Analysis of the last scene of "The
Burial of the Dead"

The last scene is about London, described
as the unreal city and, in particular, the financial part of London. There are
some references to time ("a winter dawn, the nine") and space
("London Bridge, King William Street, Saint Mary Woolnoth").

Eliot talks about a crowd who flows over the London
Bridge: people are going to work, but they are ghostly figures.

Then there is a quotation taken from Dante's Inferno:
"I had not thought death had undone so many". Here Eliot compares
modern people who are going to work to the "ignavi" in Hell: both are
confused and have no hopes. The word "sighs" symbolizes their
condition. The atmosphere is the death one, the sound of Saint Mary Woolnoth
conveys this idea it seems a dead sound. It is like a funeral.

The speaking voice recognizes a person in the crowd and
calls him "Stetson":  this could
be a reference to Ezra Pound, who was used to wear a particular cap and maybe
he could be recognized from the others. And continues "you who were with
me in the ships at Mylae!": this is a reference to a battle during the
Punic War between Rome and Cartagine. It is a very important statement because
it underlines Eliot's concept of time: he has got a simultaneous concept of
time and he totally disregards chronological references.

The last part of the scene is connected to the ancient
rituals of fertility: "That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
has it begun to sprout?". And continues "O keep the Dog far
hence...or with his nails he'll dig it up again!". They were very
important rituals for ancient society.

The last line is a quotation taken from Baudelaire's I
Fiori del Male.