Analysis of The Burial of the Dead, 1-7

The title of the first section of the poem it's a metaphor for the condition of the contemporary man, whose life is meaningless, empty, alienating and quite similar to death.

Reading the first line the reader can be surprised by the phrase “April is the cruellest month” because according to ordinary people Spring is the time of rebirth and love. So why did Eliot write this? Because Eliot wanted to turns Caucher's lines in the Canterbury Tales upside down (Caucher defined April the best month) and create an atmosphere of desolation and deprivation.

Men are alienated, empty and depressed, and for this reason April is the cruellest month, because when you're lonely, seeing flowers blooming might make you even more depressed about your memory and desire.

In the fiveth line there is a paradox: “Winter kept us warm”. Winter is a cold month but according to the empty man is warm, because it protects him and permits to stay in his state of depression doing nothing.

The last line expressed that men have little life, it's like they are not alive.