"The Burial of the Dead" Annotations
From The Waste Land Wiki
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Hyacinth was a companion of Apollo that was killed by Apollo's stray discus. Hyacinth's blood miraculously generated a flower, which Apollo inscribed with his grief, explaining the patterning of the flower which seems to say "ai" the traditional Greek expression of grief. Apollo, the representative of high culture and prophecy, betrays his adherent, representing the cultural dilemma that concerns Eliot--that high culture has left Europe. | Hyacinth was a companion of Apollo that was killed by Apollo's stray discus. Hyacinth's blood miraculously generated a flower, which Apollo inscribed with his grief, explaining the patterning of the flower which seems to say "ai" the traditional Greek expression of grief. Apollo, the representative of high culture and prophecy, betrays his adherent, representing the cultural dilemma that concerns Eliot--that high culture has left Europe. | ||
| − | ===Lines 37-41=== | + | ===Lines 37-41, ''The Inferno'' and "Job 8"=== |
- Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, | - Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, | ||
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Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40 | Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, 40 | ||
Looking into the heart of light, the silence. | Looking into the heart of light, the silence. | ||
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| + | This is a textual reference to Dante Alighieri's ''Inferno.'' | ||
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| + | ::"How chilled and faint I turned then. Do not ask, reader, for I cannot describe it, for all speech would fail it. I did not die, and did nor remain alive." | ||
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| + | It could also possibly be a reference to [[Job 8]]. | ||
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| + | ::"We are but of yesterday, and know nothing ,because our days on Earth are but a shadow." | ||
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