“The Waste Land” Study Questions
English 3—Serrano
Part I: The Burial of the Dead
1.
Look at the epigraph and read the translation in the footnotes. Who is the Sibyl? What does this epigraph imply about Eliot’s thematic intentions in “The Waste Land”?
2.
The first line should make you think of another famous first line—what is it? What meaning does this allusion add to Eliot’s poem?
3.
Why is April “the cruellest month”?
4.
Who is Madame Sosostris?
5.
What city might Eliot be referring to in the “Unreal City”? The crowds are headed to the financial district—why might this be significant?
6.
Why the allusions to the ancient commercial wars between Rome and Carthage? Is there any relation between those wars and the conflicts of the 20th century?
7.
Is there a single narrative voice in Part I of the poem? What is the effect of this?
Part II: A Game of Chess
8.
What might chess represent? In what way can it be linked to the historical context and way of life of the time period addressed by Eliot?
9.
Who is Philomel? What meaning might that reference add to the poem?

10.
Think of lines 111-123 as a conversation between a married couple. What kind of a conversation do they have?
11.
What’s going on with Lil and her husband?
12.
What did Lil do with the money intended for her false teeth? How does this fit in with the broader themes of the poem?
13.
How does this part of the poem represent love and sexuality?
Part III: The Fire Sermon
14.
This section opens with a depiction of a river in the city. What kind of image do we get in lines
173-189?”
15.
What role does Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant play here? What is he proposing to the speaker?
16.
Lines 215-256 present an encounter between two lovers. How would you characterize this encounter? Does it seem to be a pleasant one?
17.
What about the story of the canoe trip? What’s going on here?
18.
How are love and sexuality treated in this section?

19.
To what does the title of this section refer? How does that affect the theme of this section?
Part IV: Death by Water
20.
What happens to Phlebas the Phoenician?
21.
How does this relate to Madame Sosostris’s prophecy?
Part V: What the Thunder Said
22.
To what does the first stanza of this section (lines 322-330) refer?
23.
What is the overwhelming mood of the second stanza of this section (lines 331-346)?
24.
What happens to the five Unreal Cities in lines 367-377?
25.
What three things does the thunder say? What do they mean?
26.
What is the meaning of the phrase “these fragments I have shored against my ruins”?
27.
What does shantih mean?