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==Buddha==

The title of the section "The Fire Sermon" alludes to a Buddhist speech known as [[Pāli Canon Aditta-pariyaya-sutta:  The Fire Sermon]].  In this speech, Buddha relates the burning of fire with sinful passions such as lust, hatred, and sorrow.  The sermon is so powerful it frees the Bhikkhus from their passions.  The section concludes along the same lines, tying in the burning of passions with the feeling of despair so prevalent in modernist literature.

 Burning burning burning burning
 O Lord Thou pluckest me out
 O Lord Thou pluckest
 burning
 
A prior stanza refers back to the liberation of passions.

 He wept.  He promised a 'new start.'

This "he" adopts the role of a Buddha-like figure, who promises deliverance from the overwhelming feeling of dejection in modern society.

==Shakespeare==

The lines 173-174 allude to Ophelia's death in [[Hamlet (Act IV Scene VII)]].

 [T]he last fingers of leaf
 Clutch and sink into the wet bank 


 Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song" alludes to [[Spenser’s ''Prothalamion'']].