Burial of the Dead
It seemed to me like the first paragraph was about the narrator coming to Germany. She (Marie) talks about coming across the Stanberger See, which is a lake in Germany, and having coffee in the Hofgarten, a garden in Germany.
The second paragraph, to me, described the death of the little girl, Marie. I’m not sure what the shadow represents here, maybe the body, or maybe just something to entice the narrator to explore it. Lines 38 and beyond describe the death (or near death) of Marie, as someone had their “…arms full, and your hair wet…I was neither living nor dead…” The arms full and hair wet represent signified to me that someone rescued Marie from drowning and was carrying her in their arms.
Paragraph three appears to be Marie getting her fortune read by Madame Sosostris. Sosostris advises Marie to “fear death by water.” I would like to know if Marie got her fortune read before or after the events in the previous paragraph. Or is this even Marie getting her fortune read?
I think the final paragraph displayed the funeral of Marie while she was in limbo, neither living nor dead—a ghost, if you will. Here she calls out to someone she knows named Stetson. I believe he is her brother (mon frère). Marie asks about “that corpse you planted last year in our garden, has it begun to sprout?” I think the corpse Marie speaks of is actually a flower, or a bulb. If it is actually a corpse, I think Eliot is trying to show us that life is cyclical; much like Whitman did with his grass speech in Song of Myself.
A Game of Chess
This was a bit more confusing to me. The poem starts by creating an eerie setting. In my mind, there is a woman sitting in a dark, candlelit room, surrounded by burning incense and fragrance. A nightingale calls out and scares the woman, whose “nerves are bad tonight.” Why are her nerves bad? I think she begins to talk to herself, maybe her conscience, or maybe she is a schizophrenic. She begins to talk about her plans for the next day, planning to take a shower and maybe play a game of chess. The narrator continues to talk and describes Lil’s husband coming home from war. I think the narrator’s husband may be coming home from war, too, and she is trying to plan out how she is going to act and talk with him since it’s been so long since she’s last seen him. I think the narrator is worried because while her husband Albert was away, she had an affair and had multiple children, and doesn’t know how Albert will react. She’s been spending his money on drugs, too. She knows Albert is going to leave her, and she’s dreading his return. Yet, when Albert finally comes home, they sit and eat a “hot gammon” together. I don’t understand the ending where they say good night to all these different people.
The Fire Sermon
The first paragraph speaks of friends of summer departing and leaving no trace of themselves. I’m not quite sure what the next paragraph is getting at. The rat may signify loneliness as it crawls over bones. Perhaps the narrator is overlooking a cemetery? I say the rat may signify loneliness because usually where there is one rat there are many, except in this instance.
The next paragraph goes on to talk about a man named Tiresias watching another man caress and grope a woman. Is he raping her because in the next paragraph, line 252, she says, “Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over.” I don’t know what the author was trying to convey with this scene.
The end of the poem describes the narrator’s view as he rides in a canoe through the city (I think). The narrator also describes himself lying in a canoe, I’m guessing so he can’t be seen. He also says he was promised “a new start.” Is this maybe for raping the girl? Also, what is “Weialala leia/Wallala leialala?” This one really confused me!
Death by Water
This poem tells the story (sort of) of Phlebas the Phoenician. Phlebas met his death at sea. Since Phlebas died, he does not care about the “cry of gulls” or the “profit and loss.” The author compares death to a “whirlpool” where Phlebas “passed the stages of his age and youth.”
I think the author wants us to realize we are all equal, but we usually only see that in death. It didn’t matter whether Phlebas was “Gentile or Jew.” He was a human being, just like you and me. The final line asks us to “Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.” He was no more than another individual living his life.
What the Thunder Said
I don’t have a lot left in the tank for this one! While I was reading it, I got the feeling someone was trapped in the desert in dire need of water. The author’s constant wish for rock to be water put me on that path! Is the third person walking beside the people death? It’s here I get lost. Who is this woman, and what does she represent? When the author speaks of the “decayed hole in the mountain…” is he speaking of a grave? And who are Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata? And then the London bridges song reference? I definitely need this one explained to me!
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