerned with themselves". Through comparison, we begin to understand the condition of the city crowd as hyper individualistic and self-centered, human traits that were arguably intensified by industrialism and privatization. Dante's souls are also described as "forever unclassified", suggesting a loss of identity and individualism. The paradox of an unclassified, vague crowd, of which each individual is hyper individualistic further comments on the state of the world as Eliot sees it. The lack of identity in the crowd combined with the conceited nature of its members creates an inescapable tension, one that exists both in the souls of the damned, and in Eliots eyes, a crowd of city dwellers. This tension also seems to align with Eliot's conception of death. Instead of death being the ultimate and final separation of the body and soul, like some might interpret, Eliot seems to understand death in the living as well. Death, according to "The Burial of the Dead", stems from a severance with ones breath and the paradoxical homogeneous yet hyper individualistic crowd, traits that are seemingly more common in wartime and industrialization.

This quotation from "Tristan und Isolde", in English translates to, "The wind blows fresh, to the homeland. My Irish child, where are you dwelling?". Elliot's choice to begin on a line about the wind stresses the importance of this element of nature. Alongside the rest of the lines, the wind is associated with feelings of longing and homesickness. The wind is also portrayed as a voyager in this way, something that comes from afar and reminds the narrator of his homeland. <br /> The subsequent mention of hyacinths in Elliot's poem also evokes the role of the wind. Lempriere states, "Hyacinthus, a beautiful youth of Amyclæ, beloved by Apollo. Some legends relate that Zephyrus, enraged by the preference Hyacinth showed for Apollo over himself, blew the discuss... against the head of the youth, and killed him". Thus, in the story of Hyacinth, the wind is something that is violent and jealous, somewhat contradicting with Eliot's previous reference from "Tristan und Isolde". Ultimately, these two references of the wind create an understanding of the natural world as gentle and reminding, but also occasionally harsh and displeased. The ocean, or "das Meer", mentioned on the forty second line of this poem, is also understood in this dichotomous way. Another important interpretation of the wind, especially in regards to land and human nature, is the wind's ability to travel great distances, and its association with love in through references. Like love, the wind is for the most part unconstrained by the laws of man and division of land. I believe the wind can be interpreted as a symbol of hope and the subversion of human restraints in "The Waste Land", as Eliot fears a continuingly privatized and industrialized world.

The epithets from both versions of T.S. Eliot’s “ The Waste Land” were taken from older stories, both of which are rather troubling and heavy. These epithets both ultimately portray perspectives of mortality and humanhood before inevitable suffering. The published version of T.S. Eliot’s Waste Land begins with a rather inaccessible epithet, as it is written in Latin and Greek. This epithet comes from the Satyricon, a mythological work of fiction written in Ancient Rome. In the Satyricon, Sibyl, a virgin priestess, was approached by the god Apollo, who wanted to sleep with her. As Apollo courted her, Sibyl wished to live for as many years as the grains in a pile of dust. In an attempt to please her, Apollo granted her this wish. However, when Sibyl continued to deny him, Apollo left her eternal life, but not eternal youth. As Sibyl aged countless years, she did so with misery, unable to escape the weakness and degradation of her body. Eliot’s epithet harkens back to her misery, as translated into modern English, the epithet reads, “I saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a cage, and when the boys said to her: “Sibyl, what do you want?” she answered: ‘I want to die’”(4). While Sybil’s wish for death is suicidal and heavyhearted, it reflects a desire for a mortal experience, one that is untouched by the divine hand. Sybil’s story acts as a harrowing warning to other mortals, but also as a reminder of mortality, possibly even portraying it as something to be desired. Regarding Eliot’s original version of “The Wasteland”, named “He Do the Police In Different Voices”, the chosen epithet is much more accessible, as it comes from a more modern book, which is written in English. “The Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad, features Mr. Kurtz, a chief explorer who has fallen ill, and begins to behave strange. As Marlow, the narrator, regards Kurtz upon the advent of his death, he asks, “Did he live his life again in every detail of desire, temptation, and surrender during that supreme moment of complete knowledge? He cried in a whisper at some image, at some vision—he cried out twice, a cry that was no more than a breath—‘The horror! The horror!’”(4). Similar to the story of Sybil, Conrad evokes themes of mortality and death in his text. The idea of Mr. Kurtz experiencing his life in one moment, and subsequently screaming in terror almost contradicts the message of Sibyl. For Kurtz, mortality exists in a terrifying instant. In contrast, Sibyl longs for regular mortality, as she lives a myriad of years. Though these understandings of mortality are curiously opposite, they create a spectrum of fear and discomfort in the face of time. Eliot’s choice of Sybil’s story for his final epithet might suggest that he finds Sybil’s understanding of life more in line with the message of “The Waste Land”. In the oftentimes darker modernist perspectives, an appreciation for death and mortality aligns itself with the nostalgia for the pre-industrialized world, which through Eliots lifetime, is slowly becoming more and more unnatural. Though it is inherently human to fear death, and even despise mortality, Sybil’s story portrays a rare appreciation for the human condition and the inevitability of death. This appreciation is also overlooked and met with contempt, much like the simple wastelands of England.

The title of T. S. Eliot's poem, "The Waste Land" hints at Eliot’s departure from romantic understandings of perspective, especially in regards to the natural order. The title itself derives from many older mythological sources, such as "The Golden Bough", by James George Frazer. In "The Golden Bough", various gods are discussed, specifically those who are involved with death and the natural world. Adonis, Osiris, and Attis are all examples of gods whose life cycles "represented the yearly decay and revival of life" (7) . Communities would perform certain rites to aid these gods in their revival, and interestingly in these rites, "the principles of animal and vegetable life confused in these ceremonies" (7). This unity between animal and vegetable lives can be applied to the basic idea of an ecosystem, as plants oftentimes work with animals to flourish. As many humans tend to culturally understand ecosystems, animals are the actors and observers, or the subjects of their environments. In contrast, plants and vegetation tend to be seen as passive, or the objects of their environment. However, the ceremonies mentioned above subvert this division of animals and plants by declaring them intrinsically connected through their vitality. This deconstruction of the object/subject, or the observer/observed can also be seen in Eliot’s modernist departure from romantic poetry. While in romantic poetry, humans are often the subjects and viewers of perceived nature, Eliot’s modernist poetry tends distort perspective, sometimes to the point where humans and their environments seem one and the same. This modernist confusion obscures the divide between humanity and nature, which in turn reveals the oftentimes compulsive human need for order, or an active/passive power dynamic when it comes to the natural world. In relation to “The Waste Land”, not only does Elliot express his departure from the romantic perspective, but he reflects on the human condition. Returning to the idea of an ecosystem and human relationships with nature, “The Waste Land” suggests an environment that is barren and fruitless. Since the vitality of the environment is connected to the vitality of the human/animal, “The Waste Land” acts as a reflection of society itself, as humans are vitally inseparable from the conditions of their land. While some humans might search for dominance and activeness, the desolation of the title “The Waste Land” begs the question of how humanity can achieve restoration and fruit while being intrinsic aspects of their environments.

The twenty first and twenty second lines of "The Waste Land" possibly refers to past cultural conceptions of graves and the notion of burying. The "shadow under this rock" implies a subterranean hole or cave, and ominously so. The color red and the mention of a shadow might depict this space as unwelcoming or dangerous, and yet, the twenty second line strangely invites the reader into this space. Thus, this shadowy hole becomes a dwelling, or perhaps even a space for exploration. Interestingly, the earth is also oftentimes interpreted as a motherly figure, which plays into the theme of protection or restoration. The red color of the rock might refer to the red flesh of the womb, a place of growth and later birth. This idea of the subterranean as a natal space starkly contrasts the idea of death and graves. In regards to graves and tombs, W.H.F Basevi states that, "the custom of placing funeral offerings in graves originated in some remote period when graves were not receptacles for the dead, but refuges for the living" (55). Basel's interpretation of graves and the underground as shelter, or a place for recovery, invites a clear interpretation of these lines is found. In this interpretation, the narrator is guiding the reader into this space of protection, suggesting that they are in some sort of danger. As we currently understand graves and underground holes, they are spaces for the dead. In contrast, Basevi's interpretation defines the underground as a place for the wounded, or perhaps those who seek shelter. Regarding his interpretation from a modern perspective, we find the wounded or scared in an undefined space between life and death, a space which Eliot invites us into.