Learning Path » 5A Interacting

GLAllegro - Exercises of page 199
by GLAllegro - (2009-12-14)
Up to  5 A T.S. Eliot and The Waste LandUp to task document list

Exercise number one of page 199


  1. There are people, who flow over London Bridge and they are fixed their eyes before their feet.

  2. Eliot alludes to “Inferno” of Dante and he establishes a comparison with the people, who flowed over London Bridge.

  3. The speaker had met the person in Saint Mary Woolnoth.

  4. The dog is an animal living on corpses and it sholud be kept men.



Excercise number 2


In the first part the presence of “rock” is made tangible through the frequent repetition of the word and the absence of water. All the other desert images derive from the central one - “the sandy road”, “sweet (which is) dry”, “ feet in the sand”, “carrious teeth that cannot spit”, “ dry sterile thunder without rain”, “mudcracked house”. The monotonous rhythm and the compact layout suit the quality of the barren rocky landscape.

In the second part the presence of the water is created through the repetition of the word and seems to take several shapes – those of “a pool”, “a spring”, “the sound of water”, “sound of water over a rock”, “the song of the hermit thrush”, “in the pine trees”. “Water” has a moe melodious sound than “rock” and suits the pleasant aspects of the imaginary landscape. The lively rhythm seems to echo the flowing water. The lay-out can suggest a water-fall.

The juxtaposition of the two sets of images is effective. Desert images suggest spiritual connotations, solitude, absence of life and therefore death. Instead, water images with their Biblical barrenness and rural connotations convey the concept of what gives life and joy.