"The Waste Land" - What the Thunder Said

we come at last to the final section of the Wasteland section five what the Thunder said and as we've seen throughout our look at the Wasteland uh Elliot organized the five different sections of the poem according to the understanding of the ancient elements we begin with Earth the burial of the Dead air fire water and now we come to The Fifth Element uh which although technically not one of the tangible physical elements of the ancient model it represents a reality that Elliot certainly felt to be uh true and uh accessible and um felt in the world as much as another element though though largely undefinable and that is the element of spirit the spiritual underpinning of our reality the the reality that uh perhaps exists beyond our ability to comprehend and informs our existences in the Wasteland in ways that we may not easily discover or understand and we see that Reliance on the spiritual nature of things uh though Elliot spends a great deal of time in the poem questioning the reality of a spiritual supern nature uh questioning the reality of a truth that exceeds the physic phical realm U the realm of the sciences and of the observable experiment realities around us um we see this spiritual Reliance throughout this section predominantly in the number of Christian illusions that exist in this section and so tracing those Christian references and trying to interpret the fundamental schematic for the poem that Elliot may be pushing against and leaning towards and groaning towards uh comes to a full Revelation in this last section so we begin with the first of many Christian Illusions or what seem to be Christian Illusions in the poem in this section of the poem with a look at Jesus's time in the Garden of Gethsemane during the passion week Elliot says after the torch light read on sweaty faces this image of red reflection on faces will be repeated later in the poem as perhaps a hostile snarling demonic image later in the section he'll mention red Solen faces sneer and snarl from doors of mud cracked houses it seems to be an image of a hostile crowd of uh Maleficent beings that surround Christ and Surround any indication of Living Water and Living Truth as Jesus will be identified in this section so after the torch light red on sweaty faces after the frosty silence in the gardens this being our first indication that this is Gethsemane the garden where Christ prayed on behalf of all mankind that uh he would be spared the wrath of God that he would be spared the the pain and cruelty and Punishment of the cross that lay before him after the agony in Stony places perhaps even in mention of golgatha the place of the skull the agony he will endure at the at Calvary at the place of the cross the place of the skull also what's referenced here Parkins back to Isaiah where the Messiah is described as the Man of Sorrows and even the agonizing man prophesying Christ's atonement for mankind on the cross as a sequence of intense Agony not just for the physical harm and Punishment he received but for enduring a spiritual separation from his father the kind of punishment and wrath of God being absorbed completely and totally in Christ uh producing a sense of Agony immeasurable and unknowable so he says after the torch light after the silence in the gardens the kind of enduring torturous prayer that Jesus underwent the agony in Stony places the shouting and the crying prison and Palace and reverberation all the events that took place in the arrest in the trial and then in the execution of Christ of Thunder of spring and this spring is mentioned of spring brings us back full cycle with the wheel image of time that Elliot has woven throughout these sections so not only is spring a common season indicated with the resurrection of Christ and Easter the season of rebirth and Resurrection which we've seen as a motif throughout these sections introduced in the burial of the Dead the prospect of rebirth and Resurrection as a possibility to redeem Mankind from this Barren Wasteland that when we die the Prospect of Resurrection is a final hope and an ultimate hope uh that spring season is brought back we began in in the springtime April is the cruelest month uh the April Showers we moved into the summer and the Hof Garden uh the fire sermon we saw the the last fingers of leaf clutch the dry Bank uh with the Tims River the indication of autumn later in that section we saw the winter evening come along and now in the final section we are back to spring so the wheel has turned a full motion of Thunder of spring over distant mountains he who was living is now dead which becomes an interesting statement as an introductory passage describing the final hours of Christ's life and then ultimately his death on the cross uh he who was living is now dead this seems an inversion of the Resurrection that the living man who offered himself as a sacrifice for mankind who died rose again the resurrection story where Christ Rises after three days in the ground is not given any indication of such a resurrection it simply says he who is living is now dead the he being Christ and now he pivots over Elliot does we who were living are now dying with a little patience this sums back again the image that he left us with at the end of the burial of the Dead that mankind is suffering an ongoing death a living death where Decay corrosion loss defines our existences without any real pocket of belief available for a rebirth uh just as Christ is left here in this introductory passage with no real mention of a resurrection it simply says he who was living is now dead after the agony and the silence and the crowd of hostile faces Christ simply dies and it ends the agony sure certainly it must death is the great silencer but death alone as a simple cessation of Life uh presents no real Comfort either speaker continues he says here so in this Wasteland we who are living and now dying in it here is no water only rock if you remember in the burial of the dead he describes the landscape as full of Rock with no shelter and no Shadow uh from the glaring Sun the dried desert land with no water that makes up the Wasteland but this lack of water brings several different insights along with it first of all Christ describes himself as living water when he approaches the woman at the well he says you drink of me and you will never thirst again that he supplies a water that fully satisfies that promises eternal life and eternal joy and of course interestingly in the Wasteland no such water is available but also this kind of Living Water contrasts with the drowning Waters of the previous section in section four death by water the onslaught of a flood of waters was not seen as a baptismal image with the possibility that we could be buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life but rather Waters depicted as a drowning force that it subsumes us consumes us uh and and pulls Us in by the current under sea remember flebus who is uh passes the stages of his age and youth and enters the whirlpool that he is uh spiraling ever downward in the cycle of drowning Waters yet here the Living Water of Christ that he promises is inferred can be inferred uh and yet it's not present the the speaker says there is no water only rock only hardship only cold dry surface Rock and no water and the Sandy road the road winding above among the mountains one thinks of Moses who is called to the Mountaintop to experience the glory of God firsthand yet here for us we are above among the mountains yet there is no real water for us which the reference to Moses brings a special thought to Exodus 17 where God provides water from the rock to nourish the Israelites as a way of quenching their thirst that Moses was commanded by God to bring forth water from the rock of course he disobeys uh by striking the rock rather than simply speaking to it and this image of water protruding from The Rock to satisfy the people is a a christophany it's a it's a well technically not a christophany it's a a hearkening to a foreshadowing of Christ it's an image of Christ a type that appears in the Old Testament that connects directly to what Christ would claim of himself in the New Testament being Living Water that Springs forth to satisfy his people forever but the greater point is that in the Wasteland there is no such water which are mountains of rock without water if there were water so this is a a significant point the speaker here is beginning to present a series of if Clauses wishful thinking Clauses if there were something that could heal something that could satisfy he'll bring it up again later in the poem these if Clauses that present a desire amongst the people in the Wasteland for a savior figure something to save them from this reality he says if there were water which of course he claims there is not we should stop and drink and that's an interesting statement to make and not only does it present an ethical situation if there were water we ought to do this we should stop and drink but it also presents what the proper and appropriate human response should be should a savior figure be true that if there is someone who could pull us out of the Wasteland remember Augustine's prayer at the end of the fire sermon oh Lord pluck me out thou pluck me out if there were a way out if there were a savior figure we ought to drink fully of that water that it would be our duty it would be our appropriate response we should stop and drink if there were water and yet again the implication is that there is none amongst the rock one cannot stop or think there's no rest no calm in the Wasteland sweat is dry so even our own production is unsatisfying feet are in the sand there is no stability no stable ground beyond the barren Rock our feet are in the sand if there's that conditional statement the if Clause if there were only water amongst The Rock dead Mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit there is no water that can be produced from the Rock at least not in this Wasteland here so again he's emphasizing one can neither stand nor lie nor sit there's no rest from the crisis of belief that the Wasteland presents no rest from the an the anguish and anxiety that all men feel with the absence of a savior the absence of a living hope to such danger and such despair there is not even silence in the mountains he says but dry sterile Thunder Without Rain that image of Thunder again with the title what the Thunder said will become much more meaningful by the end of the section when the Thunder actually speaks its three imperatives the dry sterile Thunder the lack of fertility is hinted at again maximizing the image of sterility no real Prospect of growth there is not even Solitude in the mountains remember what he said in the burial of the Dead that all men March asleep they are crowded over London Bridge uh shuffling across with their eyes to their feet we do not even have the pleasure of solitude any longer we are isolated certainly but we are not physically alone and we must take the wide Road uh spiraling ever downward among the mountains with no water but red Sullen faces sneer and snarl from doors of mud cracked houses there's that image of hostility the red face seemingly ubiquitous surrounding us at all fronts uh this oppressive almost demonic image that we are only surrounded by that which frightens us most fear and a handful of dust as he says if there were water so again you see that phrase as a prayer or a plea a petition for there to be water that satisfies notice what we've come to this is the final section of this uh wide angle lens view of this Wasteland of modern of the modern world uh this Barren empty land that we seem to all be caught in we have reached the end section of such a description and all we are left to is this repetition of a plea if there were only water if there were water we should stop and drink again the imperative the right response of man to the presence of water this kind of Living Water is to stop and drink to drink fully of it to baptize ourselves and immerse ourselves in such living water in other words Elliot doesn't present a middle ground if there is no water then all we have is rock all we have is the Wasteland itself the pain of our reality with no real Prospect of Hope beyond that reality beyond death but if there is water we should stop and drink there is no alternative and now we move into this lyrical section these short lines uh which again extends the petition and The Plea for water in such a dry land if there were water he begins and no Rock if there were Rock and also water and water a spring a pool among the rock these are Biblical images the spring that gushes forth blessings The Fountains of God the pool of Betha where the lame were healed by Christ these are all examples of water where healing can occur if there were the sound of water only so even just that glimmer of hope the speaker here does not necessarily require the tangible evidence of water if there were only the echo of it the mere sound that indicated the coming of water then that would suffice if there was some voice crying in the wilderness joh like John the Baptist pointing the way to the arrival of Living Water that would be enough if there were simply the sound the promise of water to come then that would be enough we don't even have to be like Thomas to see the water for ourselves to see the truth in our own hands and with our own eyes if they were simply the sound of water itself that would suffice not the cicada and dry grass singing the music of emptiness but the sound of water over rock where the hermit thrush sings in the pine tree now this is interesting we have a direct contrast to the night Andale the night Andale to which filel was transformed upon her rape by terius uh the night Andale introduced in a game of chess and then describe even further with the fire sermon The Jug jug so crudely forced so rudely forced the image of rape there uh now we have the hermit thrush singing in the pine trees these are not Barren trees these are green Drip Drop drip drop drop drop drop notice this contrasted with the rudely forced jug jug that this is a much more melodic much more soothing song of a much more free and luxurious bird singing in the pine trees nothing is rudely forced it's the drop of water the sound of the thrush's song but he says he ends this lyrical section there is no water so the speaker here seems intent on answering his own questions if there were water we should stop and drink but there is no water we have a kind of conflicted dialogue internally occurring here where one side of the speaker seems to look toward the prospect of water and then he resp responds with the truth that there is no water or the truth at least as he perceives it now we move to another Biblical reference uh this being a reference to the Gospel of Luke specifically to the encounter on the road to Emmas that Christ has with two disciples that this is after Christ's Resurrection has taken place again at the beginning of the poem there seems to be an indication that he who was living is now dead that any real possibility of Resurrection is Moot and U not existent yet here we have an example pulled from an event occurring directly after Christ's Resurrection so here we see an a hope and a possibility that is unusual for the kind of Despair and bleakness that Elliot has been weaving throughout and he says who is the third who walks always beside you now of course that is a reference to the third figure of Christ joining the two disciples on the road and being unable to be recognized there's also the possible reference to the Old Testament account of the of the Furnace where there is a fourth who stands among them who is unable to be recognized and he does not burn either that they threw three in and yet found four standing among them here he says who is this third who walks always beside you notice this third which turns out to be a possible reference to Christ on the road to emus walks always beside you now this is an interesting insight for the Wasteland especially for the reader who has been skeptical alongside Elliott as to the reality of a supernatural truth a kind of spiritual plane of existence and hope and resurrection that exists beyond the human capacity to see and sense here the question is who is the third who walks always beside you and the one who walks always beside you is indicated as one who is not easily recognizable and that is a significant Insight here that perhaps the Savior figure The Living Water figure that all who are caught in the Wasteland are yearning for and longing for walks always beside us and yet is simply unrecognizable that we do not see him for who he is yet he's always there when I count there are only you and I together notice this packed line when I count so when I perceive with my senses to be the true figure how many people are on the road I count them myself I observe with my own eyes which is the kind of empirical truth that man seems to be uh man seems to privilege above all others what I can see with my eyes what I can feel what I can know through the scientific method he says when I count there are only you and I together when I see with my eyes I see only you and me and yet both of us are isolated from one another although here we are indicated to be together possibly the first evidence of togetherness that substantive in the poem yet so far we've seen only figures of isolation separation from one another we are crowded together C L uh but here he says I see only you and I together what binds us together what joins us together perhaps this third who walks always beside us but when I look ahead so when I count now they're only you and I together but when I look ahead up the White Road notice the color white remember the ionian white and gold that uh covered the church in the fire sermon the inexplicable Splendor of ioni and white and gold and Magnus martyr that brief shot at Splender that the typist uh that followed the typus section after she experiences severe Despair and tragedy at the hands of a a forceful lover when I look ahead on the White Road there is always look at this there's always another one walking beside you gliding wrapped in a brown mantle the kind garment Jesus may be supposed to wear this is no modern figure hooded so disguised covered not easily recognizable I do not know whether a man or woman the speaker himself says I don't know who this person is but who is that on the other side of you this interrogation and this questioning of who might possibly be this one who is always beside us is one of the most grounded most uh significant spiritual questions I would argue of the entire poem there is someone who walks always beside us and because we cannot see him for who he is does not negate the fact that he's there a blind man does not negate the existence of the sun and a deaf man cannot negate the existence of Mozart our inability to see who the man is who walks always beside us does not negate his existence what is that sound high in the air here we shift to a separate passage what is that sound high in the air murmur of maternal lamentation this maternal lamentation may be Mary the foot of the cross extending the Christian influence on the poem but then again it may also be the mothers post World War I what is that sound H the air murmur of maternal lamentation who are those hooded hordes swarming the kinds of armies and soldiers that swarmed the planet during and after the war over endless Plains stumbling in cracked Earth we come back to the primary images of the Wasteland ringed by the flat Horizon there's that wheel image what is the city over the mountains City on a Hill perhaps yet again unrecognizable what is the city over the mountains cracks and reforms and bursts in the Violet air falling towers are these the Destinies of cities of greatness that we know Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London these great cities of civil ization seem to be crumbling yet there is a city above the mountain that seems to stand unreal he says remember his description of the unreal City the burial of the Dead London the city of The Walking Dead Men marching asleep eyes on their feet notice he mentions these cities Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna and London these culturally significant cities in human history have all crumbled have all Fallen they are falling Towers here we move into this Gothic grotesque image it seems to repr represent a sort of surrealist image that Elliot certainly would have been aware of Elliott was a classicist he appreciated a multiplicity of cultures and movements he was a an art Enthusiast and a museum go Museum goer so he would have been well familiar with this realist Movement we have imagery that uh comparatively aligns with the tenants and descriptions of this realists a woman Drew her long black hair out tight and fiddled Whisper music on the strings and bats with baby faces in the violet light whistled and beat their wings and crawled head downward down a blackened wall this seems to be remin reminiscent of the earlier hell imagery The Descent ever downward of course you have the grotesquery of bats with baby faces the long black hair whisper music this is very much a haunting episode of descending uh ever downward into hell the blackened wall and upside down in air were Towers so the falling towers that he referenced a passage earlier are now depicted as upside down everything has been inverted greatness has turned to weakness and significance has turned to meaninglessness everything is upside down lost its meaning lost its relevance tolling reminiscent Bells remember the death toll that rang out sections earlier in the fire sermon these reminiscent Bells keep the hours and voices singing out of empty systemns and exhausted Wells everything is empty and dried there is no well to produce Living Water there is no sistern to carry water everything is emptied and exhausted everything is upside down and all of it is surrounded in hellish despairing apocalyptic imagery this wasand seems to be the culdesac at the end of our existence we have reached a terminating point not only individually we March asleep across London Bridge we are isolated individuals but culturally globally our Wasteland and those who reside in it are spiraling ever downward into this surreal image of Hell remember in the burial of the Dead the layers of Hell descending ever downward in this decayed hole among the mountains in the faint Moonlight not much light to see by the grass is singing over the tumbled Graves about the chapel there is the empty Chapel only the wind's home the chapel the Church of God is empty uh the place of God the most sacred uh the very Dwelling Place of God is empty now the graves are empty only the wind's home it has no windows and the door swings Dry Bones can harm no one remember the dead bones that littered the Streets of London in the fire sermon only for the rat to creep across and for the wind to disturb now he says the chapel itself the building of God the church is empty the well is empty empty ssts empty chapels so Elliott is taking this Christian imagery and then seemingly subverting it uh using it to describe the overall baress and malays of the Wasteland it's only the wind's home there's nothing true or stable that exists there any longer yeah notice what he brings here at the end of the passage only a stood on the roof tree Coco Rico Coco Rico the sound of the rooster crowing in the morning in a flash of lightning then a damp gust bringing rain so notice this we have two images of doubt and skepticism here one being of course the empty Chapel there's no longer any meaning or truth in the walls of God and then secondly the crowing represents the disbelief of Peter remember the Lord's most trusted most uh honored disciple one of the three in the closest Circle of Christ even he who ardently professed Jesus to be the Messiah in the point of crisis in the moment of decision chose to deny Christ three times over and that is symbolized in the C the crowing of the rooster there just as Christ predicted so you have two Ines of of skepticism The Emptiness of the chapel with the rooster sitting at top of the chapel crowing seeming to remind us of the disbelief and the denial of Christ by Peter and yet it's followed by three IM of Hope the first being what the crowing of the rooster signifies perhaps there is a coming of the Dawn if the crows at top the chapel perhaps it's not a crowning image of disbelief after all but a heralding of something new perhaps there is a dawn perhaps there is a sun to come out and a new morning Joy comes in the morning and perhaps this rooster here is the signal of it the second thing that comes is a flash of light lightning strikes we see the scenery of the Wasteland no longer being consumed in darkness downward down a blackened wall the black hair bats with baby faces the grotesquery of the descent into hell here we have the rooster sitting at top of the church crowing in the morning and a flash of lightning this Illuminating burst of light that encompasses the entire Wasteland and most importantly what follows the heralding of the Dawn by the rooster the flash of light with the lightning comes the shower of rain the water if there were water we should stop and drink and now rain is Promised so perhaps there is a prospect and a hope for Redemption for those in the Wasteland after all and finally we move into the last thrust of Elliot the final leg of the great poem of his where we hear the thunder speak for itself the title of this last section what the Thunder said and there are three different phrases that operate as imperatives or commands that the Thunder speaks that encapsulate and embody the entirety of the spiritual Resonance of this section of the poem and perhaps even addresses the central concerns of the Wasteland itself ganga was sunken this is the sacred River to the Hindus it operates much like the image of the Tims earlier ganga was sunken and the limp leaves waited for rain if you remember how the fire sermon began we had a similar image of the Tims uh sink and being polluted waiting for rain waiting for cleansing and healing while the black clouds gathered far distance it seems we have resorted back to the broad appeal of the Wasteland uh this final images imagery we saw here was brief and possibly inspiring but now we move back to a description of the Wasteland over hant the jungle crouched humped in silence then spoke the thunder so we see all of creation groaning and longing for the speaking of the thunder in Romans 8 we see a passage that Paul describes all of creation longing and groaning for uh Salvation for uh its Final Redemption in the second coming of Christ that the created order and its entirety is fallen and corrupted and broken and it Longs for Redemption and the day of salvation in Christ here we have that imagery used on the cusp of the speaking of the Thunder the jungle crouched humped in silence awaiting for the Declarations of the Thunder the Thunder speaking perhaps being an overarching symbol for the very voice of God uh exclaiming out abroad over the dry cracked landscape of the Wasteland and the Thunder speaks and it says three different things all with the precursor word of Da which simply means give the three pronged phrasing of the Thunder is taken from uh Hinduism from the upanishads um a religious text sacred to the Hindus that Elliot was a classicist he knew uh mythology and religion of all various sorts very well and so he appeals to uh that religious pretext to describe the the speaking of the Thunder but the implications uh transcend Beyond just a specific Eastern religion he seems to be describing a simple spiritual reality here the first phrase of the Thunder is daada which means again give and he addresses this command or this imperative from the Thunder what have we given mankind so the Thunder speaks give Dada we reply what have we given my friend blood shaking my heart the awful daring of a moment's surrender which an age of prudence can never retract this awful daring of a moment surrender is a reference to meaningless sexual encounters the awful daring of a moment's surrender to pleasure and temporary ecstasy which an age of prudence can never retract propriety can never really get a handle on the overwhelming influence on sexual pleasure in our culture that is what we have given and he says by this and this only we have existed this seems to be the only way we connect with one another with any sort of value or significance in the modern Wasteland that is all we seem to have by this and this only we have existed the awful daring of a moment surrender is all we seem to have as far as what we are able to give to one another that's all we have meaningless transactional sexual experiences a moment's surrender to a life of guilt regret remorse isolation meaninglessness an age of prudence can never retract it by this and this only we have existed which is not to be found in our obituaries this sort of encounter with one another is not something we tend to boast about not a glory that is read over our bodies at our funerals we do not wish to be remembered by it yet it seems to be the mode of our existence as far as our relationships are concerned by this and this only we have existed it's not to be found in our obituaries or in memories draped by the manificent spider we do not want it broadcast in the webs we weave the chapters of the story we're telling they are not Memories We would be fond of as far as a legacy or a glory but they do make up the totality it seems of our interactions everything seems to be pushing to this moment moments surrender to pleasure that is all we are able to give and receive nothing lasting or truthful or significant Beyond us nothing I would say to be Eternal it's simply a moment surrender to a pleasurable experience placed on repeat throughout the wheel as it turns in our lives is not to be found in our obituaries or in memories or under seals broken by solicitors this this is our will and testament we do not want it to be the defining moment of our existences and yet it is by this only that we have existed in our empty rooms what is the ultimate consequence and implication of living a life governed by meaningless pleasure moments surrenders meaningless encounters transacted repeatedly over time it is simply to end our days in our empty rooms this Prospect of dying alone the notion of uh never having formed a meaningful intimate lasting relationship simply being defined and existing only by the shaking of the blood and the surrender to a moment of pleasure at the cost of great significance to our lives and meaning and purpose so it's a bleak answer we give the Thunder says give daada and we question what have we given it seems all we are able to give are moments surrenders momentary surrenders to pleasure at the cost of great legacy and Glory the second command da he says dadam which is the command to sympathize so our first command is to give the speaker responds what have we given what can we give to one another and all we can give is the promise of a temporary high secondly the command to sympathize this section is phrased as an imprisonment speaker says I have heard the key turn in the door once and turn once only which is a locking motion we think of the key each in his prison notice that back to the London Bridge idea each in his own prison everyone is isolated and separated from one another thinking of the key there's our repetition again each confirms a prison only at nightfall ethereal rumors revive for a moment a broken corilanus a Shakespearean reference to a bleakly despairingly isolated figure but what's interesting here is that as each person is locked in his own prison they think only of the key what is able to get me out of my prison so this command to sympathize to show compassion for one another is subverted by the idea of solitary confinement we cannot sympathize or feel the same emotion Sim posos the same feelings with one another when each of us is isolated in Our Own Prison thinking only of the key I have heard the key locking Us in we think of the key and we think of the key this emphasis is on our own isolations our own lostness our own confinement and there's no real indication that thoughts or ideas are given to other prisoners each is in his own prison but it also brings up two uh serious questions what is the key which has been a central question throughout the whole poem what is the way out is there any real escape from this but possibly even more telling would be who is the key holder who is the one and by what means can we break out of our individual prisons and sympathize with one another another be reconnected to one another so the first imperative implies that we are uh we cannot give to one another anything meaningful we cannot establish true relationships or connections with each other all we have our momentary surrenders and the second imperative we are unable to answer as well uh due to our inability to reconnect with one another we have been disconnected from each other imprisoned in our own individual Outlook and World Views and we are all looking at our own feet there is no key that we can see to break us out of our individual prisons and no real understanding of who would hold that key and yet we are caught thinking of it we think of the key thinking of the key not of each other and ultimately not of who might hold that key to our Liberty and thirdly thunder says da the command damyata which means control so the first imperative from the Thunder is daada give and we see that all we have to give are momentary surrenders the second imperative diam sympathize and yet we cannot sympathize with one another we are each confined to Our Own Prison thirdly we are given the command and to control and interestingly this is not phrased as mankind determining their own control but rather a relinquishing of control or rather a giving up of control and here Elliot weaves another spiritual reality he says the boat responded notice that past tense the boat metaphorically that we are in used to respond past tense responded gayy happily joyfully to what to the hand expert with sale and ore the sea was calm remember Jesus's Act of calming to see so the question of who is the key holder that was implied in the second command from the Thunder is made more Concrete in the third the boat responded gay to the hand expert the one who controlled the boat the one who guided and directed the ship the boat responded gay the one underneath control responds gay to the one who has control which is a point directly relevant to man's relationship to God that who is those who are under the control of God respond gay to that expert hand with Sal and or guiding across the seas the calm seas your heart the speaker says would have responded gay when invited beating obedient to controlling hands notice that the the heart of man would respond gay when invited in obedience to relinquish control to the hand exper the prospect of of leaving control over our own Destinies control over our own lives relinquishing it back to the hand expert that once guided the boat with sa and or across calm seas that perhaps might be the answer control who has ultimate control who is the key holder that can free us from our prisons who is the one who can expertly guide and direct the boat across the seas the controlling hands that once satisfied the hand of God expertly guiding the boat the heart responds gay to such expert hands so what we have in this sequence of three imperatives three commands on the part of the Thunder and the three human responses to it presents a model of uh three different truths or three different concepts that uh are helpful in understanding how Elliott concludes the Wasteland in the first command to give we saw that man has selfish corrupted love we are self-seeking uh corrupted in the way we love one another we have nothing substantial to give we have nothing of of substance and Truth to offer one another no intimacy we are selfish and corrupted lovers in the second command sympathize we see that we are isolated and alone that we are each confined to Our Own Prison thinking only of the key not of one another and certainly not of who might hold that key we've excused that option from the table we are simply stuck in our prisons and then thirdly in the imperative to control we see that man cannot leave the Wasteland and find a way home which is one of the most essential fears of the poem the notion of lostness an inability to return home we saw that all throughout there there was once there's memory nostalgia there was once a time that sufficed remember Marie who uh went down the hill holding on tight to someone who provided security and stability there is no shelter from uh The Rock and from the Sun in the Wasteland we see that we cannot leave on our own we are stuck here we cannot find our way home yet the three imperatives of the Thunder what the Thunder says seems to provide us a glimmer of hope and possible redemption in the face of those realities to answer man as selfish corrupt lovers the command to give forces us to ask who is our model of perfect love how can we learn to give one another something meaningful something lasting and something Eternal apart from imitation Ephesians 51 Paul says be ye imitators of God as dearly loved children so on our own in the Wasteland all we have are temporary experiences of pleasure yet we are commanded to give wholeheartedly and how can we learn that without a model so we are forced to see and look for a model of perfect love and remember in the uh fire sermon and even in a game of chess we saw married couples unmarried couples all these perversions of love love corrupted love uh transgressed against the typist passage where her hope and dream of perfect love is dashed we must ask that central question who is our model of perfect love the second command sympathize forces us to ask who holds the key that frees us from our isolation if we are each trapped in our prison thinking only of ourselves in another the key we must learn to sympathize by discovering who holds the key that frees us from such an isolated State we cannot sympathize with one another and remain in individual prisons we must have a key holder who's able to unlock us from our prisons and allow us to form a community again to feel one another and sympathize with one another again and then thirdly the imperative of control who can guide us home man cannot leave the Wasteland on her own we are trapped we cannot find a way home perhaps a giving up of control to the hand expert the controlling hands would allow us to navigate the Seas to return home back to a Land of Plenty Back to Eden uh and the boat would respond gay to that your heart would have responded gay when invited beating obedient to controlling hands simply aligning ourselves underneath one who maintains Sovereign control is perhaps a way of escaping the baress of the Wasteland Elliot concludes I sat upon the shore fishing remember the image of the fisher king with the Arid plane behind me it's interesting the Wasteland is now positioned behind him and he is fishing perhaps looking ahead toward a realm of water with the Arid plane the desert land behind him possibly a hopeful ending shall I at least set my lands in order have my Affairs in order as I face the prospect of dying London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down now this last section Elliot is really uh infusing this passage with several different voices he has the the nursery rhyme of children a passage from Dante's purgatorio which references a sinner in purgatory yet he in he includes a description of the refiner the Refiner's Fire that fire can be a way of refining Sinners another possibly hopeful image these fragments I have shored against my ruins these fragments may be perhaps the five sections of the Wasteland as fragmented voices fragmented pieces of an overarching truth that's hard to recognize and hard to see much like Christ on the road to Emmas there but difficult to determine and discern these fragments might be the three uh statements from the Thunder Dada dadam damyata these are fragmented truths or imperatives from the Thunder yet it may be the very voice of God commanding us to give and sympathize and control but he has shed them against his ruins one last illusion here to a Spanish tragedy ponos mad again perhaps a descent into madness with all the chaos and over vocalization of those in the Wast daada dadam damata give sympathize control and Elliot ends with a three-part sequence referencing another Hindu piece of The upanishads Shanti Shanti Shanti translated the peace which passeth understanding and notice this kind of piece is repeated three times over another biblical technique holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty a way of emphasizing a way of focusing in on the importance and supreme value of a truth is often indicated by a triple repetition and the very final note on the Wasteland for Elliot is not one of distress not one of fear and a handful of dust not one of anxiety or thirst it is a prayer for Shanti Shanti Shanti peace peace peace Shalom the consummating completed piece of of God In Harmony and interestingly it's a peace which passeth understanding remember the image of the cloaked hooded figure on the road to Emmas who is He Who Walks always beside you yet he is indeterminate unable to be recognized unable to be seen clearly yet he is there and perhaps this peace which passeth understanding perhaps this ultimate Harmony to All Things the ultimate hope to All Things is there even if it passeth understanding and pass passive comprehension

Channel: Mr. Huff's Literature Class

Views: 32,366

Keywords: The Waste Land (Poem), Thunder (Literature Subject)

Id: c28dfFtqChw

Length: 59min 35sec (3575 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 21 2015