Analysis of the last scene of the first section of The Waste Land

The final scene of the first section of The Waste Land begins with the image of an "Unreal City". T.S. Eliot refers to London and in particular to the business centre of the City. The modernist writer uses an inter textual quotation from Dante's Inferno. To be more precise he quotes twice Dante: from Canto 3 and 4 . the first quote refers to the area just inside the Gates of Hell and the second refers to Limbo, the first circle of Hell. Denizens of London seem to remind Eliot dead who are relegate to the Gates of Hell, and those who had never been baptized, in order to Dante's famous vision. Each person keeps his eyes on his feet. Eliot recognises one of them named Stetson. They have fought together in a war. The reader should image that they are referring the First World War but on the contrary the speaking voice refers to Mylae, a battle that took place during the First Punic War. Such choice suggests the intelligent reader that all wars are the same in order to Mr Eliot. The speaking voice also asks his mate if the corpse he planted last year in his garden has begun to sprout.  The last line of the section is a quotation from Webster and Baudelaire. In this line the speaking voice suggests that all men are the same. We are all Stetson and Eliot is speaking directly to us.

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