Decoding "The Burial of the Dead"
From The Waste Land Wiki
(→Figure 2: Recurrent Words from "The Burial of the Dead") |
(→Figure 2: Recurrent Words from "The Burial of the Dead") |
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The words that do feature prominently in Eliot's "The Burial of the Dead," are particularly telling for his attitude. Both "dead," and "death," feature prominently, but so does "shadow," "winter," "roots," and "fear." The last, "fear," introduces the crisis of faith most strongly. | The words that do feature prominently in Eliot's "The Burial of the Dead," are particularly telling for his attitude. Both "dead," and "death," feature prominently, but so does "shadow," "winter," "roots," and "fear." The last, "fear," introduces the crisis of faith most strongly. | ||
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a message to sgsinclair@voyeurtools.org. --> | a message to sgsinclair@voyeurtools.org. --> | ||
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| + | In the "[[Order for the Burial of the Dead]]," the selected scriptures treat death as a natural process and, in fact, one to be embraced as a time of union with God and a way of finding comfort from the difficulties of life. Life, in fact, is denigrated as a time of man's vanity, and a time of trial, where man is tested in order to be admitted to the New Earth after the Second Coming of Christ. That "fear" features so prominently in "The Burial of the Dead," contradicts Christian precepts of embracing death, further underscored by the section's allusion to a document so full of comfort in a time of death. The Lord's Prayer, [[Psalm 23]], features prominently in the "Order," and distinctly says "...though I walk through the alley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me..." (Psalm 23:4). Interestingly, "shadow," is another frequently occurring word of this section of the poem. | ||
='''Figure 3: Recurring Words from "[[Order for the Burial of the Dead]]"'''= | ='''Figure 3: Recurring Words from "[[Order for the Burial of the Dead]]"'''= | ||
