The Waste Land: Difference between revisions

From Gerald R. Lucas
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{{cquote|Nam Sybillam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum pueri illi dicerent: Στβμλλ τί Θέλεις; respondebat illa: άπσΘνειν Θελω.<ref>This epigraph is from [[w:Petronius|Petronius]]’ ''[[w:Satyricon|Satyricon]]''. Apollo had granted the Sybil immortality, but she had forgotten to ask for perpetual youth, so she still aged. Literally: “I have seen with my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked her ‘What do you want?’ She answered, ‘I want to die.{{' "}}</ref>}}
{{cquote|Nam Sybillam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum pueri illi dicerent: Στβμλλ τί Θέλεις; respondebat illa: άπσΘνειν Θελω.<ref>This epigraph is from [[w:Petronius|Petronius]]’ ''[[w:Satyricon|Satyricon]]''. Apollo had granted the Sybil immortality, but she had forgotten to ask for perpetual youth, so she still aged. Literally: “I have seen with my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked her ‘What do you want?’ She answered, ‘I want to die.{{' "}}</ref>}}
<poem>
<poem>
::::::::::For [[w:Ezra Pound|Ezra Pound]]<ref>Pound suggested cuts and edits tot he first manuscript of the poem.</ref><br />
::::::::::For [[w:Ezra Pound|Ezra Pound]]<ref>Pound suggested cuts and edits to the first manuscript of the poem.</ref><br />
::::::::::''il miglior fabbro''.<ref>“The better craftsman.” From Dante’s ''Purgatory'' (26.117)</ref>
::::::::::''il miglior fabbro''.<ref>“The better craftsman.” From Dante’s ''Purgatory'' (26.117)</ref>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
{{Large|I. The Burial of the Dead}}<ref>“From the Anglican burial ceremony.” [Eliot’s note.]</ref>
{{Large|I. The Burial of the Dead}}<ref>From the Anglican burial ceremony.</ref>


April is the cruellest month, breeding  
April is the cruellest month, breeding  
Line 50: Line 50:
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.  
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.  
''Öd’ und leer das Meer''.<ref>Ibid. III, verse 24 (Eliot’s note): “Desolate and empty sea.” The dying Trislan hears this erroneous report as he waits for Isolde's ship in the third act of Wagner’s opera.</ref>  
''Öd’ und leer das Meer''.<ref>Ibid. III, verse 24 (Eliot’s note): “Desolate and empty sea.” The dying Trislan hears this erroneous report as he waits for Isolde's ship in the third act of Wagner’s opera.</ref>  
   
 
Madame Sosostris,<ref>The name suggests an Egyptian fortuneteller that Eliot borrowed from Aldous Huxley’s novel ''Yellow Chrome''.</ref> famous clairvoyante,  
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, {{ln|45}}
With a wicked pack of cards.<ref>I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience. The Hanged Man, a member of the traditional pack, fits my purpose in two ways: because he is associated in my mind with the Hanged God of Frazer, and because I associate him with the hooded figure in the passage of the disciples to Emmaus in Part V. The Phoenician Sailor and the Merchant appear later; also the “crowds of people,” and Death by Water is executed in Part IV. The Man with Three Staves (an authentic member of the Tarot pack) I associate, quite arbitrarily, with the Fisher King himself. (Eliot’s note)</ref> Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. {{ln|50}}
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. {{ln|55}}
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
 
Unreal City,<ref>Cf. Baudelaire: Fourmillante cité, cité pleine de rêves, / Où le spectre en plein jour raccroche le passant. (Eliot’s note) “Swarming city, city full of dreams / Where the specter in broad daylight accosts the passerby.”</ref> {{ln|60}}
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.<ref>Cf. Dante’s ''Inferno'', iii. 55-7: si lunga tratta / di gente, ch'io non avrei mai creduto / che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta. (Eliot’s note) “So long a train of people, that I should never have believed death had undone so many.”</ref>
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,<ref>Cf. 63. Cf. Dante’s ''Inferno'', iv. 25-27: Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare, / non avea pianto, ma' che di sospiri, / che l'aura eterna facevan tremare. (Eliot’s note) “Here there was no plaint, that could be heard, except of sighs, which caused the eternal air to tremble.”</ref>
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. {{ln|65}}
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth<ref>A church in the financial district of London.</ref> kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.<ref>A phenomenon which I have often noticed. (Eliot’s note)</ref>
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!<ref>The Battle of Mylae took place in 260 BC during the First Punic War and was the first real naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Republic.</ref> {{ln|70}}
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence,<ref>Cf. the Dirge in Webster's “White Devil.” (Eliot’s note)</ref> that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again! {{ln|75}}
You! ''hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”<ref>V. Baudelaire, Preface to ''Fleurs du Mal''. (Eliot’s note) “Hypocrite reader!—my double—my brother!”</ref>


</poem>
</poem>

Revision as of 17:32, 13 January 2020

For Ezra Pound[2]

il miglior fabbro.[3]


I. The Burial of the Dead[4]

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering 5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee[5]
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,[6]10
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.[7]
And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie, 15
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,[8] 20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,[9]
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock, 25
(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;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust. 30
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?[10]
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; 35
They called me the hyacinth girl.”
—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Öd’ und leer das Meer.[11]

Madame Sosostris,[12] famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe, 45
With a wicked pack of cards.[13] Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water. 55
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.

Unreal City,[14] 60
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.[15]
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,[16]
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet. 65
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth[17] kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.[18]
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying “Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae![19] 70
That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
Oh keep the Dog far hence,[20] that’s friend to men,
Or with his nails he’ll dig it up again! 75
You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable,—mon frère!”[21]

Notes

  1. ↑ This epigraph is from Petronius’ Satyricon. Apollo had granted the Sybil immortality, but she had forgotten to ask for perpetual youth, so she still aged. Literally: “I have seen with my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked her ‘What do you want?’ She answered, ‘I want to die.’”
  2. ↑ Pound suggested cuts and edits to the first manuscript of the poem.
  3. ↑ “The better craftsman.” From Dante’s Purgatory (26.117)
  4. ↑ From the Anglican burial ceremony.
  5. ↑ A lake near Munich, Germany.
  6. ↑ A public park in the center of Munich.
  7. ↑ “I am not Russian at all; I come from Lithuania, I am a real German.”
  8. ↑ Cf. Ezekiel 2:7 (Eliot’s note): “Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.”
  9. ↑ Cf. Ecclesiastes 12:5 (Eliot’s note): “Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall
    be in the way . . . the grasshopper shall he a burden, and desire shall fail.”
  10. ↑

    The wind blows fresh
    To the Homeland
    My Irish Girl
    Where are you lingering?

    — V. Tristan und Isolde, I, verses 5-8. (Eliot’s note)
  11. ↑ Ibid. III, verse 24 (Eliot’s note): “Desolate and empty sea.” The dying Trislan hears this erroneous report as he waits for Isolde's ship in the third act of Wagner’s opera.
  12. ↑ The name suggests an Egyptian fortuneteller that Eliot borrowed from Aldous Huxley’s novel Yellow Chrome.
  13. ↑ I am not familiar with the exact constitution of the Tarot pack of cards, from which I have obviously departed to suit my own convenience. The Hanged Man, a member of the traditional pack, fits my purpose in two ways: because he is associated in my mind with the Hanged God of Frazer, and because I associate him with the hooded figure in the passage of the disciples to Emmaus in Part V. The Phoenician Sailor and the Merchant appear later; also the “crowds of people,” and Death by Water is executed in Part IV. The Man with Three Staves (an authentic member of the Tarot pack) I associate, quite arbitrarily, with the Fisher King himself. (Eliot’s note)
  14. ↑ Cf. Baudelaire: Fourmillante cité, cité pleine de rêves, / Où le spectre en plein jour raccroche le passant. (Eliot’s note) “Swarming city, city full of dreams / Where the specter in broad daylight accosts the passerby.”
  15. ↑ Cf. Dante’s Inferno, iii. 55-7: si lunga tratta / di gente, ch'io non avrei mai creduto / che morte tanta n'avesse disfatta. (Eliot’s note) “So long a train of people, that I should never have believed death had undone so many.”
  16. ↑ Cf. 63. Cf. Dante’s Inferno, iv. 25-27: Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare, / non avea pianto, ma' che di sospiri, / che l'aura eterna facevan tremare. (Eliot’s note) “Here there was no plaint, that could be heard, except of sighs, which caused the eternal air to tremble.”
  17. ↑ A church in the financial district of London.
  18. ↑ A phenomenon which I have often noticed. (Eliot’s note)
  19. ↑ The Battle of Mylae took place in 260 BC during the First Punic War and was the first real naval battle between Carthage and the Roman Republic.
  20. ↑ Cf. the Dirge in Webster's “White Devil.” (Eliot’s note)
  21. ↑ V. Baudelaire, Preface to Fleurs du Mal. (Eliot’s note) “Hypocrite reader!—my double—my brother!”
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