Beneath the serenity that nature brings is a rocky foundation. By the end, the visual of the london bridge falling is symbolic of a wasteland. Eventually it decays and the sexual assault of women, too, festers and ravages society.

In lines 395-423, there is a recurrence of one syllable, “Da.” According to Brihadadranyaka, the syllable denotes, “Have ye understood.” There is a transfer of knowledge that is fostered through Hinduism, which is the world’s oldest religion. There is a significance that is applicable beyond a mere teaching of Hinduism. In terms of religion, do we really understand? Is it objective, can we really understand it? This brings in Bradley’s philosophy, which argues that reality and appearance are distinct. There is this question of whether human-to-human communication is legitimate. This builds off of our perception of reality. Bradley claims that reality constitutes “what lies behind the world we think we see.” Through each of these sources, there is a common theme. Humans are encouraged to think deeper, to extrapolate messages and meanings beyond surface-level, materialistic or socially-constructed images. Thus, our souls constitute that deeper symbol; it is an outlet for expression, communication and greater life after death. Love is also a concept that transcends surface-level or human interaction . In a sense, what is right for us is not what humans are really compatible with. Are we compatible with our soulS? Are we compatible with love? Oftentimes it appears that love incites violence. Webster’s source alludes to this. The soul is also a repository of knowledge. Upon what do we rely on our retention of knowledge? What is reliable and trustworthy? Knowledge and human life both come full circle, and that is what Eliott alludes to. Eliot states, “ The sea was calm, your heart would have responded.” This is to say that humans connect with nature beyond surface-level because ideas of its conception rely beyond human thought.

In the Perilous Chapel, there is mention of a Black Hand, which has some part in the murder of the knight. The ominous scene, set with elements of light and stormy weather, parallels Eliot’s writing. Line 378 states, “ A woman drew her long black hair out tight/and fiddled whisper music on those strings.” This line introduces an ominous or mysterious character. We must ask why Eliot decided to make a woman the topic of mystery. Is he describing women as inherently mysterious? There is a pattern of describing women by their features without offering names. In a sense, the woman blends in as a yield of nature or the weather.

Hermit Thrush is in reference to a particular bird, which populates the mountains and various environments. The description of “ Here is no water but only rock. Rock and no water and the sandy road.” There is emphasis put upon the lack of water present. In many scenarios, water is a staple to religious traditions. That has us consider the direct correlation between religion and nature. Are there certain conditioning and environmental dynamics that are conducive to religion and others that are not?

In Corinthians, there is the emphasis of existence for someone larger than oneself. It states, “The cup of blessing which we bless; is it not in a participation for Christ? Similarly, I see this idea exist particularly for the women that are referenced in stories throughout the Wasteland. In the Tempest, Ariel was in servitude to man, and in direct correlation, her value was always placed upon her ability to follow the commands of her servant. Similarly, in lines 312 to 320, Phlebas is a product of described in essence as a product of the land, someone who is anchored to the land. At his core, “his bones” will dissolved upon death and turn into the land. There is this cyclical it’s to life that is referenced and it’s correlation with tending to the land and wastelands.

The theme of fire references the force of destruction that pervaded lands during the world war. “The fire Sermon” talks about fire that both fills space and takes away tlife. This paradox of fire, contrasts to the descriptions of fire used by Eliot. He states, “ The river sweats/ Oil and tar/…Burning, Burning, Burning.” With the passage of time, fire reeks more havok, it undos the passage of time as environments can end up looking barren and wasteland-like. This has us consider whether a wasteland can be salvageable or will time ever enlighten to its potential?

“When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” speaks to renewal after death. By decorating wasteland with flowers, color, we are temporarily concealing the eviscerating truth about the land. But what becomes or stays about the wasteland beneath? Eliot states, “Flushed and decided, he assaults at once; exploring hands encounter no defense.” This quote speaks to vulnerability and shadows. Men shadow the platform of women, which results in women having to live with the experience, in silence. This conclusion reinforces the notion that women are often judged by their exterior. But femininity and sweet perfume can be distracting from the guilt, pain, vulnerability that pervades female flesh. Time becomes cyclical as a woman replays instances of secual assault over and over in her head. And as she lives in the past, she is ultimately alienated from the present and removed from her sense of social belonging and identity. The question becomes: did women who are victimized ever have a place in society? They are assaulted in the first place because men do not have respect, and the after effects further alienate her. There also exists a theme of hands. Hands that commit the acts of sexual assualt but are also vitla tools for tending land. Perhaps, in a society that is transitioning to industrialization, the effects of manual labor are becoming less precipitous and thus contributing to an artificial land and development.

The vivid imagery of the land brings personification to its essence and significance. Eliott states, "the rat wept crept softly through the vegetation, dragging its slimy belly through the vegetation." This resonates with what we perceive to be in a wasteland. And yet, when I read, I am not disgusted but rather comforted by these genuine descriptions.

The phrase, "Hurry Up Please Its time," alludes to a jostle, cyclical nature of time. There is a sense of urgency matched with an element of time that is hard to conceptualize. It does round and round, catches up off guard; there are soft undertones. Similarly, constant references to seduction are rooted in the occasional hints and implicit statements that take place in a game of chess. As you play a game, you conceptualize a particular strategy and you can playing against the mind of your opponent.

Similar to Amelia, I noticed a theme of love as a mechanism to immobilize and vilify female characters. In Aenid, the phrases "encircle her with loves' flame," "breathe into her a hidden fire," rely upon perceptions of light and color. Similarly, T.S Eliot states, "Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, In which sad light a carved dolphin swam." (56) We have description of a chess scene; the environment, which has a mystical ambiance. Although paired with the prominent femininity of the woman and the "glitter of her jewels," it seems women are elements of seduction. Aenius describes a sexual and promiscuous encounter; similarly, Paradise and Lost describes the sinful behavior of two humans. Essentially, female characters constitute the flames because they have a harsh or negative impact upon society.

Eliott depicts a space that fosters mourning of ancestors and reflection/re-emergence of the past. He states, "I had not though death had undone so many." The scene of people crowding together is a memory that defines, and, perhaps, haunts the London Bridge. Eliott clings on to certain images and uses them to relate to the environment, to associate emotions and particular adjectives. Similarly, war-torn environments are stained with images of ancestors, casualties, and memoriums. In memory of tragedies, we are invited are reimagining a space ( former havens of war) that still grapple with human pain and recollection. Time can never console or change the environment; it will always be grounded in the "fog", the "hazy, obscured" history. History, as a subjective piece of storytelling, is un-obscure in the pain it induces but equally obscure in its purity and interpretation. Moreover, humans ground their experiences in shadows. War shadows lives and society, so we are constantly reminded of the pain and grief. There is a sense of wholeness achieved by reconciling the past with present. But conversely, there is a feeling of emptiness. This duality appears in Inferno. Hell is populated by sinners and yet punishing bodies until they are spiritually empty, sullied, forgotten. Canto III is summarized as, " Naked and futile, they race around through the mist in eternal pursuit of an elusive, wavering banner (symbolic of their pursuit of ever-shifting self-interest." This references human fate. What gives us value and substance, and are our environments ultimately responsible for supplementing, fostering, or detracting from our societal influence and worth?

Can fate be predetermined? In reading Tarot cards, our perception can seem disillusioned, depending on whether the reading is promising or worrisome. As Eliott states, “I knew nothing.” Positive tarot card readings are based on characters, symbols, and images. We are relying on seemingly random, yet interconnected symbols and information. The foundation of knowledge, the process by which we interpret, is all based on time. Is the reading applicable to the present or afterlife? And in making that determination, is it valid or implausible? The Tarot card process reflects reality about life. There are magical, spiritual influences that have more prominence than the palpable, grounded history or factors guiding someone’s life. The recurrence of the theme of love is shed in a coerce, seductive light. In the case of Tristan and Isolde, love is thematically impure and a bane to the existence of both individuals. While they were given a love potion, one could argue that Tarot readings operate similar to types of entrancement. We are enraptured by a sequence of images and we commit ourselves to spiritual or experimental processes. In knowing that some people have negative fate, we become curious about our own, assuming that these processes are holistic and objective in their evaluations. But the people facilitating these magic interpretations are not conducting holistic processes; they are, undoubtedly, subjective. Humans appreciate empirical and grounded opinions, and yet we sometimes seek non-empirical sources. Are people generally more or less comforted by such experiences? Huxley describes the influence of Mr. Scorgan, who exaggerated many spiritual interpretations. Essentially, tarot cards are based on grounded in non-empirical readings but still relevant due to their antiquity.

Burial of the dead Pdf alludes to a state of reincarnation as a privilege, a return to comfort after a transcending experience like death. Eliot states, “Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire.” This line relates to Christian religion, referencing death as both an impending fate and miracle if you praise God. There exists a dichotomy of death. In some sense, mortality refers to a constant state of anticipation and vulnerability, and humans grapple with this circumstance through the accumulation of material wealth. In another sense, the physical winter desolation described is a reference to greed; only God can provoke that revitalization to land and society. Others would say that humans rest vulnerable after death, when their soul is left without a home. Eliott also states, “April is the cruelest month, breeding…” This verb “breeding” has a positive connotation in terms of fertility. But the transition between darkness and vitality is tough on the mind. Because humans’ sense of vitality can be disillusioned, which admits that they were weak or naive in the first place.

Traditionally in a wasteland, this gross characterization is imposed upon all of the aspects that comprise it, including the people. In TWL original reading, Eliot hones in on the essence of various characters. What I found striking were the stories and resilience of several characters; so while their lives are unideal, there is substance in the people who would be considered waste over the rich folks of the era. Dickens’ states, “ You pray that your Granny may have strength enough left her at the last (she’s strong for an old one, Johnny), to get up from her bed and run and hide herself, and swown to death in a hole, sooner than fall into the hands of the those cruel Jacks. The desolation and despair fostered within the poor community has a source. It is not nature’s doing or inherent. Eliot, thus, hones in on the social constraints of being less privileged. I see loose parallels between Sloppy and T.S Eliot. As a child, Eliot idled literature to provide entertainment as he overcame a physical limitation. Sloppy, too, makes magic through literature. It states, “You mightn’t think so, but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the Police in different voices.” This quote alludes to the freedom that one has to transform and personalize literature. The childish tendency to imitate voices, to create stories are values that guide Eliot’s poetry and work. His final work is layered with authors who influenced his writing, his own version of “doing the police in different voices.” All of the layering and variety in TWL contributes to a wholesome, rich meaning, over a monogamous style. In the final TWL, the first poem is titled “ The burial of the dead,” as in memoriam of victims of war. In Metamorphosis and Stayricon, death is described as a desired fate, even though unpleasant. This sentiment, existing writ-large, is addressed in the epilogue of the original TWL. It states, “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!’”(Conrad) The horror is in reference to people’s despair and mental disintegration. That said, there is a question of what is nature, vs what is nurtured by society? How do the poor fit as priorities in reconstructing the land post-war?

“The Wasteland” is a dolorous characterization, imprinted with vivid imagery of death and fear. According to “FROM RITUAL TO ROMANCE, ” the conditions under which land is barren, dried out, and unfertilized, has to do with the vitality of its ruler. Weston states, “the condition of the King is sympathetically reflected on the land, the loss of virility in the one brings about a suspension of the reproductive processes of Nature on the other.” (4) This quote asserts Nature to be feeble or susceptible without a male oligarch or higher power. Conversely, men acknowledge their dependency on the provisions of land. They regard fertility and their priorities to be controlled by higher deities. This implies that Nature, as feminine trope, shares accreditation of her suppleness with male figures (whether a deity, or human ruler).

The Golden Bough references vegetation chants, which are magical chants that revive the weakened energies of deities. They force heterosexual unions of animals to encourage the multiplication of fruit. Such images and processes disillusion reality. Men believe that seasons and human reality are entirely reflections of the lives of gods. That said, reality is internalized as reflection of gods and their lives. Eliot states, “breeding…mixing Memory and desire, stirring dull roots with Spring pain.” In this matter, timing has ample significance to Eliott, and it is assumed that it can be manipulated by Gods. In a particular instance, the Golden Bough states, “ During [a goddesses] absence the passion of love ceased to operate: men and beasts alike forgot to reproduce their kinds: all life was threatened with extinction.” This quote references winter, which is also referenced in Eliot's first poem. He states, “What are the roots that clutch?... Son of man..you know only a broken heap of images.” It is clear that disparate seasons suck the life out of humans. And Eliot's emotions are closely tied with the conditions of the environments around him. WW1 is symbolized in his reading. The main assumption, though, is that all of society must function perfectly to evade characterization as a “wasteland," (including the rulers, the people contributing to society. That said, what is the role of literature in a season of waste or desolation?