Learning Paths » 5B Interacting
The lines in Greek are take from Petronius Satyricon and they say the following words: "Del resto, la sibilla a Cuma l'ho vista anche io con I miei occhi penzolare dentro un'ampolla e quando I fanciulli le chiedevano: "Sibilla, che vuoi?" lei rispondeva: "Voglio morire"".
The choice of a quotation in Greek language in to underline the importance of this country in which was born own west culture.
The quotation's protagonist is the Sibilla, who represent the union between male and female sex, she is the quintessence of anthropological mankind. She wants to die because of isn't able to sustain life.
In Sibilla myth she asks Zeus immortality but not eternal youth, is the passage of year which make life unbearable. This myth is an archetype of the Christian concept of indulgence; this meant that the practise to ask something to god in exchange for others (thing) is a pre-Christians behaviour.
The quotation is a via to anticipate the atmosphere of the poem, it has the aim to help the reader understand the culture degrade.
The dedication is to Ezra Pound, father of imagist poetry: a kind of poetry which developed in the earlier years of 20th century, which exploited the linguistic power as well as the emotional power of images. The reasons to understand Eliot's dedication are multiple. Eliot promoted innovative forms of poetry and Ezra pound was one of the most significant people with whom T.S. Eliot had come in contact. Ezra Pound had read the Waste Land in its manuscript form and had suggested Eliot to cut some part of the poem, the narrative part.
The first poem's verse opens with a month, April. In the ordinary people vision it is the month which signs a new start, a re-birth of nature. This image is take by Chaucer, who in Canterbury Tales describes April as the sweetest month.
In the waste land April is cruel because promises a regeneration at existence levels which won't arrive