The Burial Of The Dead is the first section of The Waste Land. It starts with a quotation from Petronius’ Satyricon and a dedication to Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound was an imagist poet and after reading The Waste Land’s draft suggested Eliot to remove narrative sequences. The first stanza describes many periods of the year: April, winter and summer, associating them to some memories. “April is the cruelest month” is a reference to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, but it expresses the opposite concept. The second stanza presents many images of a dead and sterile nature. The third stanza is a German quotation from Tristan Und Isolde, while the forth introduces Madame Sosostris’ character, a clairvoyant. The final stanza is a description of London as an “unreal city”, depicted as a place of death.
    Eliot’s language gives the text a multi-layered meaning. The images he uses recall the decline of Western culture, showing images of death in both nature and civilized places. The seasons generate flowers like lilacs, which are symbols of death. Other symbols are dead trees and arid rocks, giving the idea of sterility and stillness. The decline is also stated by the idea that a clairvoyant is “the wisest woman in Europe”. A clairvoyant usually is a liar and a cheater, but now in Modern society she is an intelligent person, showing a degraded culture. Death is present even in civilized places like London City: the dead in the garden and “dead sound on the final stroke of nine”.
    The massive use of quotations is a sign of Eliot’s will to recreate a continuity between past and present. This is also coherent with his idea of innovative art as the ability of asserting past poets’ immortality in his verses. As a matter of fact, Petronius, Chaucer, Wagner, Dante and the Bible are all displayed in this section of the poem. Perhaps the search for a continuity with tradition is also a reaction to Modern society and culture’s decline, looking in the past to find out solutions to problems and lost valors.

ANALYSIS OF THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD SECTION FROM T.S. ELIOT'S THE WASTE LAND

The Burial Of The Dead is the first section of The Waste Land. It starts with a quotation from Petronius' Satyricon and a dedication to Ezra Pound. Ezra Pound was an imagist poet who  suggested Eliot to remove the narrative sequences after reading The Waste Land's draft.

The first stanza describes many periods of the year: April, winter and summer, associating them to different memories. "April is the cruellest month" is a reference to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but it expresses the opposite concept (explain what the function of all that is)

The second stanza presents many images of a dead and sterile nature. The third stanza is a German quotation from Tristan Und Isolde, while the forth introduces Madame Sosostris' character, a clairvoyant. (you do not explain the function off all this!! Analysis is not a list of contents!!)

The final stanza is a description of London seen as an "unreal city", depicted as a place of death.

                Eliot's language gives the text a multi-layered meaning. The images he uses recall the decline of Western culture, showing images of death in both nature and civilized places. The seasons generate flowers like lilacs, which are symbols of death. Additional symbols are dead trees and arid rocks, giving the idea of sterility and stillness. Decline is also suggested by the idea that a clairvoyant is "the wisest woman in Europe". A clairvoyant is usually a liar and a cheater, but now in Modern society she is considered an intelligent person, showing a degraded level of  culture. Death is present even in civilized places like London's City: the dead corpse planted  in the garden and "dead sound on the final stroke of nine".

                The massive use of quotations is a sign of Eliot's will to recreate a continuity between past and present. This is also in line with his idea of innovative art as the ability of asserting past poets' immortality in his verse. Indeed Petronius, Chaucer, Wagner, Dante and the Bible are all displayed in thie section. Perhaps the search for a continuity with tradition is also a reaction to Modern society and to cultural  decline, looking back to the past to find possible solutions to problems and lost values