Learning Paths » 5A Interacting
The Waste Land
Exercises pages 326 and 327.
- 1) Read the extract and mark the point where the poet starts imagining a possible alternative to the desolate land in front of him.
Line 5: "if there were water we should stop and drink".
Here the poet imagines an alternative to desolation and makes some hypothesis about the actions people could do.
- 2) Focus on the content.
•§ What kind of landscape is described in lines 1 - 15? Identify its key aspects and say how many times they are repeated.
Here you can find a desolate and sterile landscape ("rock", "dead mountain"), but there is also the opposition of water, that can transform it. We can find the theme of desolation repeated some times with different words.
•§ What kind of landscape is described in lines 16 - 29?
The landscape is dry, you can hear water, "but there is no water".
•§ Compare the two landscapes. What do they have in common?
The first landscape needs water, in the second there is its sound, but there is no water. Water is a chance for the landscapes to change, but water is only a dream, it is not real.
•§ Comment on the sound quality of the words which characterise the two landscapes.
The first landscape is characterised by the word "rock", the second one by "water". Their sounds are different, "rock" sounds strong and "water" is a sweet and makes the reader feel quiet. "Rock" gives a hard touch to the poem and it is in opposition with the word "water".
- 3) Consider the layers of meaning that the word water acquires as the poem progresses. Note down the denotation and connotation/s of water. Then identify the meaning of the water symbolism in the extract.
Water is dry, and it is the opposite of an arid land. It may be the point for a change; it may l lead life and freshness to a land that is sterile and desolate. Water can cover rocks and alter a landscape.
- 4) Concentrate on the choice of words made by the poet. Which words in the text would be regarded as conventionally "unpoetic"?
They are:
•§ Road
•§ Mountains
•§ To drink
•§ Pine trees
•5) Look at the metre, rhythm and layout of the extract.
•§ Is it written in regular metre?
No, it is not. Some lines are longer than other lines.
•§ Can it be split into regular stanzas?
No, the first stanza has 15 verses; the second one has 13 verses.
•§ How do the rhythm and the layout complement the key aspects of the two landscapes?
They help the reader to understand the opposition between rock and water. Rhythm and layout underline the idea that the poet want to express: the absent of water and the differences between a sterile and wet landscape.
Check your knowledge.
Text two from The Waste Land is centred on the opposition between desert images and water images. Fill in the blanks in the comment below.
In the first part the presence of "rock" is made tangible through the frequent repetition of the word and the absence of water. All the other desert images derive from the central one - "the sandy road", "sweat (which is) dry", "feet in the sand", "carious teeth that cannot spit", "dry sterile thunder without rain", "mudcracked houses". The compact rhythm and the pleasant layout suit the quality of the barren rocky landscape.
In the second part the presence of water is created through the repetition of the word and seems to take several shapes - those of "a pool", "a spring", "the sound of water", "sound of water over a rock", "(the song of) the hermit thrush", "in the pine trees". "Water' has a more melodious sound than "rock" and suits the barreness aspects of the imaginary landscape. The lively rhythm seems to echo the flowing water. The lay-out can suggest a water-fall.
The juxtaposition of the two sets of images is effective. Desert images suggest spiritual monotonous, solitude, absence of life and therefore death. Instead, water images with the Biblical connotations (e.g., baptism, purification) and rural connotations (e.g., fertility, freshness of green vegetation) convey the concept of what gives life and joy.