Model Discussion Posts
Eliot uses simple imagery of nature and companionship in the past tense to evoke
nostalgia for times past that were more happy and care-free. Eliot writes, “With a
shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade / And went on in sunlight, into the
Hofgarten / And drank coffee, and talked for an hour” (lines 9-11). In two of the
three lines he describes the weather, and shows the characters responding to it in a
care-free fashion, easily moving about in response to the circumstances of life. The
subject throughout the lines is “we” invoking a constant companion at the side of the
narrator, with whom they share their life. And the actions in the lines are all those of
luxury, stopping to drink coffee, and talking for hours as if nothing else mattered.
These elements all come together to paint a easygoing, natural time of happiness,
yet they are all in past tense, suggesting that the narrator is remembering these
events from afar, and perhaps that the fine dust of nostalgia has settled over these
memories, making them appear better than they were. – Sam
In T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, themes of mortality and death are explored. Also, I
found through my reading, themes of time and loss of innocence. The following
stanza from "The Burial of the Dead" exemplifies all these themes:
There is a shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow if 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. (25-30)
Upon reading these lines I felt suddenly as if the narrator were beckoning me closer
to tell me a secret. I had a visual of two small children crouched near the ground and
turning over the dusty red rock. Then this innocent image becomes sinister: “I will
show you fear in a handful of dust.”(30) I then re-read the previous two lines and
had a sense that Eliot was remarking upon the mortality of man. He shows us the
image of the passing of time: the morning shadow and the evening shadow. In the
handful of dust is death—bodies in the earth. I feel that what makes the point come
across with the power that it does, is the transition made from innocent and
childlike to harsh and rooted in reality. The transition in the poem is much like the
transition into adulthood in my opinion. –Kristina
Point:
The following passage of The Waste Land: “The Burial Of The Dead” by T.S. Elliot
proposes a radical shift in comparison to the previous passage(s) of the same poem.
The passage that I am going to evaluate introduces a new speaker, Marie, and a new
idea. Whereas, the speaker of the previous passage talks about the seasons, Marie
has a flashback into her childhood. I will describe how sound, rhyme, and syntax
help to tell Marie’s happy childhood memory and indicate a perhaps unhappy,
uncertain adulthood.
Illustration:
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,
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. (lines 13-18)
Explanation/Evaluation:
These lines seem to be a flashback of Marie’s childhood when she was carefree and
able to enjoy what many children enjoy in winter, sledding in the snow. The brief
moment of the thrill of sledding down a snow-covered hill is highlighted by the
repetitions of the two words “Marie” and “free” which rhyme, and therefore soften
the tone of the passage and imply harmony. Softness and harmony are what we can
observe more in children than in adults. These rhymes, the [i:] sounds in “Marie”
and “free”, also imply sounds of excitement, thrill, and freedom, a way in which only
children usually experience life. In addition, the sentence structure supports the
feeling of harmony. Especially the sentences of lines 15, 16, and 17 describe
complete thoughts, and the idea of one sentence flows easily to the next. This lends
the passage a feeling of fluidity. However, compared to 15, 16, and 17, lines 13, 14,
and 18 evoke a somewhat disharmonious quality. Because there are no repetitions
of sounds, the rhythm feels somewhat choppy. In fact, 18 breaks the harmony, one
feels in 15, 16, and 17, suddenly. In 18, Marie is back in her adult life. The sentence is
composed of three phrases whose ideas seem to be disconnected as if Marie has a
number of fleeting, incomplete thoughts that leave the reader with a feeling of
confusion and uncertainty.