User:Michelle Scheuter

The next several lines resemble another memory. The memory is of the war itself and going back to scenes that happened during the war. “Only there is shadow under this red rock, 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”. The lines indicate that the memory is being shared, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust”, I will show you what it is like to fear everything around you. Evelyn Waugh took this line for the title to his novel. The comparison between the poem and Waugh’s novel show that all great cities have fallen, therefor London must fall too. London must find a way to come back from the ashes and be alive once again.  

The next several lines resemble another memory. The memory is of the war itself and going back to scenes that happened during the war. “Only there is shadow under this red rock, 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”. The lines indicate that the memory is being shared, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust”, I will show you what it is like to fear everything around you. Evelyn Waugh took this line for the title to his novel. The comparison between the poem and Waugh’s novel show that all great cities have fallen, therefor London must fall too. London must find a way to come back from the ashes and be alive once again.  

As the poem continues the lines are taken from the play “Tristan and Isolde”. “Frisch weht der wind der heimat zu mein Irisch kind wo weilest du?“ This translates to: the wind blows fresh to the homeland my Irish girl where are you lingering? These lines are actually a song that is being sung by a sailor on a ship traveling from Ireland to Cornwall. Tristan is escorting Isolde to marry a king. In the next lines it describes the love created between Tristan and Isolde that cannot go any further because she is betrothed to another. This betrayal of love is followed by “Oed’ und leer das meer”, desolate and the empty sea. Tristan was wounded in act II returning home to Brittany and he awaits Isolde to come heal him. Tristan asks a shepherd to look for her and he returns saying the sea is empty.

As the poem continues the lines are taken from the play “Tristan and Isolde”. “Frisch weht der wind der heimat zu mein Irisch kind wo weilest du?“ This translates to: the wind blows fresh to the homeland my Irish girl where are you lingering? These lines are actually a song that is being sung by a sailor on a ship traveling from Ireland to Cornwall. Tristan is escorting Isolde to marry a king. In the next lines it describes the love created between Tristan and Isolde that cannot go any further because she is betrothed to another. This betrayal of love is followed by “Oed’ und leer das meer”, desolate and the empty sea. Tristan was wounded in act II returning home to Brittany and he awaits Isolde to come heal him. Tristan asks a shepherd to look for her and he returns saying the sea is empty.

The poem continues with Madame Sosostris and her reading of the tarot cards. “Here, she said, is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!” The first card is the drowned Phoenician Sailor which reads, past hope of life or rebirth. This card symbolizes that there was once hope of life and rebirth, but the war has changed that and people no longer have much hope for the future. With the line “pearls that were his eyes” Eliot has given a different perspective to this tarot card. This part of the line is from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. “Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange”. Eliot uses this line to indicate that there is hope for change and that London can come up from the ashes to be whole one again. London will never be the same, but it can still be alive. “Here is Belladonna, The Lady of the rocks, The Lady of situations”. The second card is the Belladonna. This card indicates queen of cups, by using this card it indicates that there is a gift of renewal, but the sea and rocks or the tragedy of the war is preventing the future from progressing. “Here is the man with three staves”, the third card Eliot indicated was the Fisher King. The card shows a man looking out into a waste land waiting to see it come back to life, but it cannot come back on its own. “And here the Wheel”, the fourth tarot card is the wheel of fortune. There are different meanings derived from this card, but the meaning that fits the best is the possibility of chance and change. This card shows that there is room for new possibilities and growth. “And here is the one-eyed merchant”, the next card is the merchant with six pentacles. The merchant is holding a scale and handing out coins. This illustration shows compassion and bringing balance back to society, allowing the world to move on and go back to what was once considered normal, back to everyday life of working and earning.  

The poem continues with Madame Sosostris and her reading of the tarot cards. “Here, she said, is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor, those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!” The first card is the drowned Phoenician Sailor which reads, past hope of life or rebirth. This card symbolizes that there was once hope of life and rebirth, but the war has changed that and people no longer have much hope for the future. With the line “pearls that were his eyes” Eliot has given a different perspective to this tarot card. This part of the line is from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. “Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange”. Eliot uses this line to indicate that there is hope for change and that London can come up from the ashes to be whole one again. London will never be the same, but it can still be alive. “Here is Belladonna, The Lady of the rocks, The Lady of situations”. The second card is the Belladonna. This card indicates queen of cups, by using this card it indicates that there is a gift of renewal, but the sea and rocks or the tragedy of the war is preventing the future from progressing. “Here is the man with three staves”, the third card Eliot indicated was the Fisher King. The card shows a man looking out into a waste land waiting to see it come back to life, but it cannot come back on its own. “And here the Wheel”, the fourth tarot card is the wheel of fortune. There are different meanings derived from this card, but the meaning that fits the best is the possibility of chance and change. This card shows that there is room for new possibilities and growth. “And here is the one-eyed merchant”, the next card is the merchant with six pentacles. The merchant is holding a scale and handing out coins. This illustration shows compassion and bringing balance back to society, allowing the world to move on and go back to what was once considered normal, back to everyday life of working and earning.  

The last two cards are a blank card and The Hanged Man. “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”. The Hanged Man is associated with the God of Frazer, the fertility God who may be sacrificed to bring fertility back to the land and the people. Madame Sosostris indicates that she does not see The Hanged Man which reveals that there is no fertility coming, no rebirth. The past is lost and with it the traditions, all that is left are the ruins and destruction from the war. Madame Sosostris goes on in the poem to say, “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”. This stanza ends with the observation that the people are walking around in misery and fear with no idea on how to move forward. They are stuck in a moment of shock, how they move on after what the war has done.

The last two cards are a blank card and The Hanged Man. “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”. The Hanged Man is associated with the God of Frazer, the fertility God who may be sacrificed to bring fertility back to the land and the people. Madame Sosostris indicates that she does not see The Hanged Man which reveals that there is no fertility coming, no rebirth. The past is lost and with it the traditions, all that is left are the ruins and destruction from the war. Madame Sosostris goes on in the poem to say, “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”. This stanza ends with the observation that the people are walking around in misery and fear with no idea on how to move forward. They are stuck in a moment of shock, how they move on after what the war has done.