The Waste Land: Part Five

The theme of What the Thunder Said, the final section of The Waste Land, is resurrection. Elliot wrote this poem about what he saw during and after WWI. He saw that the war had destroyed most of Europe and that everyone had lost faith in God. The European people had lost all hope.

The first stanza is about the aftermath of the war. "After the agony in stony places The shouting and the crying Prison and palace and reverberation Of thunder of spring over distant mountains He who was living is now dead" (Lines 3-9) These lines also allude to the death of Christ, from the time Jesus was taken out of the Garden of Gethsemane, to the time he was crucified.

The second stanza enforces the title of the poem, it tells about a wasteland where 'sweat is dry and feet are in the sand'  and 'one can neither stand nor lie nor sit'. The land is barren and dry. There is no water. "If there were water" (Line 25) The idea that if there was water is what keeps some people from not losing hope.

"Who is this third who walks always beside you?" (Line 39) This is an allusion to the Bible. In Luke 24:13, (this is after the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus) two of Christ's disciples are on their way to Emmaus (about seven miles from Jerusalem). As they walked, Jesus approached them and asked them what they were talking about. They didn't recognize him and one of them, named Cleopas, asked him "Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?" (Luke 24:18) Upon Jesus asking "What things" did they tell him about Jesus of Nazareth; how he was a prophet and son of god, and how three days after his death when the women went to his tomb, they found it open and the body of Christ no where to be found. The women were approached by angels that told them he had risen from he dead. Christ replied by calling them foolish for believing everything the prophets have told them. He then gives them a scripture lesson. The three men reached their destination and Jesus continued on as if he was going father. The disciples urged him to stay with them because it was getting dark. The men sat down to eat, and Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke the bread and handed it to the other men. Their eyes were then opened (metaphorically), and once they realized they were in the presence of Jesus Christ, he vanished. The men never knew if Jesus had been with them or not.

The first line of the sixth stanza refers back to the description of Cleopatra in A Game of Chess. This relates the failed relationships of section two to the failed relationship between the countries of WWI.  "And bats with baby faces in the violet light Whistled, and beat their wings And crawled head downward down a blackened wall". (Lines 59-61) Bats represent darkness and death, but these bats have baby faces, which is a way of saying that these bats aren't evil to their core; there is still some good in them. "And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells". (Line 64)  This line states that there is still no water or life.

In the next stanza we go to a grassy mountain and a chapel which is an allusion to when King Arthur's knights are looking for the Holy Grail and one of them has to go to a chapel. The Holy Grail is a symbol of hope. Whomever possesses the grail has the power to rejuvenate his land. "Only a cock stood on the rooftree Co co rico co co rico" (Lines 71-72) This is an allusion to Peter's denial of Jesus. At the last supper, Jesus tells Peter that he will be disown Jesus three times before the Rooster crows. In a courtyard after Jesus has been taken prisoner, Peter denies Christ three times before the cock crows twice. He remembers what Jesus had said and breaks down crying. The stanza ends with hope though: it begins to rains!

The thunder speaks in stanza eight. The thunder is an allusion to the Christian God and also the Creator God in the Hindu religion. When ever God speaks in the Bible, his voice is big and booming like thunder. The Creator God says three things that sound like thunder: datta, dayadhvam, and damyata, or give, sympathize and control. He instructs the lesser gods to 'give' things despite their natural cheapness and 'control' their rowdy behaviors; and to the cruel demons he says to 'sympathize'.

The final stanza is about the Fisher King. The Fisher King has the Grail but he is wounded and can't use its 'powers' to revitalize his land. Lines 106-108 is an allusion to the original Dante's Inferno.

The last line of the poem is not only an onomatopoeia, but a happy ending. "Shantih   shantih   shantih" sounds like rain falling. Rain helps regenerate the land. Once the rain falls, things will start to grow back and come back to life, hope is once again restored to the people. After WWI once the people regained their hope and faith in God, 'the rain fell' and everything was going to be ok.