Shoring Up Fragments Against Our Ruin: Quotations and Allusions
From The Waste Land Wiki
(→Introduction) |
|||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
The [[Epigraph Annotations|epigraph]] to “The Waste Land” presents an excellent example of Eliot’s use of a single cultural unit, with varied and highly colored meanings, to proscribe many meanings to the structure of the poem as a whole. | The [[Epigraph Annotations|epigraph]] to “The Waste Land” presents an excellent example of Eliot’s use of a single cultural unit, with varied and highly colored meanings, to proscribe many meanings to the structure of the poem as a whole. | ||
| − | + | :“For on one occasion I myself saw, with my own eyes, the Cumaean Sibyl | |
| − | + | :hanging in a cage, and when some boys said to her: | |
| − | + | :‘Sibyl, what do you want?’ she replied, ‘I want to die.’” | |
The quotation, about the Cumaean Sibyl, is heresay—a retelling of a telling of a myth—which adds to the conversational, unstable feeling of the poem. A character of Petronius’ Satyricon recounts the tale, probably as a way of showcasing his knowledge of Greek, since he seems to be foppish pedant, as evidenced by his prior conflation of Hercules with Ulysses. Operating under this interpretation, the epigraph acts as a humorous concession to readers who might thing Eliot’s work pedantic, considering its sizable inclusion of foreign language and regurgitated rhetoric. | The quotation, about the Cumaean Sibyl, is heresay—a retelling of a telling of a myth—which adds to the conversational, unstable feeling of the poem. A character of Petronius’ Satyricon recounts the tale, probably as a way of showcasing his knowledge of Greek, since he seems to be foppish pedant, as evidenced by his prior conflation of Hercules with Ulysses. Operating under this interpretation, the epigraph acts as a humorous concession to readers who might thing Eliot’s work pedantic, considering its sizable inclusion of foreign language and regurgitated rhetoric. | ||
