"What the Thunder Said" Annotations
From The Waste Land Wiki
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Go back to [[Shoring Up Fragments Against Our Ruin: Quotations and Allusions]] | Go back to [[Shoring Up Fragments Against Our Ruin: Quotations and Allusions]] | ||
| − | After the torchlight red on sweaty faces | + | ==Stanza 1== |
| − | After the frosty silence in the gardens | + | After the torchlight red on sweaty faces |
| − | After the agony in stony places | + | After the frosty silence in the gardens |
| − | The shouting and the crying | + | After the agony in stony places |
| − | Prison and palace and reverberation | + | The shouting and the crying |
| − | Of thunder of spring over distant mountains | + | Prison and palace and reverberation |
| − | He who was living is now dead | + | Of thunder of spring over distant mountains |
| − | We who were living are now dying | + | He who was living is now dead |
| − | With a little patience 330 | + | We who were living are now dying |
| + | With a little patience 330 | ||
| − | Here is no water but only rock | + | ==Stanza 2== |
| − | Rock and no water and the sandy road | + | Here is no water but only rock |
| − | The road winding above among the mountains | + | Rock and no water and the sandy road |
| − | Which are mountains of rock without water | + | The road winding above among the mountains |
| − | If there were water we should stop and drink | + | Which are mountains of rock without water |
| − | Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think | + | If there were water we should stop and drink |
| − | Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand | + | Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think |
| − | If there were only water amongst the rock | + | Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand |
| − | Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit | + | If there were only water amongst the rock |
| − | Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit 340 | + | Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit |
| − | There is not even silence in the mountains | + | Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit 340 |
| − | But dry sterile thunder without rain | + | There is not even silence in the mountains |
| − | There is not even solitude in the mountains | + | But dry sterile thunder without rain |
| − | But red sullen faces sneer and snarl | + | There is not even solitude in the mountains |
| − | From doors of mudcracked houses | + | But red sullen faces sneer and snarl |
| − | If there were water | + | From doors of mudcracked houses |
| − | And no rock | + | If there were water |
| − | If there were rock | + | And no rock |
| − | And also water | + | If there were rock |
| − | And water 350 | + | And also water |
| − | A spring | + | And water 350 |
| − | A pool among the rock | + | A spring |
| − | If there were the sound of water only | + | A pool among the rock |
| − | Not the cicada | + | If there were the sound of water only |
| − | And dry grass singing | + | Not the cicada |
| − | But sound of water over a rock | + | And dry grass singing |
| − | Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees | + | But sound of water over a rock |
| − | Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop | + | Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees |
| − | But there is no water | + | Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop |
| + | But there is no water | ||
| − | Who is the third who walks always beside you? 360 | + | ==Stanza 3== |
| − | When I count, there are only you and I together | + | Who is the third who walks always beside you? 360 |
| − | But when I look ahead up the white road | + | When I count, there are only you and I together |
| − | There is always another one walking beside you | + | But when I look ahead up the white road |
| − | Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded | + | There is always another one walking beside you |
| − | I do not know whether a man or a woman | + | Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded |
| − | - But who is that on the other side of you? | + | I do not know whether a man or a woman |
| + | - But who is that on the other side of you? | ||
| − | What is that sound high in the air | + | ==Stanza 4== |
| − | Murmur of maternal lamentation | + | What is that sound high in the air |
| − | Who are those hooded hordes swarming | + | Murmur of maternal lamentation |
| − | Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth 370 | + | Who are those hooded hordes swarming |
| − | Ringed by the flat horizon only | + | Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth 370 |
| − | What is the city over the mountains | + | Ringed by the flat horizon only |
| − | Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air | + | What is the city over the mountains |
| − | Falling towers | + | Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air |
| − | Jerusalem Athens Alexandria | + | Falling towers |
| − | Vienna London | + | Jerusalem Athens Alexandria |
| − | Unreal | + | Vienna London |
| + | Unreal | ||
| − | A woman drew her long black hair out tight | + | ==Stanza 5== |
| − | And fiddled whisper music on those strings | + | A woman drew her long black hair out tight |
| − | And bats with baby faces in the violet light 380 | + | And fiddled whisper music on those strings |
| − | Whistled, and beat their wings | + | And bats with baby faces in the violet light 380 |
| − | And crawled head downward down a blackened wall | + | Whistled, and beat their wings |
| − | And upside down in air were towers | + | And crawled head downward down a blackened wall |
| − | Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours | + | And upside down in air were towers |
| − | And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells. | + | Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours |
| + | And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells. | ||
In this decayed hole among the mountains | In this decayed hole among the mountains | ||
