sacrificial death that precedes rebirth. neers of Buddhist studies in the Occident [Eliot's 2. In the first part of Part V three themes are note]. In the sermon, the Buddha instructs his employed: the journey to Emmaus, the approach priests that all things 'are on fire. . . . The eye . . . to the Chapel Perilous (see Miss Weston's book), is on fire; forms are on fire; eye-consciousness is and the present decay of eastern Europe [Eliot's on fire; impressions received by the eye are on fire; note]. On the journey to Emmaus, the resurrected and whatever sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, or Jesus walks alongside and converses with two dis- indifferent, originates in dependence on impres- ciples, who think he is a stranger until he reveals sions received by the eye, that also is on fire. And his identity (Luke 24.13-14). with what are these on fire? With the fire of pas-3. These lines allude to Jesus' agony in the Garden sion, say I, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of of Gethsemane, his trial, and his crucifixion.
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230 6 / T . S . ELIO T Dead mountain mouth of carious0 teeth that cannot spit decked 340 Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit There is not even silence in the mountains But dry sterile thunder without rain There is not even solitude in the mountains But red sullen faces sneer and snarl 345 From doors of mudcracked houses If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water 350 And water A spring A pool among the rock If there were the sound of water only Not the cicada4 355 And dry grass singing But sound of water over a rock Where the hermit-thrush5 sings in the pine trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water
360 Who is the third who walks always beside you?6 When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
365 I do not know whether a man or a woman ?But who is that on the other side of you?
What is that sound high in the air7 Murmur of maternal lamentation Who are those hooded hordes swarming
370 Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth Ringed by the flat horizon only What is the city over the mountains Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air Falling towers
375 Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal
4. Cf. Ecclesiastes' prophecy 'the grasshopper of their strength, had the constant delusion that shall be a burden, and desire shall fail.' Cf. also there was one more member than could actually be line 23 and its note. counted [Eliot's note]. This reminiscence is asso5. This is Tiirdus aonalaschkae pallasii, the her-ciated with Jesus' unrecognized presence on the mit-thrush which I have heard in Quebec County. way to Emmaus. Chapman says (Handbook of Birds of Eastern North 7. Eliot's note for lines 367?77 is: 'Cf. Herman America) 'it is most at home in secluded woodland Hesse, Blick ins Chaos ['A Glimpse into Chaos'].' and thickety retreats. .. . Its notes are not remark-The note then quotes a passage from the German able for variety or volume, but in purity and sweet-text, which is translated: 'Already half of Europe, ness of tone and exquisite modulation they are already at least half of Eastern Europe, on the way unequaled.' Its 'water-dripping song' is justly cel-to Chaos, drives drunk in sacred infatuation along ebrated [Eliot's note]. the edge of the precipice, sings drunkenly, as 6. The following lines were stimulated by the though hymn singing, as Dmitri Karamazov [in account of one of the Antarctic expeditions (I for- Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov] sang. The get which, but 1 think one of Shackleton's): it was offended bourgeois laughs at the songs; the saint related that the party of explorers, at the extremity and the seer hear them with tears.'
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THE WASTE LAND / 2307
A woman drew her long black hair out tight And fiddled whisper music on those strings
380 And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings And crawled head downward down a blackened wall And upside down in air were towers Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
385 And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.
In this decayed hole among the mountains In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home.8
390 It has no windows, and the door swings, Dry bones can harm no one. Only a cock stood on the rooftree Co co rico co co rico9 In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust
395 Bringing rain
Ganga1 was sunken, and the limp leaves Waited for rain, while the black clouds Gathered far distant, over Himavant.2 The jungle crouched, humped in silence.
400 Then spoke the thunder
DA 3
Datta: what have we given? My friend, blood shaking my heart The awful daring of a moment's surrender
405 Which an age of prudence can never retract By this, and this only, we have existed Which is not to be found in our obituaries Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider4 Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor0 lawyer
410 In our empty rooms
DA
Dayadhvam: I have heard the key5
8. Suggesting the moment of near despair before demons, naturally cruel, as 'Be compassionate' the Chapel Perilous, when the questing knight (Dayadhvam); 'That very thing is repeated even sees nothing there but decay. This illusion of noth-today by the heavenly voice, in the form of thunder ingness is the knight's final test. as 'DA' 'DA' 'DA,' which means 'Control your
9. The crowing of the cock signals the departure selves,' 'Give,' and 'Have compassion.' Therefore of ghosts and evil spirits. Cf. Hamlet 1.1.157ff. In one should practice these three things: self- Matthew 26.34 and 74 the cock crows after Peter control, giving, and mercy.' The Upanishads are betrays Jesus three times. ancient philosophical dialogues in Sanskrit. They
1. Sanskrit name for the major sacred river in are primary texts for an early form of Hinduism India. sometimes called Brahminism. 2. I.e., snowy mountain (Sanskrit); usually applied 4. Cf. Webster, The White Devil,
