Analysis of What The Thunder Said

The last section of TS Eliot's poem The Waste Land has title What The Thunder Said, it refers to Hindu fable in particular to the function the Thunder has in the holy book Upanishad. The thunder is symbol of God and of his will.

The first nine verses refers to events that anticipate Christ's dead and there is a parallel between the Christ's dead and the condition of passengers which are live but sooner would die.

In following verses is emphasized through alliteration and onomatopoeia the absence of water and the oppressive presence of rock. The travellers are in a state of desperate hope, they wish the sound of water: If there were the sound of water only.

In the mountain there isn't neither silence, there is thunders without rain and there are the red faces which sneer and snarl.

In the subsequent verses the passengers feel the presence of an other person in their group: this situation is symbol of the precarious conditions of travellers and is reference to evangelic story of disciples' trip to Emmaus.

The next verses are impregnated of pessimism and the main theme in about the decadence of culture's centre Falling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal. The pilgrims arrive to the holy Grail's chapel but found it empty it is symbol of regeneration negation.

The part ends with the Thunder's voice which give to human kind a message (of hope and salvation). It is expressed in Sanskrit and it is token from Upanishad book.
The message is divided in three standards of conduct: Datta, Dayadhvam and Damyata.