rhetorical and prosodic patterits in tm waste laitd by

RHETORICAL AND PROSODIC PATTERITS

IN Tm WASTE LAITD

by

JEANETTE MOODY ABSHIRE, B. A,

A THESIS

IN

ENGLISH

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fiilfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Approved

Approved

August, 1972

1^0' l^< CONTENTS

Cop, ^ I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. RHETORICAL PATTERNS 13

General Rhetorical Usage 13

Allusions 24

Recurring Symbols 32

III. PROSODIC PATTERNS 38

Metrical Patterns 38

Rhyme and Other Decorative Patterns 52

Strophlc Arrangement 60

IV. CONCLUSION 66

BIBLIOGRAPHY 70

APPENDIX 74

11

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page 1. Personification in The Waste Land l4

2. The Simile and the Metaphor in

The Waste Land 15

3. Repetition in The VJaste Land 21

4. References to the Day Cycle in The Waste Land 36

5. References to the Cycle of Seasons In The Waste Land 37

6. Summary of Scansion of lines one through seven 39

7. Stimmary of Scansion of the Clerk-typist Passage 43

8. Summary of Scansion of Lil's Husband Passage 49

111

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The beginnings of T. S. Eliot's career coincided

roughly with the rise of the American Poetic Renaissance

immediately after the First World War and with correspond

ing new trends In verse theory and practice characterizing

the English literary scene during the same period. The

most vocal of the English schools was perhaps that of the

Imaglsts, a group founded primarily under the aegis of

Ezra Pound and T. E. Hulme. At its height, the Imaglst

movement Included such poets as Richard Aldington, Hilda

Doollttle, John Gould Fletcher, Amy Lowell, Carl Sandburg,

and William Carlos Williams.^ The guiding tenets of the

group, as expressed by Amy Lowell, Included the following

objectives I

(1) to use the language of common speech, but to employ always the exact word—not the nearly-exact; (2) to avoid all cllch^ expressions; (3) to create new rhythms as the expressions of a new mood—and not to copy old rhythms which merely echo old moods; (4) to allow absolute freedom In the choice of subject, since the Imaglsts believed passionately In the artistic value of modern life; (5) to present an Image (that Is to be concrete, firm, definite In their pictures—harsh in outline); (6) to strive always for concentration which, they were convinced, was the very essence of poetry; (7) to suggest rather than

^William Flint Thrall and Addison Hlbbard, A Handbook to Literature, revised and enlarged by C. Hugh^Holman TNew Yorki Odyssey Press, I960), p. 236.

to offer statements.^

Eliot himself, discussing the Imagist alms and achieve

ments in The New Criterion in 1937, remarks:

"The accomplishment of the Imaglst movement In verse seems to me, in retrospect, to have been critical rather than creative; and as criticism, very important. I am not thinking only of such work as Mr. Flint's studies of contemporary French poetry, of the importance of the views of R^my de Gourmont, or even of the philosophical theories of T. E. Hulme as expressed in his conversation (for his Influence in print belongs to later period); but also of the Imaglst poetry Itself, of which only a small residue is now readable. The only poet and critic who survived Imaglsm to develop in a larger way was Mr. Pound, who as literary critic alone, has been probably the greatest literary influence of this century up to the present time."5

F. 0. Matthlessen, In T. S. Elioti An Essay on

the Nature of Poetry, writes, "In the years before the

First World War, the speculation of T. E. Hulme and Ezra

Pound brought a new quickening of life which prepared the 4

way for Eliot's own development. . . . " It was perhaps

in poetic theory that Hulme's Influence on Eliot Is most

^Amy Lowell, Tendencies in Modern American Poetry, (n.p.i n.p., 1917)1 no page, quoted In Ibid.

^T. S. Eliot, "A Commentary," The New Criterion, n.v, (July, 1937), p. 668, quoted In Georges Cattaul, T. . Eliot, trans, by Claire Pace and Jean Stewart (New Yorki Funk and Wagnall's Co., 1966), p. 13.

^Ffrancls^ 0 (tto] Matthlessen, T. S. Eliot; An Essay on the Nature of Poetry (3rd ed.; New Yorkt Oxford UnlversItyHPress, 19^), p. 1 compare also Grover Smith, Jr., T. S. Eliot's Poetry and Plays 1 A Study In Sources and Meaning (Chicagoi University of Chicago Press, 1956),

P. 35^

evident. As Matthlessen again points out, Hulme believed

that In poetics "'the great aim Is accurate, precise, and

definite description. . . .'••; Eliot, Matthlessen contin

ues, was clearly in agreement with Hulme's Idea, in the

need "of concrete presentation of carefully observed

details." In addition to his poetic theory, Hulme's

verse may also have influenced Eliot to some degree;

Hulme's "Conversion," according to Grover Smith, Jr.,

influenced an early Eliot poem "The Death of Saint

Narcissus" which, as he points out. Is "surprisingly close

in diction to Hulme's 'Conversion.'"'

The other chief Influence from Imaglsm on Eliot

was that of Ezra Pound. Pound's influence on Eliot's

works through 1922 was extensive. Matthlessen writes of

Eliot's indebtedness to Pound; "Any detailed study of

Eliot's background and development would find a fertile

field in determining how many of his tastes and opinions

first crystallized as a result of his early association

With the author of 'Personae.'" Eliot's famous theory

^Matthlessen, T. S. Elioti An'Essay on the Nature of Poetry, p. 57*

6-Ibid.

" Smith, T. S. Eliot's Poetry and Plays i A Study In Sources and Meaning, p. 3^.

^Matthlessen, T. S. Elloti An Essay on the Nature of Poetry, p. 73. " *"

of the objective correlative, Matthlessen suggests, may

have derived from Pound's definition of the imagei

"Pound . • . defined the nature of an image in such a way

as to stress the union of sense and thought, the presence

of the Idea, in the image; 'An "Image" Is that which

presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an

instant of tlme.'"^ Finally should be mentioned the major

role played by Pound in the final shaping of The Waste

Land.^Q

Eliot shares in the American Poetic Renaissance

almost indirectly, since he had established permanent res

idence in London, chiefly through Poetryi A Magazine of

Verse, in which one of his first major poems, "The Love

Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," was published. Poetry,

established in 1912, proposed to give the public the oppor

tunity to read "the highest, most complete expression of

truth and beauty,"- Within three years Poetry published

^Ibid., p. 6l.

^^See in this respect Valerie Sliot, The Waste Land; A Facsimile and Transcript of the Original Drafts Including the Annotations of Ezra Pound (New York: Har-court. Brace, Jovanovich, Inc., 197I), especially the "Introduction"; and Donald Gallup, VT. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound: Collaborators in Letters," Atlantic Monthly, January, 1970, pp. 48-62.

llNorman Foerster (ed.). American Poetry and Prose (2 vols.; 4th ed. ; Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962), II, 1192.

the following poets, among the chief exponents In the new

poetic techniques and emphases characterizing the Poetic

Renaissance I Hilda Doollttle, John Gould Fletcher, Robert

Frost, Vachel Lindsay, Amy Lowell, Edgar Lee Masters, Edna

St. Vincent Mlllay, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Carl Sand

burg, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams.-^^ By

1922, the date of Eliot's Waste Land, over thirty volumes

of verse, representing some of the most distinguished con

temporary American poetic voices, had appeared on the

American poetic scene* As Norman Foerster has pointed

out, the chief emphasis of the new poetry consisted pri

marily of the following intentions 1

1. to strive for new "concreteness,"

2. to strive for simplioity and sincerity,

3. to strive for intensiveness and concentration,

4. to strive for the idiomatic Icmguage of contemporary

life,

5. to strive for organic rhythm,

6. to strive for subjects from contemporary 11fe.^^

The close similarity to the Imagist tenets is evident In

this listing.

The chief continued Influence on Eliot's early

12lbld.

13ibid., p. 1193.

verse was probably that of the French Symbolists of the

latter half of the Nineteenth Century, to whose work he

was led, as he himself declares, by his reading of Arthur

Symon's The Symbolist Movement in Literature in 1908.^^

Among the French Symbolists were Remy de Gourmont, Laforgue,

Mallarm^, Rimbaud, Val^ry, and Verlaine. The Symbolists'

literary principles, which had influence on twentieth-

century American and British writlngs^^ and which were

based on an artistic theory which saw the " . . . Immediate,

unique, and personal emotional response as the proper sub

ject of art, and its full expression as the ultimate aim

of art,"^^ included the following points of vlewi (1) an

emphasis on selecting words for their musical effect and

not for their exact meanings; (2) a tendency to use syn-

aesthesiai the stimulation of one sense which caused a

simultaneous response of other senses; (3) a tendency for

symbols to be arranged in a pattern without a logical

relationship; (4) a development of vers llbre; (5) a

development of an idiom similar to the spoken language;

(6) an emphasis on changing ideas into sensations and of

^^eonard Unger, T. S. Eliot (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, T96I), p. 8; compare also Matthlessen, T. . Eliot 1 An Essay on the Nature of Poetry, pp. 7-8.""

^^Thrall and Hlbbard, A Handbook to Literature, PP. 479-80.

^^Ibld.

creating a state of mind from an observation; (7) a "com

pression of statement"; (8) a lack of Interest in achiev

ing unity; (9) a flexibility in the poetry in order to

capture every nuance of emotion.^^

Although Eliot was influenced to a slight degree

by a number of Symbolist writers—Mallarme^ Perse,

Gautier, Tailhade, Verlaine, and Rlmbaudl^—he was proba

bly most Influenced by Charles Pierre Baudelaire and Jules

Laforgue.

Laforgue, the Symbolist poet who most Influenced

Eliot's early poetry,^ composed verse characterized by

the following traitsi "irony as an escape from moral suf

fering; juxtaposition of the trivialities of present-day

life with extremely serious topics to heighten the effect

of the latter; Inform, the Interior monologue, repetition 20

of key-words and rhyme as ironic emphasis." As Georges

^^The first three of these are taken from Thrall and Hlbbard, A Handbook to Literature, pp. 479-80; the fourth througK the sixth and the eighth through the ninth from Cattaul, T. S. Eliot, pp. 8, 9, and 31; and the seventh from MattElessen, T. S. Elioti An Essay on the Nature of Poetry, p. l6.

^®See Cattaul, T. S. Eliot, pp. 11 and 35.

^^ibld., p. 35.

^^Vlncent Cronln, "T. S. Eliot as a Translator," in T. S. Eliot I A Symposium for his Seventieth Birthday, ed. by Neville Braybrooke (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1958), p. 130.

8

Cattaul points out, Eliot admitted "that his passion for

Laforgue possessed him like a spell cast by a more power

ful personality."2^ Prom Laforgue, according to Philip

B. Headings, Eliot discovered that his speech idioms were

capable of being poetically advantageous.^^ So powerful

was Eliot's rellsmce upon Laforgue's work, indeed, that

he even Included four French poems in Poems 1920.^^ Con

cerning Eliot's debt to Laforgue, Vincent Cronln concludes:

"A whole monograph would be needed in order to determine,

in Eliot's first two books, how much is word-for-word

translation and how much totally original."^^

Baudelaire, the forerunner to the French Symbolists

and the other major contributor to Eliot's development,

had perhaps the "strongest and most persistent Influence"^^

on Eliot's writings. Techniques or subjects in Eliot's

work that perhaps owe to Baudelaire Include (1) personifi

cation, (2) the lure of the sea, (3) interest In a city

and its suburbs, (4) "spleen," (5) remorse, (6) Irony,

2lLetter to Mr. E. Greene, October 18, 1939. quoted In Cattaul, T. S. Eliot, p. 32.

22phlllp B. Headings, T. S. Eliot (New Yorki Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1964)7 pT 20.

23cronln, "T. S. Eliot as a Translator," p. 132.

2^Ibid., p. 131.

25cattaui, T. S. Eliot, p. 35.

(7) cats, and (8) the juxtaposition of "realistic and . . .

fantastic could produce striking effects."^^ Finally

according to Peter Quennell, Baudelaire cast his spell also,

over the development of Eliot's rhetoric: "Mr. Eliot has

emulated a characteristic of Baudelaire's poetic method

which Laforgue called his 'Yankee1sm', his tautness, that

is to say the abrupt, unnatural cast of his sentences, his

habit of deliberately interposing some startling bathetic

piece of Imagery. . . ." '

The influence of the French Symbolist movement

may be seen as early as Eliot's college verse published

in The Harvard Advocate while he was a student, particu

larly in "On a Portrait," "Nocturne," "Humoresque," and

"Spleen"; and in other early poems as well: "Conversation

Galante," "Portrait of a Lady," "Rhapsody on a Windy Night,"

"La Flglia che Plange," and "The Love Song of J. Alfred

Prufrock." Of the four Advocate poems Georges Cattaul

has remarked: "Eliot has not considered his first poems

worthy of preservation, since they comprise only notes

•in the margin of Laforgue'; On a Portrait, Nocturne,

Humoresque, Spleen—the very titles reveal his debt to

2^See Cattaul, T. S. Eliot, pp. 38-39; and Headings. T. S. Eliot, p. 20.

" Peter Quennell, Life and Letters (n.p.: n.p., March, 1929), no page, quoted In Cattaul, T. S. Eliot, P. 37.

10

the Symbolists."28 Qf "Conversation Galante," written in

1909» Grover Smith, Jr. remarks that it is "a variation

of Laforgue's 'Autre Complainte de Lord Pierrot'"^9 and

that the "Laforguian contrivance of one-sided dialogue"

was the chief French influence in "Portrait of a Lady."^^

"Rhapsody on a Windy Night," which, according to Vincent

Cronln, uses a language more closely related to French

translation than to English conversation,-^^ was also, as

Grover Smith, Jr. points out, indebted to Jules Laforgue1

"The 'lunar incantations,' or nocturnal voices in the

'Rhapsody' encorcell the stroller's midnight ramble while

the moon hypnotizes the street, are Laforguian. • . ."- ^

According to Smith also, in addition to containing an

"echo of Laforgue's Petition,"^3 ••La Flglia che Plange"

uses the Laforguian device "of doubling the poet's person

ality" ;3 as does also Eliot's major poem of this early

28cattaui, T. S. Eliot, p. 10.

29smlth, T. S. Eliot's Poetry and Plays 1 A Study in Sources and Meaning, p. 26.

30lbid., p. 10.

31cronin, "T. S. Eliot as a Translator," p. 13I.

32smlth, T. S. Eliot's Poetry and Plays: A Study in Sources and Meaning, p. 24.

33ibld., p. 28.

3^Ibid.

11

period, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which is

Indebted to Laforgue for the same device "to create a

tragic satire."35 According to Neville Braybrooke even

Prufrock's "overwhelming question" derives from Laforgue:

For the crisis that the poem is concerned with is Who am I?—a crisis of self-ldentlficatlon that all Eliot's characters have to face sooner or later, "Do I dare / Disturb the universe?" asks Prufrock— though the irony is that even the question is not his own: it is a translation of a question to be , found in a letter of Jules Laforgue's, dated 1881.3^

The Waste Land, Eliot's most famous poem, was com

posed in the latter part of 1921 and published in 1922 In

the October issue of Eliot's own journal, the Criterion,

and in the November issue of the American periodical The

Dial. The extent to which Ezra Pound edited Eliot's poem

has not yet been fully determined though the original

manuscript materials which Eliot submitted to him in

January, 1922, with Pound's suggestions and deletions are

now available for scrutiny in a facsimile edition edited

by Eliot's second wife, Valerie Eliot. In Its published

form the poem consists of five parts, each with Its Individ

ual title, and formal verse structure. In general the

basic themes evident In the poem—the decline of cultural^

3^Ibld.

3^Nevllle Braybrooke, T. S. Eliot: A Critical Essay (Grand Baplds, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, ly iGi

TT. p. 1967). p. 14.

12

institutions and belief, the decay of contemporary Chris

tianity, and the loss of the life force represented by

love—are controlled in their development chiefly by an

overall organization comparable to that to be found In

musical structure.

In the fifty years of its existence, The Waste

Land has been exhaustively studied by various scholars

from many critical vantage points, though, strangely

enough, no special effort has been made to examine In a

systematic manner one of its most conspicuous stylistic

features, its particular rhetorical and prosodlc devices.

The present study will offer an effort In the following

chapters to remedy this hiatus In Eliot scholarship by

offering Information supported by appropriate illustrations

resulting from a careful examination regarding the distinc

tiveness of its rhetorical and prosodlc styling.

CHAPTER II

RHETORICAL PATTERNS

Prom its very first publication in October, 1922,

The Waste Land has been held by critics and commentators

as a work of a high degree of originality In form of exe

cution, and rightly so. For it is a work of great force

and versatility and deserves the prestigious rank It has

achieved in modem poetry. Yet at the same time, as the

following pages will disclose, Eliot has drawn upon the

full range of rhetorical modes that have characterized

English verse throughout its history. The various forms

which these rhetorical patterns assume In Eliot's poem

will be discussed under three headings: General Rhetori

cal Usage, Allusions, and Symbolic Effects.

General Rhetorical Usage

Eliot's utilization of figures of speech in The

Waste Land follovys closely the commonly accepted forms:

simile, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, personification,

apostrophe, synaesthesla, and trope.^ Rather surpris

ingly, however, Eliot uses relatively few instances of

such figures, preferring, as will be shown, synibollc to

^Definitions for critical terms will not be Included in the text but are supplied In the Appendix.

13

14

figurative representation. The chief instances of figura

tive usage in the poem appear in the following tabular

representations•

TABLE 1

PERSONIFICATION IN THE WASTE LAND

April Is the cruellest month (1. 1)

Winter kept us warm (1. 5)

Your shadow at morning striding to meet you Or your shadow at evening striding behind you (11. 28-29)

The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne (1. 77)

these ascended In fattening the prolonged candle-flames, Flung their smoke into the laquearla (11. 90-92)

the evening hour that strives Homeward (11. 220-21)

And dry grass singing (1. 355)

There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home (1. 389)

The jungle crouched, humped In silence^ (1. 399)

*The last named is perhaps not strictly personlfl cation since the natural phenomenon is given only animal rather'than human oharaoterlsties.

15

TABLE 2

THE SIMILE AND THE METAPHOR IN THE WASTE LAND

covering Earth in forgetful snow (11. 5-6)

The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne (1. 77)

these ascended In fattening the prolonged candle-flames Flung their smoke into the laquearia (11. 90-92)

Above the antique mantel was displayed As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene The change of Philomel (11. 97-99)

In which sad light a carved dolphin swam (1. 96)

And other withered stumps of time Were told upon the walls (11. 104-05)

The river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf (1. I73)

Musing upon the king my brother's wreck (1. I9I)

And bones cast in a little low dry garret (1. 194)

when the human engine waits Like a taxi throbbing (11. 216-17)

One of the low on whom assurance sits

As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire (11. 233-34)

Flushed and decided, he assaults at once (1. 239)

Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit (1, 339)

As may be noted Eliot seems to prefer what are usually

called "symbolic" images, those In which the form of straight

forward comparisons is not used but which must be inferred

in analyzing the figure. Eliot's reference to a rock, in the

following line is an example of metonymy, for the rock Is

16

used to signify the churchi "There is shadow under this

red rock."^ In the following lines in which the lilacs

could represent all flowers, Eliot utilizes a synecdoche:

April is the cruellest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing (11. 1-2).

Although part of a quotation, the following lines are a

good example of the apostrophe: Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song. Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or

long (11. 183-84).

In one Instance Eliot uses a figure of speech that is not

frequently utilized in poetry—the trope. In the follow

ing lines the word "beauty" has a meaning of giving "plea

sure to the senses" rather than suggesting the quality of

"loveliness"!

Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon. And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it

hot (11. 166-67).

In one Instance Eliot uses synaesthesla, the figure of

speech popular among the French Symbolists: "Looking into

the heart of light, the silence" (1. 4l). Here an appeal

to two senses is combined in one description.

As the following sampling reveals Eliot retains a

conventional form for other figures of speech, as well,

Including those of rhetorical question, anastrophe.

^T. S. Eliot The Waste Land 25. Subsequent references to lines from The Waste Land will appear In the text.

17

balance, contrast, oxymoron, paradox, repetition, and

anaphora. One of the interesting features of his use of a

rhetorical question is the fact that it helps to create a

conversational tone and thus stimulates the reader's

Interest. An example of this technique is the following

two lines I

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man (11. 19-20).

Another example Is the following, which illustrates the

same objectives. In this line the rapid-fire questions

emphasize the conversational style: "What shall I do

now? What shall I do?" (1. 13I). Eliot easily captures

a reader's attention with the following rhetorical ques

tion!

Who are those hooded hordes swarming Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth

Ringed by the flat horizon only (11. 368-70).

In the above-mentioned instances and others,3 Eliot uses

the rhetorical question to evoke a conversational style

and to create interest.

3other instances of rhetorical questions used In The Waste Land are these 1 (1) "'Has It begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year? / "Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?'" (11. 72-73) J (2) "'What you get mcirried for if you don't want children?'" (1. 164); (3) "I made no comment. What should I resent?" (1. 299); (4) "What is that sound high in the air" (1. 366); (5) "What is the city over the mountains" (1. 371); (6) "Shall I at least set my lands In order?" (1. 425).

18

The rhetorical questions in the previous para

graph are also examples of the anastrophe, for these ques

tions are not in the usual word order for a sentence

(subject, verb, object or modifier). Other examples of

the latter include the second half of the following llnei

"Marie, hold on tight. And down we went" (1. l6), "There

I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying; "Stetson?"

(1. 69) is another example of this Inverted construction.

The following passage represents a third specific exam

ple of the use of the anastrophe1

Above the antique mantel was displayed As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale Filled all the desert with inviolable voice And still she cried, and still the world pursues, 'Jug Jug' to dirty ears (11. 97-103).

As may be seen, Eliot's chief use of this rhetorical

device is to alter sentence structure for the purpose of

attempting to create interest and to gain emphasis.

Rhetorical balance and contrast, though used spar

ingly by Eliot, are nonetheless effective. Balance appears

in the following linei "Unguent, powdered, or liquid—

Other instances of anastrophe in The l-.'aste L::ind are the following verses: (1) "In the mountains, there you feel free" (1. 17)s (2) "With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she, / Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor" (11. 46-47); (3) "Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks" (1. 49); (4) "To Carthage then I came" (1. 307).

19

troubled, confused" (1. 88), in which the words "unguent,"

"powdered," and "liquid" are contrasted in order to empha

size a difference in meaning. Another example of rhetori

cal balance is the line "Here one can neither stand nor

lie nor sit" (1. 340). Here "stand," "lie," and "sit"

are set off against each other.

Eliot uses several highly successful instances of

contrast. One example is the following passaget

If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water A spring A pool among the rock If there were the sound of water only Not the cicada And dry grass singing But sound of water over a rock (11. 346-56).

In this passage "water" and "rock" are contrasted for

emphasis. The various references to water ("spring,"

"pool") have as antitheses the various references to rock

("cicada," "dry grass"). Other illustrations in The Waste

Land Include the followingi "Living nor dead, and I knew

nothing" (1. 40); "He who was living is now dead / We who

were" (11. 328-29); and "Which still are unreproved. If

undesired" (1. 238).

Eliot uses the contradictory elements of oxymoron

for various purposes. In the following lines it is used

for emphasis 1

20

I Tireslas, though blind, throbbing between two lives. Old man with wrinkled female breasts, can see (11. 218-19).

Here the antithetical concepts of physical blindness and

spiritual sight are utilized. "Savagely" and "still" are

combined in the following llnei "Glowed into words, then

would be savagely still" (1. n o ) . A final illustration

of oxymoron is the use of "spider" and "beneficent" in the

line "Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider"

(1. 407).

Paradox also exists In The Waste Land. Eliot

begins The Waste Land with these paradoxical linesi

April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers (11. 1-7).

Perhaps one of the most Important rhetorical

devices which Eliot uses in The Waste Land is repetition—

sometimes of words, sometimes of phrases or even complete

sentences.^ Instances of repetition are presented in the

following tabular representation.

^Selected from other repetitive passages, lines, or words are thesei (1) "A crowd flov/ed over London Bridge, so many, / I had not thought death had undone so many" (11. 62-63)1 (2) "Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak" (1. 112); (3) "'Jug Jug' to dirty ears" (1. 103); (4) "And I was frightened. He said, Marie, / Marie, hold on tight. And down we went" (11. 15-16); (5) "HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME" (11. l4l, 152, I65, I68. I69); (6) "la

21

TABLE 3

REPETITION IN THE WASTE LAND

Dayadhvam: I have heard the key Turn in the door once and turn once only We think of the key, each in his prison Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison (11. 411-14)

'What is that noise? The wind under the door.

"What is that noise now? What is the wind doing? Nothing again nothing

'Do 'You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember 'Nothing?'

I remember Those are pearls that were his eyes 'Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?'

(11. 117-26)

'You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; They called me the hyacinth girl.' —Yet when we came back, late from the Hyacinth garden

(11. 35-37).

'What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? •I never know what you are thinking. Think' (11. 113-14).

la" (1. 306); (7) "Nothing with nothing" (1. 302); (8) "He who was living is now dead / We who were living are now dying" (11. 328-29); (9) "Here is Belladonna, zhe Lady of the Rocks, / The lady of situations" (11. 49-50); (10)

"Who Is the third who walks always beside you?

There is always another one walking beside you

—But who is that on the other side of you?" (11. 360.363. 366);

(11) "Co CO rico CO co rlco" (1. 393); (12) "DA" (11. 01, 411, 418); (13) "Shantih shantlh shantlh" (1. 434); (14) "London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down" (1. 427); (15)

"Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find

22

TABLE 3—Continued

There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock). And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust (11. 25-30).

Goonight Bill, Goonight Lou, Goonight May. Goonight. Ta ta. Goonight. Goonight. Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies,

good night, good night (11. 170-72).

Burning burning burning burning (1. 308)

I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring. Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equltone" (11. 54, 5^, 57) i

(16)

"Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water If there were water we should stop and drink Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand If there were only water amongst the rock Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit There is not even silence in the mountains But dry sterile thunder without rain There is not even solitude in the mountains

If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water And water A spring A pool among the rock If there were the soTind of water only

But sound of water over a rock

Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water" (11. 331-59).

23

TABLE 3—Continued

Twit twit twit Jug jug jug jug jug jug (11. 203-04).

Weialala leia Wallala lelalala (11. 290-91)

A final type of repetition in The Waste Land which

may be mentioned is anaphora, a few examples of which are

the following!

'What shall I do?' (1. I3I);

"What shall we ever do?' (1. 134);

0 Lord Thou pluckest me out 0 Lord Thou pluckest (11. 309-10);

After the torchlight red on sweaty faces After the frosty silence in the gardens After the agony in stony places (11. 322-24).

From the preceding examination it may be concluded

that the most prominent devices used by Eliot are the

rhetorical question and repetition. Both of the latter

devices seem to lend themselves to a conversational

structure. Most generally, however. Eliot's usage is

^Other illustrations of anaphora are (1)

"Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,

Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card"

(11. 49-52);

(2) "Which is blank. Is something he carries on his back, / Which I am forbidden to see, I do not find" (11. 53-54); (3) "Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song, / Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long" (11. 183-84).

24

primarily to achieve a varying sense of emphasis.

Allusions

The pervasiveness of Eliot's use of allusions in

The Waste Land is one of the most involved characteristics

of the poem ranging from brief echoes of literary works

or historical events to broader representations from the

realm of religion, anthropology, and art. In subject

matter the allusions fall within three main categories;

(1) literary allusions, (2) historical, artistic, and

musical allusions, (3) religious, philosophical, and

anthropological allusions; though quite often separate

individual allusions may evoke more than one source. For

example, in the following—

"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; "They called me the hyacinth girl" (11. 35-36)—

7 there is a threefold echo.' First, there Is an allusion

to the Grail Bearer in the Grail legend, whom the quester

meets In an area of flowers and streams and directs him

to the place of initiation, and who carries the Grail to

the hall of the Grail Castle. Second, there Is In Frazer's

Golden Bough an account of the human sacrifices Imperson

ating Adonis and the mention among other flowers of the

'Everett A. Glllls, unpublished lecture notes, Texas Tech University.

25

hyacinth, which as legend has it has its purple color

from the blood of human sacrifice. Finally, in Ovid's

Metamorphoses there is an account of Apollo and Hyacln-

thus. When the latter is killed by Apollo's discus, he o

is changed into a flower.^ The effect of these multiple

echoes, and of other allusions in a proportionately

smaller degree, is to invoke in the reader's mind as he

is reading the poem the source of the allusion itself and

hence enriches the mesming of the particular passage in

question by the direct association of the two affected—

the poem context Itself simultaneously with the source

material of the allusion. The general result of such

evocation resulting from the tremendous variety of allu

sive effects in Eliot's poem is a continual enrichment of

his poetic text.

8other typical Instances of multiple echo may be found in the following allusions: (1) "And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief" (1. 23), (Eccl. 12i5 and Frazer, Golden Bough, p. 403); (2) "There Is shadow under this red rock" Tl. 25). (Isa. 32:1-2, Matt. 18:18, and Wolfram von Eschenback Parzlfal IX.627 ff.); (3) "'That corpse you planted last year in your garden" (1. 71). (Frazer, Golden Bough, pp. 436-38 and I Cor. 15i2-58); (4) "'0 keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men'" (1. 74), (Webster, White Devil and Frazer, Golden Bough, pp. 429-30); (5) "The wind under the door" (1. 118), (John 3:7-8 and Webster Thi Devil's Law Case III.11.162); (6) "Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea" (1. 221), (Sappho's bridal lyric to Hesperus the Evening Star and Robert L. Stevenson, Requiem).

26

The first of the three categories above, that of

literary allusions, may be sub-divided into English and

non-English sources. The following sampling represents

typical examples of the two sub-types." Representative of

Eliot's English allusions are the following: from Hamlet,

lines from Ophelia's song in Hamleti "Good night ladles,

good night, sweet ladles, good night, good night"; the line

"'Charmed magic casements opening on the foam / Of perilous

seas in faery lauids forlorn'" from John Keat's "Ode to

the Nightingale" ("Out of the window perilously spread"—

1. 224)I lines from John Webster's White Devil: "But keep

the wolf far hence, that's foe to man / For with his nails

he'll dig them up again" ("Oh keep the Dog far hence,

that's friend to men, / "Or with his nails he'll dig it

up again"—11. 74-75).

9others include the following! (1) "You gave me hyacinths first a year ago" (1. 35). (Ovid Metamorphoses X.163-242); (2) "—Yet when we came back, late, from the hyacinth garden" (1. 37). (Dante, La Vita Nuova, Inferno, and Paradisic); (3) "(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)" (1. 48), (Shakespeare, The Tempest); (4) "Unreal City" (1. 60), (Baudelaire); (5T^I had not thought death had undone so many" (1. 63), (Dante, Inferno); (6) "Sighs, short and infrequent were exhaled" (1. 64), (Dante, Infer-no); (7) "'You! hypocrite lectuerl—mon semblable,—mon frere!'" (1. 7S), (Baudelaire, Fleurs du Mai); (8) "The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne" (1. 77), (Shakespeare Anthony and Cleopatra II.11.190); (9) "Flung their smoke into the laquearla" (1. 92), (Virgil Aeneld 1.726)1 (10) "As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene" (1. 98), (Milton Paradise Lost IV.140); (11) "The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king" (1. 99). (Ovid Metamorphoses VI)» (12) "'Jug Jug' to dirty ears" (1. 103),

27

Typical of the foreign allusions are the following!

the single-line quotation from Paul Verlaine's sonnet

"Parsifal," which appears as line 202! "Et 0 ces voix

d'enfants, chantant dans la coupole.'"; allusions to Ovid's

Metamorphoses, including the references to Philomela and

Tireslas (11. 98-103; 203-206); allusions to Dante's works.

La Vita Nuova, Inferno, and Paradisic, particularly in the

Hyacinth Garden passage, which contains echoes of the love

of Dante for Beatrice:

—Yet when we came back, late, from the hyacinth garden. Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither Living nor dead, and I knew nothing. Looking into the heart of light, the silence (11. 36-41).

Of the historical, artistic, and musical allusions

(Eliot, "Sweeney among the Nightingales"); (13) "The wind under the door" (1. 118), (Webster The Devil's Law Case III.11.162.); (14) "And we shall play a game of chess" (1. 138), (Mlddleton, Women beware Women); (15) "Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song" (1. 176). (Spenser, Prothalamlon); (I6) "Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed" (1. 179). (Spenser, Prothalamlon); (17) "But at my back in a cold blast I hear" (1. 185). (Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress"); (18) "And on the king my father's death before him" (1. 192), (Shakespeare The Tempest I.ii.389-91.); (19) "The sound of horns and motors which shall bring" (1. 197) , (Day. Parliament of Bees); (20) "Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea" (1. 221), (Sappho's bridal lyric to Hesperus and Robert L. Stevenson, Requiem); (21) "When lovely woman stoops to folly and" (l. 2^3), (Goldsmith, Th£ i^^^ 2L Wakefield); (22) "'This music crept by me upon the waters'" (1. 257). (Shakespeare, The Tempest); (23) "Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew" TTT ^93). (Dante Purgatorio V.133); (24) "Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider" (1, 408), (Webster The White Devil V.vl.); (25) "Dayadhvam: I have

28

in Eliot's poem the following are typical. In the third

movement of The Waste Land is a reference, in line 279, to

Elizabeth I of England, with respect to which Eliot him

self in his note to this line quotes the following extract

from a letter of Bishop De Quadra to Philip of Spain:

"In the afternoon we were in a barge watching games on the river. (The queen) was alone with Lord Robert and myself on the poop, when they began to talk nonsense, and went so far that Lord Robert at last said, as I was on the spot there was no reason why they should not be married if the queen pleased."

In line 70 of The Waste Land, "You who were with me In the

ships at Mylae," Eliot refers to the victory of the Romans

over the Carthaginians. Numerous other references to geo

graphical locations also occur in Eliot's poemi cities—

London, Jerusalem, Athens, Alexandria, Vienna; landmarks—

Hofgarten, Kew, Margate, Thames, Carthage.

There are also references to art and architecture

in The Waste Land. For example he refers to Sir Christo

pher Wren's church of St. Magnus Martyr ("Of Magnus Martyr

hold / Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold"—

11. 264-65). He also mentions Da Vinci's painting of ::ary

with Christ child and John the Baptist in this p\m: "Here

heard the key" (1. 4l2), (Dante Inferno XXXIII.46); (26) "Pol s'ascose nel foco che gll affl:-a" (1. 428), (Dante Purgatorlo XXVI.l4B7T"(27T "Quando flam uti chelldon—0 swallow swallow" (1. 429), (Pervigilium Veneris and Swln-bourne, "Itylus"); (28) "Le Prince d'Aquitaine a la tour abolle" (1. 430), (Gerald de Nerval, El DesdlchadoT; and (29) "Why then He fit you. Hleronymo's Ead agalne" (1. 432), (Kyd, Spanish Tragedy).

29

is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks" (1. 49).

Eliot's chief musical allusions are to the operas

of Wagner. In the first movement, he quotes the sailor's

song from the beginning of Tristan und Isolde—

Frisch weht der Wind Der Helmat zu Mein Irisch Kind Wo weilest du? (11. 31-34) —

and one other linei "Oed' und leer das Meer" (1. 42);

and from Rhine-daughters' songs in the G^tterdammerungi

Weialala leia

Wallala lelalala (11. 277-78).

In contrast with these allusions to operas Is this familiar

nursery song linei "London Bridge is falling down falling

down falling down"(l. 427). Also present in disguised

form is a reference to a World War I ballad; Eliot writes;

0 the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter And on her daughter

They wash their feet in soda water (11. 199-201).

Eliot's religious, philosophical, and anthropologi

cal allusions include the following!^1 from Buddha's Fire ^^See Eliot's note to line 199.

^^Other religious allusions in The VJaste Land include! (1) "April is the cruellest month, breeding" (1. 1), (The Book of Common Prayer); (2) "Out of this stony rubbish? Son or"man" (1. 20), (Ezek. 2:1); (3) "And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief" (1. 23), (Eccl. 12i5); (4) "There is shadow under this red rock" (1. 25), (Isa. 32:1-2); (5) "I will show you fear in a handful of dust" (1. 30), (The Book of Common Prayer); (6) "(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)" (1. 81), (Isa. 612); (7) "Doubled the flames of sevenbranched

30

Sermon, "Burning burning burning burning" (1. 308);

from St. Augustine's Confessions, "I entangle my steps

with these outward beauties, but Thou pluckest me out, 0

Lord, Thou pluckest me out" which appears in partial form

as follows!

0 Lord Thou pluckest me out

0 Lord Thou pluckest (11. 309-IO).

In addition to the aforementioned religious

allusions, Eliot makes numerous references to Biblical

passages. In line 385 Eliot echoes Jer. 2il3: "For my

people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me

the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,

broken cisterns that can hold no water." ("And voices

singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.")

Line 259. "0 City city, I can sometimes hear," Is reminis

cent of Matt. 23137: "0 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing

the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you."

candelabra" (1. 82), (Rev. 1:12-13); (8) "The wind under the door" (1. 118), (John 3«7-8); (9) "By the waters of Leman, I sat down and wept . . ." (1. 182), (Psa. 137:1); (10) "He, the young man carbuncular. arrives" (1. 23I), (Ex. 28:17); (11) "Gentile or Jew" (1. 319). (Rom. 10: 12-13); (12)

"After the torchlight red on sweaty faces After the frosty silence In the gardens After the agony in stony places The shouting and the crying Prison and palace and reverberation" (11. 322-26);

(13) "Who is the third who walks always beside you?" (1. 360), (Luke 24:13-16); and (14) "Only a cock stood on the rooftree" (1. 392), (Matt. 26:74-75).

31

"After the agony in stony places" (1. 324) echoes Luke

221241 "And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly:

And his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling

down to the ground."

Finally Eliot's religious allusions also include

material from the Upanishadsi for example, from The

Parable of the Thunder, the words Datta, Dayadhvam, and

Damyata, which appear in the Voice of the Thunder passage

(11. 400-33) and from the formal ending of an Upanlshadi

"Shantih shantih shantih" (1. 434).

Anthropology, and the closely-related field of

folklore, contribute several allusions to Eliot's poem.

One Instance is the reference to the cock in line 392i

"Only a cock stood on the rooftree." This allusion refers

to the folk belief that when a cock crows all evil spirits

must return to their abodes. Another Instance of folklore

is Eliot's allusions to the Grail legend. In Wolfram von

Eschenback's Parzlfal, the Grail is called a stone and

also its questers children who have grown up under Its

shadow. Compare Eliot's line 25i "There is shadow

under this red rock."

The two anthropological works to which Eliot Is

most deeply indebted are Jessie L. Weston's From Ritual

to Romance and Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough. The

latter furnishes numerous allusions for The V.'aste Land.

32

In his note to line 46, Eliot writes that he associated

the Hanged God of Frazer with his own Hanged Man; and

Frazer's description of an Egyptian burial custom is

Incorporated into Eliot's line; "That corpse you planted

last year in your garden" (1. 71); and his discussion of

the Egyptian ritual associated with the star Slrlus is

reflected in Eliot's linei "Oh keep the Dog far hence,

that's friend to men" (1. 74).

As Eliot himself remarks in his notes to The

Waste Land!

Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston's book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance (Cambridge). Indeed, so deeply am I inde'blted, Miss Weston's book will elucidate the difficulties of the poem much better than my notes can do; and I recommend it (apart from the great Interest of the book itself) to any who think such elucidation of the poem worth the trouble.

Eliot also refers to Miss Weston's book again In his note

to line 425: "V. Weston: From Ritual to Romance; chapter

on the Fisher King." And he refers again to her book in

his discussion of the Tarot cards in the note to line 46.

Recurring Symbols

Part of the Impression of archetypal values offered

by The Waste Land results from Eliot's use of certain uni

versal multiple level symbols which recur consistently

throughout the poem: for example, water, drought, fire.

33

and wheel Images. Although water has negative and posi

tive attributes, it is primarily symbolic of a life-giving

substance or of rebirth; thus, in Tristan und Isolde, water

"may carry Isolde and her healing arts to the dying

12 Tristan." Rebirth is characterized in the first lines

of The Waste Land;

April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain (11. 1-4).

The vegetation rites discussed by Weston and Frazer are

examples of the symbolic Imagery of water. Philip Headings,

explaining these rites, remarksi

the figure of the Year-god was thrown into the waters of the Nile (or some other body of water) and later "fished out" (resurrected), symbolizing the rebirth of the life principle in the spring.^3

The following lines in The Waste Land are reminiscent of

the vegetation ritesi "'That corpse you planted last year

in your garden, / 'Has It begun to sprout? Will it bloom

this year?'" (11. 71-72). Partially from these vegetation

rites came the material reflected in the Grail legend of

The Waste Land. F. 0. Matthlessen points out the symbolic

implications of water as followsi

^^Headlngs, T. S. Eliot, p. 54.

3ibld., p. 53; also see J (amesj George] Frazer, The Golden Bough (12 vols.; 3rd revised ed.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1925). especially Vol. IV, p. 227 and Vol. VI, pp. 33-40.

34

The life-giving elements of water can alone restore the kingdom (water is one of the most ancient symbols of sexual fertility); but in order to break the drought the hero must give himself up to the perilous quest. The necessity of self-sacrifice and the instinctive revulsion from it, the inability to commit himself to belief and the moiinting fear that makes him recoil even from the vital forces of life in his dread of defeat and failure—such elements form the situation in which the hero, . . . is haunted by the thought of "death by water." The doubt that paralyses fslc] his desire to give himself is rendered concrete by the way in which water itself so often in the poem is made to appear anything but life-giving, as the sqiialid Thames Instead of the "damp gust bringing rain" that is longed for.14

Water is the universal symbol of spiritual life;

the chief embodiment of spiritual desiccation is dryness

or a drought. Indicative of this latter form of symbolism

are the linesi "And the dead tree gives no shelter, the

cricket no relief, / And the dry stone no sound of water"

(11. 23-24). Another appropriate passage Is the Biblical

allusion! "And voices singing out of empty cisterns and

exhausted wells"(11. 385). The following passage Is per

haps the most significant example of dryness, rock, and

lack of waterI

Here is no water but only rock Rock and no water and the sandy road The road winding above among the mountains Which are mountains of rock without water If there were water we should stop and drink Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think

^^Matthlessen, T. S. Elioti An Essay on the Nature of Poetry, p. 137.

35

Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand If there were only water amongst the rock Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit There is not even silence in the mountains But dry sterile thunder without rain There is not even silence in the mountains But red sullen faces sneer and snarl From doors of mudcracked houses

If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water And water A spring A pool among the rock If there were the sound of water only Not the cicada And dry grass singing But sound of water over a rock Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water (11. 331-59).

Fire in The Waste Land is symbolic in two ways of

love fervor and religious fervor. With one major exception

fire and its variants are symbols for lust or love fervor.

Fire as a symbolic image for lust is most readily deter

mined in the boudoir scene of the aristocratic woman wait

ing for her lover. In describing this scene Eliot writes:

"Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair / Spread

out in fiery points"(11. 108-09). Eliot frequently uses

hair as a variant symbol for fire. Another symbol is the

purgatorial flames which purify. In describing the con

clusion to the third movement, F. 0. Matthlessen writes:

the basic symbol of fire is employed In a double sense. In "The Fire Sermon" It stands for the destroyer, for the sterile lusts of the city, for the

36

desire that burns without any definite object; It Is only in the closing lines of the final section that fire, seen under a different aspect, represents the purifier, the purgatorial flame.15

Another significant symbol in The Waste Land is

the wheel. In addition to obvious symbolic comparisons

with a "whirlpool" (1. 318) and the use of the word

"ringed" (1. 370), Eliot uses the wheel as the symbolic

manifestation of cycles in nature, that of the day and

rest of the year. In the day cycle Eliot uses the

following images:

TABLE 4

REFERENCES TO THE DAY CYCLE IN THE WASTE LAND

Your shadow at morning striding behind you (1. 28)

Under the brown fog of a winter dawn (1. 60)

Under the brown fog of a winter noon (1. 208)

Plowed up the hill and down King William Street To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the house With a dead sound of the final stroke of nine (11. 66-68) The hot water at ten (1. 135)

And if it rains, a closed car at four (1. 136)

At the violet hour, when the eyes and back (1. 215)

At the violet hour, the evening hour that strives Homeward, and brings the sailor home from sea, The typist home at teatlme, clears her breakfast, lights

(11. 220-22)

^^Ibid.

37

TABLE 4—Continued

And bats with baby faces in the violet light (1. 38O)

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you (1. 29)

Only at nightfall (1. 415)

In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing (1. 386)

The annual cycle is also symbolized by the wheel.

Following is a list of references to the annual cycle of

the seasons.

TABLE 5

REFERENCES TO THE CYCLE OF SEASONS IN THE WASTE LAND

April is the cruellest month, breeding (1. 1)

Dull roots with spring rain (1. 4)

Of thunder of spring over distant mountains (1. 327)

Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee (1. 8)

Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed (1. 179)

I read, much of the night, and go south In the winter (1. 18)

Winter kept us warm, covering (1. 5)

Under the brown fog of a winter dawn (1. 60)

Under the brown fog of a winter noon (1. 208)

CHAPTER III

PROSODIC PATTERNS

Eliot's prosodlc effects in The Waste Land,

although suggestive superficially—as noted already regard

ing rhetorical effects in the poem—of a departure from the

conventions of historical prosodlc techniques, actually

conform rather closely to them in many respects. This is

particularly true with respect to the various meters used

by him. But with reference to subordinate structural

effects, Eliot substitutes what might be called strophlc

effects for conventional stanza patterns, which he achieves

chiefly by repetitive patterns and similar rhetorical

modes. With regard to rhyme and other repetitive sound

devices, however, Eliot Is perhaps more conventional, though

he uses such prosodlc modes with special effects as well.

Metrical Patterns

Eliot's range of metrical patterns, and forms of

metrical variations, may be demonstrated by a sampling of

several typical passages beginning with the opening lines.

As may be noted, they have an essentially trochaic base:

/xlcx- x W / x l ^ x f) ^ I y. April is the cruellest month,//breeding^

f ^ lO y ^)l 0 I) I ' \ Lilacs out of the dead land.//mixing-^

38

39

/ x(rx )0\(y^ 0 I Memory and'desire,/i //stirring-^

0 /) I (y / ) / / (x) Dull roots with spring rain.//

/ X / / X j 0 / J i^ Vj Winter kept us warm, covering -^

Earth in'forgetful snow,/feeding—^

>c / / y / / p t jo ^) A little life with dried tubers// (11. 1-7)

The chief variations in this passage with respect to

line-length and metrical substitution, may be summarized

in the following tabular representation.

TABLE 6

SUMMARY OF SCANSION OF LINES ONE THROUGH SEVEN

Line

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

I Line Length

pentameter

tetrameter

tetrameter

trimeter

tetrameter

tetrameter

tetrameter

Substitution

pyrrhlc, iambic

dactylic, spondaic

pyrrhlc, iambic

spondaic, iambic, catalexls

spondaic, pyrrhlc

iambic

trochaic

40

As may be observed from the table above, of the seven

lines in this passage four are tetrameter, two pentameter,

and one trimeter, suggesting that the basic pattern

employed, had it been conventional verse, would have been

trochaic tetrameter. Eliot's metrical substitution tends

to be conventional—as is his use of caesura and enjambe-

ment.

The opening trochaic passage of The Waste Land

is, however, rather unusual because the predominant meter

of the poem is iambic: sixty-one lines of Part One,

eighty-four lines of Part Two, one hundred and thirty lines

of Part Three, nine lines in Part Four, and ninety-nine

lines of Part Five being iambic. The latter count, inci

dentally, concerns only lines in English.

Typical of Eliot's line usage as the following

scansion shows, is the clerk-typist passage in Part Three.

At the violet hour,/^hen the eyes and back-^

Turn uprward from xhe desk,//when the human engine

/

waits^

( x X /)\x / I X ' \ ^ „ Like a ta'xl throbbing wai t ing, / /

0 yp > > ) / X I I 0 XJI X / jo I Ti res ias .//though bl ind .//throbbing between two

l ives , / /

41

0 i) ( X / 1 X //x / / 0 ,N Old man with wrinkled female breasts,//can see

CX X ;)^ y, /) / ^ , ) X / j o /) At the v i o l e t hour,//the evening hour that s t r i v e s - ^

0 Xj / X / / )c / /x / / X X {) Home ward,//and brings'the s a i l o r home from the sea, / /

V I l> / / V / IC/ /J ) 6 /1 U The t y p i s t home at teatlme,//clears her breakfast,/ /

l i g h t s ->

0 f) I y I \0 I) 1^ I Her stove,//and lays out food in t i n s . / /

0 >)/ X / I X /X5c X)/x / Out of the window perilously spread-^

6 / ) ' X N1 > // X / kx ){ i) ^ Her drying combinations touched by the sun's

> /

l a s t rays , / /

0 x) IX ' I 0 /J I X ^ / 6 i) On the 'divan are pi led (at night her bed)—^

<^^ i \ \ / I X /Ix \ I y } Stockings,//slippers,//camisoles,//and s tays . / /

0 x)/(/ X x) / / / /) / A / / X / 1 Tires las , / /o ld man with wrinkled dugs-^

V / / X / UK K / ) / X I Perceived the scene,/^nd foretold the rest—//

0 O/x / i(^ x>/x / /y / I too awaited the expected guest.//

O xV O /3 />f //6c X) / ;c / He,//the young man carbuncular,//arrives , / /

X / / O Jf X / / y J lU 0 A small house agent's clerk,//with one bold stare, //

("/ x)( X / / x / / X /i X / One of the low on whom'assurance sits

42

X I y f Ix M O /J / K I The meal ' i s ended,//she i s bored and t i r ed , / /

^X ^ \0 0 /6c X /^i X N 1 X / Sis a ' is i lk hatl'bn a Bradford m i l l i o n a i r e - ^

X ^ \(\ l)( \ //C> X O/O x) The time i s now propit ious,/ /as he guesses,/ /

I y f Ix f lO /^ / K ' i s ended,//she i s bored and

X //6< -AIX ^ [0 X xjO X) Endeavors to engage'her in caresses—>

0 t) 16t. Ml' ' / X //v / Which still are unreproved,//if undesired.//

(l ; ) X / / y /1 X / / X / Flushed and decided,//he assaults at oncej//

y / Ix f (y I IK IU ^

Exploring hands encoimter no defense;//

His vani ty requires nc response,/ /

^ / /x //(x >yx /^ x ) , , And makes a welcome of^indiffSrence.//

% //x /|(i X /) /CN /j X / (And I Tiresias,//have foresuffered all-=>

X //6< xVC' / J / x / />^ / Enactfed on tn l s same divan or bedj// 0 yOl 0 /)/ X / 1 >, / / X / ^ I who 'have sat ' by Thebes below the wall -^

X / /v. / / > / 6 x)/v / , , And walked'among'the lowest of the d e a d . ) / / X / / ( / / ) /x / / X \ / X /

Bestows'one firial patronizing k i s s , / / Y / /(/ /) I 0 x)/x / /x^ /

And gropes h is way,//finding the s t a i r s un l i t . . . // Ll /J 1 X / U //(T- ^ xV X , / She turns 'and looks 'a molaent i n ' t h e g l a s s , / /

0 xVx I \ y J I X / Ix, , / (X . Hardly aware of her*departed lovfer;//

V / /y / / r / 'U U /j /x / Her brain allows one half-formed thought to pass://

V / "Well now V/

jO /) / X flO I) 10 x) ' that ' s don^ei^^and I'm'glad i t ' s over.

0 i)\\ /|x / / y //(x j) When lovely woman stoops to folly and —>

(7 x)/x / /C/ /)/x M x / Paces about her room again,//alone,//

X I ix / l x \ ( X ^ \ x / She smoothesTier hair'with automatic hand,//

X^ / Ix //(x X)/ X / Ix \ And puts a record on the gramophone//(11, 215-56).

43

TABLE 7

SUMMARY OF SCANSION OF THE CLERK-TYPIST PASSAGE

Line

215

216

217

218

219

220

221

222

223

224

225

Line Length

pentameter.

hexameter.

tetrameter

hexameter.

pentameter.

pentameter.

pentameter.

hexameter.

tetrameter.

pentameter.

hexameter

and Structure

run-on, caesura

run-on, caesura

caesura

run-on, caesura

run-on, caesura

caesura

run-on, caesura

caesura

run-on

Substitution

pyrrhlc.

spondee,

anapest.

dactyl, spondee

spondee

anapest,

trochee.

spondee

spondee

trochee,

anapest,

trochee

pyrrhlc

catalexls

trochee.

spondee

anapest

pyrrhlc

spondee

TABLE 7—Continued

44

Line Line Length and Structure Substitution

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

pentameter, run-on

tetrameter, caesura

pentameter, caesura, run-on

tetrameter, caesura

pentameter

pentameter, caesura

pentameter, caesura

pentameter, run-on

pentameter

pentameter, caesura

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

pentameter.

pentameter,

pentameter.

pentameter.

pentameter

pentameter

pentameter

pentameter.

caesura

run-on

caesura

caesura

run-on

pyrrhlc, spondee

catalexls

trochee, dactyl, spondee

anapest

spondee, pyrrhlc

trochee, spondee, pyrrhlc

spondee

trochee

pyrrhlc, spondee, anapest

spondee, amapest, trochee

spondee

pyrrhlc, dactyl, trochee

spondee, pyrrhlc

trochee

spondee, pyrrhlc,

trochee, catalexls

pyrrhlc

anapest, s ponde e

5

TABLE 7—Continued

Line

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

252

253

254

255

256

Line Length

pentameter

pentameter.

pentameter

pentameter

pentameter,

pentameter

pentameter

pentameter

pentameter.

pentameter.

pentameter.

pentameter

pentameter

and Structure

run-on

caesura

caesura

run-on

caesura

Substitution

pyrrhi c, spondee

trochee, spondee

pyrrhlc

spondee

spondee, trochee

s ponde e, pyrrhi c

trochee, hyper-catalexis^

spondee

spondee, trochee

spondee, pyrrhlc

trochee, spondee

pyrrhlc

^See the first footnote to this chapter,

On the basis of the preceding summary and scansion,

the following observations may be madei (1) all lines are

iambic; (2) there is a substantial degree of substitution

within the lines} (3) more than half of the lines are

iambic pentameterJ (4) there are several nine and eleven

syllable linesj (5) there is an appropriate use of the

46

caesura within the lines; (6) there are several run-on

lines I (7) the average number of syllables per line is

ten; and (8) there is a substantial degree of catalectlc

and hypercatalectic endings.^

Since much of the content of Eliot's poem fea

tures a colloquial tone, one might expect that he would

be forced to abandon conventional meter to accommodate

such an unusual style. But he manages by adopting a

freer form of metrical patterns to adapt the style even

to conventional verse. As may be noted, this form is

accomplished in the following highly colloquial section

of iambic meter by the use of a number of rather unusual

metrical feett the bacchius and amphimacher.

C x / / ) ' X / I 1< ^ I ^ f When L i l ' s husband got demobbed,//I s a i d — / /

y / IX / / x / / ^ ^ I >' f IK ^ I d i d n ' t mince'my words,/^I s a i d to her myse l f , / /

mjRRY ' X / / X /

UP PLEASE'ITS TIME

V /( X / { X ^ / / 0 ; c ) / ^ ^(J

Now Albert's coming back,//make yourself a bit

smart.// ^Babette Deutsch in Poetry Handbookt A Dic

tionary of Terms (2nd ed.; New Yorki Funk & Wagnall's Co., 1962Tf pp. 30-31, defines hypercatalectic in this mannerI "has one or more syllables In excess of the normal applied to syllables that do not count as part of the metre." This definition Is in contrast to her definition of catalectlc1 "a line from which unstressed syllables have been dropped."

'^7

^ /^/x / } 0 >^/ (/ > )1 X / Ix He'll want to know what you'done with That money

he gave you —^

X / / X / / X / / X / /^x- X / J To g e t y o u r s e l f some t e e t h . / / H e d id , / / I was t h e r e . / /

' M X / lO ll f X / lO' / /) You have them a l l * o l i t , / ^ l i , / ^ n d g e t a n i c e s e t , / /

X / / x / / V / / ( f / X / J / k / He s a i d , / / I swear , / / I c a n ' t b e a r t o look a t you./y

y / / x X / ' x / / y / / ^ X And no more c a n ' t I»//I s a i d , ^ a n d t h i n k of poor

/j/cx3 A l b e r t , / /

X / /^x y ^/(^ / / J / X / /Cx ;f H e ' s been i n t he army foiir yea r s , / /he wants a good

/ )

t i m e , //

'y X 0/0 i) IX (I X / / A ' / / And i f you d o n ' t g ive i t h l m , / / t h e r e ' s o t h e r s w i l l , / /

X t I s a i d . / /

X / /Cx X / ) / C/ \)/^X >: ) /> / Oh i s the re , / /She s a i d . / / Something o ' t h a t , / / I sald.^/

Cx X O/6^ X _ / 3 / jK / / x y / Then I ' l l know who t o thank,^yShe s a i d , ^ a n d g ive

Cx K)i O f^ me a s t r a i g h t look . /^

y W x / / > / V HURRY TO PLEASE'ITS TIME —>

('x y i^ I 0 ydCy^ y)lCi / 3 / x , / />^ I f you d o n ' t l i k e I t r 'you can g e t on with I t ^ / I

/

s a i d . / /

k8

Others'can pick and choose ,/;lf you can't.//

(v >• /))(x X i)1 y I ICx X /J / But i f Albert makes o f f , / / i t won't be for lack

y / I X of t e l l i n g . / /

X / l y yl/x / 10 f)l X I kx You ought to be ashamed,/! sald,//to look so

X / ; antique. //

, y / IQ, X / ) i x / (And her only th ir ty-one . ) / /

X / lO x j / X / U/ X)ICK I 0 1 can't help lt,/yshe said, / .pull ing a long face . / / (X ^ / W x / / x I I >c / / )^ I I t ' s them p i l l s I took,//to bring I t off,//she said. / /

Xx X / ) ) ^ / fe^ X / ) i x t \U / She's had f ive already,//and nearly died of young

/ )

George.//

The chemist said i t would be a l l right,//but I've

never been the same.//

^ Mx / ' X / / X / You are'a proper fool , / /I s a i d . / /

(X V /)/6c X / ) / Cx X, /J /ifx V Well,//if Ai'bert won't leave'you alone,^/there i t

/Vx / Is , / /I said, / /

C/ x ) / x / / x / /x / /C / / j / WWat yotl'get married for//lf you don't want

0 y) Children?//

49

HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME—^

Pertinent versification data relating to the pre

ceding segment may be summarized as followst

TABLE 8

SUMMARY OF SCANSION OF LIL'S HUSBAND PASSAGE

Line Line Length and Structure Substitution

139

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

148

149

150

151

152

153

tetrameter, caesura

hexameter, caesura

trimeter, run-on

hexameter, caesura

heptameter, run-on

pentameter, caesura

pentameter, caesura

pentameter, caesura

hexameter, caesura

pentameter, caesura

hexameter, caesura

pentameter, caesura

hexameter, caesura

trimeter, run-on

hexameter, caesura

bacchius

trochee, spondee, pyrrhlc

spondee, trochee

anapest

spondee, bacchius

amphimacher

anapest, catalexls

anapest, bacchius

anapest, spondee

pyrrh1c, s ponde e, anapest

anapest, spondee, pyrrhlc

anapest, trochee, pyrrhlc, spondee

50

TABLE 8—Continued

Line

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

Line Length

tetrameter

pentameter.

hexameter, <

trimeter

pentameter.

pentameter.

pentameter.

heptameter.

1 tetrameter.

pentameter.

hexameter.

1 and Structure \

caesura

caesura

caesura

caesura

caesura

caesura

caesura

caesura

caesura

trimeter, run-on

Substitution

trochee, anapest

anapest, lexis

pyrrhic, anapest

anapest

bacchius

anapest

anapest

anapest.

anapest

trochee,

spondee,

hypercata-

spondee,

, trochee

spondee

spondee

By and large, the chief metrical established line

in The Waste Land is iambic pentameter.'' Although there

^Information summarizing the scansion of other sections of The Waste Land is as followst

lines S ITHi 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

lines 19-30* lines 31-421 lines 43-591 lines 60-761 lines 77-93« lines 94-1061

iambic pentameter, trimeter, hexameter; iambic pentameter, hexameter, heptameteri iambic trimeter, pentameter, hexameter; Iambic pentameter, tetrameter, hexameter; predominantly Iambic pentameter; predominantly iambic pentameter; predominantly Iambic pentameter;

51

are exceptions, line lengths average out generally as ten

syllables per line. There are, specifically, two hundred

lines of iambic pentameter in the English lines in the

poem. Closely associated in length are forty-eight lines

of iambic tetrameter and thirty-four lines of iambic hexam

eter. As noted also Eliot uses both caesura and enjambe-

ment frequently to offer an appropriate sense of phrasal

pause and thought progression.

8. lines 107-138; iambic (1 trochaic) monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter, pentameter, hexameter, heptameter;

9« lines 166-172J iambic hexameter, heptameter, trimeter, pentameter;

10. lines 173-184: iambic (1 trochaic) pentameter, hexameter, octameter, tetrameter;

11. lines 185-202: predominantly iambic pentameter; 12. lines 203-206j iambic monometer, dimeter, trimeter; 13* lines 207-214: predominantly iambic pentameter; 14. lines 257-265» predominantly iambic pentameter; 15» lines 266-306: iambic monometer, dimeter, trimeter,

tetrameter, pentameter; 16. lines 307-311* iambic and trochaic monometer, dimeter,

trimeter, tetrameter; 17« lines 312-321: iambic pentameter, trimeter, dimeter,

heptameter; 18. lines 322-330: trochaic (2 iambic) trimeter, tetram

eter, pentameter; 19. lines 331-359* iambic (1 anapestlc) tetrameter, pentam

eter, hexameter, trimeter, dimeter, monometer; 20. lines 36O-366: iambic pentameter, heptameter, hexam

eter, tetrameter; 21. lines 367-377: predominantly iambic pentameter; 22. lines 378-395: iambic (1 trochaic) pentameter, hexam

eter, trimeter, octameter, tetrameter, dimeter; 23. lines 396-423: iambic (1 trochaic) pentameter, tetram

eter, dimeter, monometer, trimeter, hexameter, heptameter;

24. lines 424-434: iambic and trochaic trimeter, pentameter, hexameter.

52

Rhyme and Other Decorative Patterns

Eliot uses various devices of rhyme and sound

echo in The Waste Land, among which are rhyme, sound

repetition, and sound quality. Each of these Eliot uses

for various specific purposes. Laurence Perrine points

out that such decorative devices may be designed to please

the ear, to emphasize the words involved, and to give

structure to the poem.^ Eliot, in The Waste Land, lllus-

trates all three of these purposes and thus expands the

simpler traditional usage which stresses only the decora

tive purpose. Thus rhyme in The Waste Land is not always

simply for the purpose of soothing the reader's ear,

though Eliot does frequently rely upon euphony for special

effects of this sort. Nor, on the other hand, is rhyme

primarily an overall structural device. In the poem as a

whole. Eliot does use rhyme for creating structure

within the strophlc unit, where It helps to indicate the

entity of certain strophes. On some occasions in the poem

^Laurence Perrine, Sound and Sense (2nd ed.; Atlanta: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1963)1 P. 149.

Note Helen Gardner's statement in The Art of T. S. Eliot, a Dutton Paperback (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1959). p. 17. regarding the use of the rhyme in the poems in Prufrock and Other Observations! "Rhyme is used as a rhetorical ornament, not as part of a regular pattern; it is decorative and makes for emphasis, but It is not structural."

53

Eliot seems to be using rhyme chiefly as a shock technique

to startle his reader's ear. Finally, he uses rhyme to

indicate a conversational style in certain lines and

passages.

Perhaps the most significant characteristic of

Eliot's rhyme usage in The Waste Land Is the formation of

strophe units through the aid of rhyme schemes.^ This

phenomenon may be seen In the following passage from Part

Five I "What the Thunder Said." The rhyme, approximate

rhyme, or repeated words have been indicated with each

line:

Here is no water but only rock a Rock and no water and the sandy

road a (approximate rhyme) The road winding above among the

mountains b Which are mountains of rock

without water c If there were water we should

stop and drink d Amongst the rock one cannot

stop or think d

^See also lines 377-384 of The Waste Land which are also structured by the rhyme scheme:

"A woman drew her long black hair out tight a And fiddled whisper music on those strings b And bats with baby faces in the violet light a Whistled, and beat their wings b And crawled head downward down a blackened wall c And upside down In air were towers d Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours c And voices singing out of empty cisterns and

exhausted wells." d

54

Sweat is dry and feet are In the sand

If there were only water amongst the rock

Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit

Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit

There is not even silence in the mountains

But dry sterile thunder without rain

There is not even solitude in the mountains

But red sullen faces sneer and snarl Prom doors of mudcracked houses

If there were water And no rock If there were rock And also water A spring among the rock If there were the sound of water

only Not the cicada And dry grass singing But sound of water over a rock Where the hermit-thrush sings in

the pine trees Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop But there is no water (11. 331-59).

unrhymed

a

f

f

b

g

unrhymed unrhymed c a a c a

unrhymed unrhymed unrhymed

unrhymed unrhjrmed c

As may be observed, the repetitive force of

repeated end words—"mountain," "water," and especially

"rock"—tend to help cement the passage Into a formal

unity. Another important passage which gains a structural

quality through the use of line-end patterns, though not

strictly rhyme, consists of the opening lines of the poem.

Here the repetition is of the -Ing element of participles:

April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring

55

Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers (11. 1-7).

The following rather short strophe constitutes a separate

section chiefly through the use of a set rhyme scheme

(abcabc)t

'On Margate Sands. I cannot connect Nothing with nothing. The broken fingernails of dirty

hands. My people humble people who

eicofiC t

Nothing' (11. 300-05).

a b c

a

b c (word repeated)

An alternating rhyme quatrain is exemplified in these

lines:

'Trams and dusty trees. a Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew b Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees a Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe (11. 292-95). b

Another quatrain with alternating rhyme is the following:

'My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart a Under my feet. After the event b He wept. He promised "a new start." a I made no comment. What did I resent?' (11. 296-99) b

The conversational style of certain segments of

The Waste Land may be said to be augmented by the use of

rhyme. Illustrative of this augmentation are lines from

the passage about Lil's husband, in which the final "I

said" both suggests regular speech and provides terminal

repetition which is suggestive of rhyme:

56

"When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said—"

"And if you don't give it him, there's other's'will,'l said."

"Oh is there, she said. Something o' thatj I said!"'

"If you don't like it you can get on with it) I said!"

"It's them pills I took, to bring it off*, she said!"'

"You are a proper fool, I said." "Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there it is, I

said" (11. 139-63).

Other uses of this conversational form in relationship

with rhyme are evident in The Waste Land. Eliot's use of

internal rhyme is sometimes related to this element of his

style. At the conclusion of Part One, for example, he

concludes with this line containing Internal rhyme

("lecteur," "frere")* "You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon sem

blable,—mon frerel'" (1. 76). Another example of Internal

rhyme is the previously-quoted line* "Oh Is there, she

said. Something o' that, I said" (1. 150). A last illus

tration is line 299 ("comment," "resent"): "I made no

comment. What should I resent?"

As Illustrated in some of the Illustrations above,

Eliot often repeats end-words or phrases with the effect

of rhyme. One special instance of this occurs In Part

Three, in the repetition six times of the line "HURRY UP

PLEASE ITS TIME" (11. l4l, 148, 152, I65, I68, and I69).

In another Instance the rhyme-repetition consists of lines

\ \ 57

in which the final half is identical:

Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed.

Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are departed (11. 175-79).

More conventional Instances of this form of line-end

repetition involve only the final or next-to-final words;

for example:

There is shadow under this red rock

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock—11. 25-26).

Line-end repetition Is also employed by Eliot in

such forms as assonance and consonance. Assonance is

evident in the rhyming of the following lines: "And on

her daughter / They wash their feet in soda water" (11.

200-01) and

Twit twit twit


And gropes his way, finding the stairs iinllt (11. 203-48).

The following Illustrate Eliot's use of consonance: (1)

"It's so elegant / So intelligent" (11. 129-30); (2)

Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart. You have them all out, Lll, and get a nice set

(11. 142-45);

(3) "Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider / Or

under seals broken by the lean solicitor" (11. 407-08).

Eliot's rhymes sometimes produce effects of euphony

and cacophony. An example of euphonious rhyme is "It's so

58

elegant / So Intelligent (ll. 129-30). Another Instance

is the following:

The time is now propitious, as he guesses.

Endeavors to engage her caresses (11. 235-37).

Illustrative of cacophonous rhymes are "logs" and "dogs"

in the following!

Drifting logs

Past the Isle of Dogs (11.'247I76)';

and of "twit," "sits," and "unlit"*

Twit twit twit


And gropes his way, finding the stairs \iniit (11.'203-48)';

and of "jug" and "dugs":

Jug jug jug jug jug jug

I Tiresias, old man with wrinkled dugs (11. 204-28).

But although Eliot uses sound repetition for the

special purposes just discussed, he does not slight

the more conventional purposes for decorative devices.

Among these are Involved various instances of alliteration,

euphony, and cacophony. In these Instances, however, they

are not used directly in connection with rhyme as discussed

above. The first, alliteration, is quite prevalent In

Eliot's poem. Near the beginning of The Uaste Land, for

example, he uses the "1" sound in this line: "Lilacs out

of the dead land, mixing" (1. 2). Other examples Include

59

the alliteration of "r":

There is shadow under this red rock

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock) (11. 25-26);

of "1" again: "Looking into the heart of light, the

silence" (1. 4l); and of "gl": "Glowed on the marble,

under the glass" (1. 78). These are but few of the

instances of alliteration in Th£ Waste Land.

In addition to rhyme and alliteration, Eliot uses

euphony and cacophony to soothe or startle the ear. The

following verses are Illustrative of the euphonious quality in The Waste Land:

Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song

Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song. Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long

(11. 176-84);

"Murmur of maternal lamentation" (1. 367); "In the pleas

ant moonlight, the grass is singing" (1. 386); and

"Shantih shantih shantih" (1. 433). In opposition to

euphony is Eliot's use of cacophony; for example: "Dead

mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit (1. 339);

Twit twit twit Jug Jug jug jug jus jug So rudely forc'd (11. 203-05);

and "dragging its slimy belly on the bank" (1. 188).

^Other typical examples are contained in lines 174, 292, 379. 8 and 65.

60

Strophlc Arrangement

Although Eliot does not employ a conventional

stanza pattern for The Waste Land, there are certain

unified groupings which are comparable in their general

effect to conventional stanza patterns. Many of these

Irregularly organized units or strophes derive from a

deliberate, skillful use of rhetorical and prosodlc

patterns for this purpose: meter, rhyme, repetition,

symbols, rhetorical questions. With respect to the first

of these, Eliot achieves what in effect are unit groupings

by changing the face of his basic meters. Thus in the

opening lines of the poem, a sense of unity is achieved

by its basic trochaic structure—which is of course

reinforced by the verse structuring of the -ing endings

of the concluding participles already mentioned.

April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers (11. 1-7).

A similar example in which bacchius meter helps unify a

single segment of material is the opening portion of Part

Five, lines 322-330, beginning "After the torchlight red

on sweaty faces."

Another type of unifying effect is the effect of

short line lengths, as in the Thames daughters' recitations.

61

The first strophe will illustrate this unity:

The river sweats Oil and tar The barges drift With the turning tide Red sails Wide To leeward, swing on the heavy spar. The barges wash Drifting logs From Greenwich reach Past the Isle of Dogs.

Weialala leia

Wallala lelalala (11. 266-78).

Although rhyme, as already noted, is used irregu

larly in Eliot's poem, it sometimes functions to create

structure, as in the following example, which contains

alternating rhymes*

'Trams and dusty trees. a Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew b Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees a Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe.' b 'My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart a Under my feet. After the event b He wept. He promised "a new start," a I made no comment. What should I resent?' b

(11. 292-99)

In the stanza following these, the same effect is con

veyed, though the rhyme scheme changes:

'On Margate Sands. a I can connect b Nothing with nothing. c The broken fingernails of dirty

hands. a My people humble people who expect b Nothing' (11. 300-05). c (repeated word)

In the following example, the rhymes though present are

62

rather unobtrusive and hence the strophlc effect is less

obvious»

A woman drew her long black hair out tight a

And fiddled whisper music on those strings b

And bats with baby faces in the violet light a

Whistled, and beat their wings b

And crawled head downward down a blackened wall c

And upside down in air were towers d

Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours d

And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted

wells (11. 378-85). c (approximate rhyme)

In addition to metrical and rhyme patterns, rhetori

cal questions and repetition are also used to develop

strophlc units. The use of the rhetorical question Is

valuable in the following:

Who Is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There Is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded 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 Murmur of maternal lamentation Who are those hooded hordes swarming Over endless plains, stumbling In cracked earth Ringed by the flat horizon only What is the city over the mountains Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air Falling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London Unreal (11. 360-77).

63

Repetition of a similar sort occurs frequently In Eliot's

poem for strophlc effects; for example, the repetition of

the segment "Sweet Thames, run softly" in the following:

The river's tent is broken: the last fingers of leaf Clutch and sink into the wet bank. The wind Crosses the brown land, unheard. The nymphs are departed. Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song. The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers, Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends Or other testimony of summer nights. The nymphs are

departed. And their friends, the loitering heirs of City directors; Departed, have left no addresses. By the waters of Leman I sat down and wept . , . Sweet Thames, run softly till I end my song. Sweet Thames, run softly, for I speak not loud or long

(11. 173-84).

Repetition is used even to separate groupings within a

larger portion of the poem. Thus in the following passage

paraphrased quotations, beginning "But at my back," in

lines 185 and I96 divide the section into two strophic-llke

sections*

But at my back in a cold blast I hear The rattle of the bones, and chuckle spread from ear

to ear. A rat crept softly through the vegetation Dragging its slimy belly on the bank While I was fishing in the dull canal On a winter evening ro\md behind the gashouse Musing upon the king my brother's wreck And on the king my father's death before him. White bodies naked on the low damp ground Rattled by the rat's foot only, year to year But at my back from time to time I hear The sound of horns and motors, which shall bring 0 the moon shone bright on Mrs. Porter And on her daughter They wash their feet in soda water (11. 185-201).

64

A similar occurrence exists in the Voice of the Thxinder

passage, in which subordinate strophlc groupings serve

to produce three subdivisions by the use of an initial

repetitive formula*

Then spoke the thunder DA Datta: what have we given?

DA Dayadhvam * I have heard the key

DA

Damyata * The boat responded (11. 400-19).

A final rhetorical device, which is Illustrated by the

formula of an Introductory statement that holds groups of

fragments into a single unified passage* I sat upon the shore"

Fishing, with the arid plain behind me

Shall I at least set my lands in order?

London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down

Pol s'ascose nel foco che gll afflna

Quando flam uti chelldon—0 swallow swallow

Le Prince d'Aquitaine a la tour abolle

These fragments I have shored Against my ruins

Why then lie fit you. Hleronymo's mad agalne.

Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata (11. 420-33).

Introductory Statement

Fragments

Ritual Statement

It may be noted also that the concluding line functions

as a rhetorical device to provide a unified conclusion

65

to the passage as whole—like a ritualistic statement in

a doxology.

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

On the whole, despite critical opinion to the

contrary, T. S. Eliot's Waste Land shows many character

istics in its rhetorical and metrical patterns conven

tionally associated with traditional English techniques;

nonetheless, he handles these two central poetic features

of his poem in a manner distinctly his own. Specifically,

the rhetorical devices used by Eliot include figurative

language, repetition, anaphora, rhetorical question, con

trast, balance, paradox, and oxymoron. Yet Eliot uses

traditional figures of speech rather sparingly and draws

his images chiefly from modem life rather than tradi

tional subject matters. His dependence Is generally in

more Intellectual effects: contrast, balance, paradox,

and oxymoron. The rhetorical question, repetition, and

anaphora appear to be used chiefly to emphasize a conver

sational structure rather than for their more conventional

rhetorical effects.

The rhetorical device which contributes most

heavily to The Waste Land perhaps is the allusion. Through

the use of allusions Eliot is able to utilize a word or

line from a given work to evoke, in effect, the whole con

text of the source in question. Eliot's allusions

66

67

generally fall into three categories* literary; histori

cal, artistic, and musical; and anthropological, religious,

and philosophical.

Also Involved in the rhetorical structure of The

Waste Land is Eliot's use of symbolic representation.

Certain symbolic words recur regularly throughout The

Waste Land, including particularly those of water, dryness,

fire, and the wheel. Water is used principally to depict

the source of life and rebirth and of spiritual life.

Drought, on the other hand, indicates the lack of spiri

tual life. Fire represents an ambivalent symbol, repre

senting both lust and purification. In The Waste Land

the wheel represents, among other recognizable Images, the

cycle of days and seasons.

Because of a prevailing lack of rhyme and the

prevalence of iambic pentameter, the chief effect of

metrical structure in The Waste Land Is that of blank

verse. If one considers lines one to two feet longer or

shorter as variations of Iambic pentameter, it may be con

cluded that the predominant pattern of the poem is iambic

pentameter. Following traditional patterns of metrical

contributions, Eliot freely uses trochaic, anapestlc,

dactylic, pyrrhic, spondaic and even, occasionally—in

conversational passages—bacchius and amphimacher varia

tions. Moreover, his use of caesuras and enjambement

68

follow traditional modes in almost all regards.

Rhyme and other sound devices in The Waste Land

are used mainly for other than purely decorative structure-

including their use to develop structure, indicate conver

sation, create reader interest, and provide emphasis.

Other decorative patterns occurring in The Waste Land

include alliteration, assonance, consonance, euphony, and

cacophony.

Finally, all of these rhetorical and prosodlc

patterns combine within Eliot's poem to develop certain

unit groupings or strophes which tend to provide observable

units within the general organization of Eliot's five

major divisions.

Yet despite the fact that many of the rhetorical

and prosodlc patterns do suggest traditional as opposed

to modernistic tendencies, the poem is, nonetheless, emphat-

Ically modem in tone and style, a fact that becomes evi

dent when it is judged in the tenets which critics of

modern poetry have designated as modem. As cited earlier

in chapter one these are (1) to strive for new "concrete

ness"; (2) to strive for simplicity and sincerity; (3) to

strive for intensiveness and concentration; (4) to strive

for the idiomatic language of contemporary life; (5) to

strive for organic rhythm; and (6) to strive for subjects

from contemporary life.

69

In the rhetorical and prosodlc stylings of The

Waste Land most of these aims are present. Thus, "con

creteness" is illustrated by Eliot's habitual use of image

and symbol—the latter perhaps the most characteristic

feature of modem verse. The simplicity of Eliot's writing

is evident in such passages as that of the clerk-typist.

Intensity and concentration are exemplified by Eliot's

creative use of allusions. By means of various types of

allusions, Eliot draws upon varied sources to evoke perti

nent themes, plots, circumstances, or other related elements

for enriching his own poem. Eliot's skill In idiomatic

language is illustrated by many of the rhetorical and

prosodlc features In his poem. Through the use of rhetori

cal questions and repetition Eliot evokes a sense of every

day conversation. In his meter in the Lil's husband

passage, he facilitates the qualities of a conversational

style. Finally, in his varied metrical organization he

achieves an effect within what amounts to a form of blank

verse—a semblance of freedom comparable to that associated

with contemporary free verse—avoiding the conventional

stanzalc bondage of repeated precisely-formed stanza units,

yet achieving by loosely applied strophlc units a sense of

form within flexibility and unity within variety. Accord

ing to the bulk of the criteria listed above. The Waste

Land is a modern poem.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alden, RfaymondJ MjacdonaldJ. English Verse* Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History. New York* H. H0IT& Co., I903.

. An Introduction to Poetry for Students of EngTTsh Literature. New York* H. Holt & Co.,

Allen, Charles. "Cadenced Free Verse." College English, IX (January, 1948), 195-9.

Allen, Gay Wilson. American Prosody. Cincinnati: American Book Company, 1935.

Baum, Paull Franklin. The Principles of English Versification. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1922.

Bodkin, Maud. Archetypal Patterns in Poetry: Psychological Studies of Imagination. Oxford Paperbacks. London* Oxford University Press, I965.

Braybrooke, Neville. T. S. Eliot* A Critical Essay. Grand Rapids, Michigan* William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., I967.

Cattaul, Georges. T. S. Eliot. Translated by Claire Pace and Jean Stewart. New York* Funk & Wagnall's Co., 1966.

Cronln, Vincent. "T. S. Eliot as a Translator." T. S. Eliot: A Symposium for his Seventieth Birthday. Edited by Neville BrajTBrooke. Freeport, New York* Books for Libraries Press, 1958.

Deutsch, Babette. Poetry Handbook: A Dictionary of Terms. 2nd ed. New York: Funk & Wagnall s Co., 1962.

Drew, Elizabeth. T. S. Eliot: The Design of Els Poetry. New York* Charles Scribner's Sons, 19^9.

Eliot, T. S. Poems Written In Early Youth. New York: Farrar, Straus & Glroux, 1967.

. Selected Essays. 2nd ed. New York: Harcourt. Brace & World, Inc., 1964.

70

71

. "The Music of Poetry." Poets on Poetry. Edited by Charles Norman. The Free Press. New York* Macmillan Co., 1966.

. The Sacred Wood * Essays on Poetry and Criticism. 7th ed. London* Methuen and Co., Ltd., 195^.

. The Waste Land and Other Poems. Harvest Books. New York* Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., I962.

Foerster, Norman, ed. American Poetry and Prose. 2 vols. 4th ed. Boston* Houghton Mifflin Co., 1962.

Frazer, Sir J[amesj GjeorgeJ. The Golden Bough * A Study in Magic and Religion. 12 vols. 3rd revised ed. London* Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1925.

Gallup, Donald. "T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound* Collaborators in Letters." Atlantic Monthly, January, 1970, pp. 48-62.

Gardner, Helen. The Art of T. S. Eliot. A Dutton Paperback. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1959.

Glllls, Everett A. Unpublished lecture notes. Texas Tech University. (Mimeographed.)

Gummere, Francis B. A Handbook of Poetics for Students of English Verse. Boston: Glnn & Co., 1885.

Headings, Philip R, T. S. Eliot. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1964.

Herzberg, Max J. The Readers Encyclopedia of American Literature" New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1962.

Hlllyer, Robert. First Principles of Verse. Boston: Writer, Inc., 193cr;

. In Pursuit of Poetry. New York: KcGraw-Hlll, i960.

Homer, Enid. The Meters of English Poetry. London. Methuen and Co., Ltd., 1930.

Jones, Geneslus. Approach to the Purpose: A Stucr^ ol, ^ Poetry of T. S. Ellob. New York: Barnes c, ..o::le. Inc., 19^4.

72

Kaluza, Max. Short History of English Versification from the Earliest Times to the Present Day: A_ Handbook for Teachers and Students. Translated by A. C. I>unstan. New York* Macmillan Co., I91I.

Lanier, Sidney. The Science of English Verse. New York* Charles Scribner's Sons, I90I.

Lewis, CJharlton/ MEnerJ. Principles of English Verse. New York* Hi Holt & Co., 19O6.

Lu, Fel-Pai. T. S. Eliot: The Dialectical Structure of His Theory of Poetry. Chicago* University of Chicago Press, 1966.

March, Richard, and Tambimuttu, eds. T. . Eliot; A Symposium. London: Frank & Cass Co., Ltd., I965.

Matthlessen, F [ranclsj 0 §toJ. T. S. Eliot* An Essay on the Nature of Poetry. 3rd ed. New York* Oxford University Press, 1958.

Omond, TfhomasJ S ewartj. English Metrlsts* Being a Sketch of English Prosodlcal Criticism from " ElizabeTEan Times to the Present Day. Oxford: Clarendon Press, I92I.

Perrine, Laurence. Sound and Sense* An Introduction to Poetry. 2nd ed. Atlanta* Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1963.

Pratt, John Clark. Meaning of Modern Poetry. New York* Doubleday, 1962.

Rajan, B(alachandraj, ed. T. S. Eliot: A Study of His Writii House Writings by Several Hands. New Yorkt Haskell

, I9W.

Roethke, Theodore. On th£ Poet and Hi£ Craft: Selected Prose of Theodore Roethke. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1965.

Scholl, Evelyn H. "English Meter Once Kore." Publications of the Modern Language Association, LXIII (y^rch, T94BT7 293-326.

Shapiro, Karl Jay. A Bibliography of Modern Prosody. Baltimore* John Hopkins Press, 19 t5.

73

. A Primer for Poets. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1953.

. English Prosody and Modern Poetry. Baltimore* John Hopkins Press, 1947.

. Essay on Rime. New York* Reynal & Hitchcock,

1943!^

f and Beum, Robert. A Prosody Handbook. New York* Harper & Row, 19F5T

Smith, Grover, Jr. T. S. Eliot's Poetry and Plays: A Study in Sources and Meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956.

Tate, Allen, ed. T. S. Eliot: The Man and His Work. A Seymour Lawrence Book. New York* Delacorte Press, 1966.

Thompson, Eric. T. S . Eliot: The Metaphysical Perspective. Carbondale, Illinois* Southern Illinois University Press, 1963.

Thrall, William Flint, and Hlbbard, Addison. A Handbook to Literature. Revised and enlarged by C. Hugh Holman. New York* Odyssey Press, 196O.

Unger, Leonard. T. S. Eliot. University of Minnesota Pamphlets of'"Amerlcan Writers, Vol. VIII. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 196I.

. T. S . Eliot: Moments and Patterns. Kinneapo-llsT University of Minnesota Press, 1966.

Untermeyer, Louis. The Forms of Poetry: A Pocket Dictionary of Verse. NewTork: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 192^7

, The New Era in American Poetry. New York: H. Holt & Co., T919.

Weston, Jessie L. From Ritual to Romance. New York: Peter Smlth7T94r:

Williamson, George. A Reader's Guide to T. S. Eliot: A Poem-by-Poem Analysis. 2nd ed. New York: Farrar, Straus & Glroux, 1966.

APPENDIX

DEFINITION OF CRITICAL TERMS

The following definitions are taken from William

Flint Thrall and Addison Hlbbard, A Handbook to Litera

ture, revised and enlarged by C. Hugh Holman (New York:

Odyssey Press, i960).

ALLITERATION* The repetition of initial identical conso

nant sounds or any vowel sounds in successive or closely

associated words or syllables. A good example of conso

nantal alliteration is Coleridge's lines:

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free.

Vowel alliteration is shown in the sentence: "Apt allitera

tion's artful aid is often an occasional ornament in prose."

Alliteration of syllables within words appears In Tennyson's

lines*

The moan of doves in Immemorial elms, And murmuring of Innumerable bees.

ALLUSION* A rhetorical term applied to that figure of

speech making casual reference to a famous historical or

literary figure or event.

AMPHIMACHER* A metrical foot In verse, consisting of three

syllables, the first and last accented, the second unac

cented. 74

75

ANAPEST* A metrical FOOT in verse, consisting of three

syllables, with two unaccented syllables followed by an

accented one (^'^—).

ANAPHORA* One of the devices of REPETITION, in which the

same expression (word or words) Is repeated at the begin

ning of two or more lines, clauses, or sentences.

ANASTROPHE: A rhetorical term signifying inversion of the

usual, normal, or logical order of the parts of a sen

tence. Anastrophe is deliberate rather than accidental

and is used, as in verse, to secure RHYTHM or to gain

EMPHASIS or EUPHONY.

APOSTROPHE * A figure of speech in which someone (usually,

but not always absent), some abstract quality, or a non

existent personage is directly addressed as though present.

ASSONANCE» Resemblance or similarity In sound between

vowels followed by different consonants in two or more

stressed syllables. Assonance differs from RIME in that

RIME is a similarity of vowel and consonant. "Lake" and

"fake" demonstrate RIME; "lake" and "fate" assonance.

BACCHIUS* In METRICS, a three-syllable FOOT, with the

first syllable unaccented and the last two accented but

with the ICTUS on the first accented syllable. Examples*

a bove board, a bout face.

76

BALANCE: In rhetoric refers to that structure in which

parts of a sentence—as words, phrases, or clauses—are

set off against each other in position so as to emphasize

a contrast in meaning.

BLANK VERSE * Blank verse may be said to consist of un-

rlmed lines of ten syllables each, the second, fourth,

sixth, eighth, and tenth syllables bearing the ACCENTS

(IAMBIC PENTAMETER). This form has generally been accepted

as that best adapted to dramatic verse in English and Is

commonly used for long poems whether dramatic, philosophic,

or narrative. Because of its freedom it appears easy to

write, but good blank verse probably demands more artistry

and genius than any other verse form. The freedom gained

through lack of RIME is offset by the demands for richness

to be secured through its privileges. This richness may

be obtained by the skillful poet through a variety of means:

the shifting of the CAESURA, or pause, from place to place

within the line; the shifting of the STRESS among syllables;

the use of the run-on line, which permits of [sl£] thought-

grouping in large or small blocks (these thought-groups

being variously termed verse "paragraphs" or verse STANZAS);

variation in tonal qualities by changing DICTION frc^ pas

sage to passage; and, finally, the adaptation of the form

to reproduction of differences In the speech of characters

77

in dramatic and narrative verse and to differences of

emotional expression.

CACOPHONY* The opposite of EUPHONY; a term used to char

acterize a harsh, unpleasant combination of sounds or

tones. Though most specifically a term used In the CRITI

CISM of POETRY, the word is also employed to indicate any

disagreeable sound effect in other forms of writing.

CAESURA * A pause or break in the metrical or rhythmical

progress of a line of VERSE. Originally, in classical

literature, the caesura characteristically divided a FOOT

between two words. Usually the caesura has been placed

near the middle of a VERSE. Some poets, however, have

sought diversity of rhythmical effect by placing the

caesura anywhere from near the beginning of a line to near

the end. Examples of variously placed caesuras follow:

Sleepst thou. Companion dear, il what sleep can close Thy eye-lids? 11 and remembrest what Decree Of yesterday, \\ so late hath past the lips Of Heav'ns Almlghtie. II Thou to me thy thoughts Wast wont, etc.

—Milton

Viewed in another sense, the caesura is an Instrument of

prose rhythm which cuts across and by varying, enriches

the regularity of accentual verse. The Interplay of prose

sense and VERSE demand can be observed In the selection

given above. Metrlclsts who follow closely the classical

78

distinctions use caesura to Indicate a pause within a

FOOT and DIERESIS to Indicate a pause that coincides with

the end of the FOOT. This distinction is seldom made in

English METRICS, where CAESURA is employed as the generic

term.

CATALEXIS (Adj.—Catalectlc): Incompleteness of the last

FOOT at the end of a verse; TRUNCATION at the close of a

line of poetry by omission of one or two final syllables;

the opposite of ANACRUSIS. Catalexls is one of the many

ways in which the poet secures variety of metrical effects.

The term ACATALECTIC is used to designate particular lines

where catalexls is not employed. In the following lines

written in DACTYLIC DIMETER, the second and fourth are

catalectlc because the second FOOT of each lacks the two

unaccented syllables which would normally complete the

DACTYL. The first and third lines. In which the unaccented

syllables are not cut off and which therefore are metrically

complete, are ACATALECTIC.

One more unfortunate. Weary of breath, Rashly Importunate, Gone to her death!

—Thomas Hood

Catalexls is also applied to the TRUNCATION of an initial

unstressed syllable; the resulting line Is called HEADLESS.

CONSONANCE, The use at the ends of VERSES of words in which

79

the final consonants in the stressed syllables agree but

the vowels that precede them differ, as "add-read,"

"bill-ball," and "bom-bum." Contemporary poets fre

quently use consonance.

CONTRAST* A rhetorical device by which one element (idea

or object) is thrown into opposition to another for the sake

of emphasis or clearness. The effect of the device is to

make both contrasted ideas clearer than either would have

been if described by itself. The principle of contrast,

however, is useful for other purposes than to make defini

tions or to secure clearness. Skillfully used by an artist,

contrast may become, like colors to the painter or chords

to the musician, a means of arousing emotional Impressions

of deep artistic significance.

DACTYL * A metrical FOOT consisting of one accented syl

lable followed by two unaccented syllables, as in the word

mannikin. See METER and VERSIFICATION.

DIMETER* See METER.

END-STOPPED LINES * Lines of verse in which both the grammat

ical structure and the sense reach completion at the end

of the line. The absence of ENJAMBEMENT. or RUN-ON LINES.

All are but parts of one stupendous v.hole, Whose body Nature Is, and God the soul:

—Pope

80

ENJAMBEMENT; The device of continuing the sense and gram

matical construction of a VERSE or a COUPLET on into the

next.

Enjambement occurs with the presence of the RUN-ON

LINE and offers contrast to the END-STOPPED LINE. The first

and second lines below, carried over to the second and

third for completion, are illustrations of enjambement*

Or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook, that flow'd Past by the oracle of God.

—Milton

EUPHONY * A qiiality of good STYLE which demands that one

select combinations of words which sound pleasant to the

ear. Harsh, grating, cacophonous sounds violate euphony

and make for unpleasantness in reading.

FOOT* The unit of RHYTHM in a VERSE, whether accentual

or QUANTITATIVE. A FOOT usually consists of one stressed

or long syllable and one or more unstressed or short syl

lables; however, the SPONDEE consists of two stressed syl

lables, the PYRRHIC of two unstressed syllables. The

following are the common patterns in English accentual

VERSE* IAMBUS (^-), TROCHEE (—'- ), ANAPEST ^/v^-), and

DACTYL (-^^).^

HEPTAMETER* See METER.

units ^This study will use markings Indicating stress

I (>)—unaccented syllable and (M—accented syllable.

81

HEXAMETER* See METER.

IAMBUS (Iamb) I A metrical FOOT consisting of an unaccented

syllable and an accented (• — ) , The most common metrical

measure in English verse. A line from Marlowe will serve

as an illustration*

Come live/ with me J and be^ my love

METAPHOR* An implied ANALOGY which imaginatively identi

fies one object with another and ascribes to the first one

or more of the qualities of the second or invests the first

with emotional or imaginative qualities associated with the

second. It is one of the TROPES; that is, one of the

principal devices by which poetic "turns" on the meaning

of words are achieved.

METER * The recurrence in poetry of a rhythmic pattern, or

the RHYTHM established by the regular or almost regular

occurrence of similar units of RHYTHM. In poetry there are

four basic kinds of rhythmic patterns: (1) QUANTITATIVE,

in which the RHYTHM is established through units contain

ing regular successions of long syllables and short syl

lables; this is the classical meter; (2) accentual, in

which the occurrence of a syllable marked by STRESS or

ACCENT determines the basic unit regardless of the number

of unstressed or unaccented syllables surrounding the

82

stressed syllable; OLD ENGLISH VERSIFICATION employs this

kind of meter, and so does SPRUNG RHYTHM; (3) syllabic,

in which the number of syllables In a line is fixed,

although the ACCENT varies; much Romance versification

employs this meter; and (4) accentual-syllabic. In which

both the number of syllables and the number of ACCENTS

are fixed or nearly fixed; when the term meter is used In

English it usually refers to accentTial-syllabic RHYTHM.

The rhythmic.unit within the line is called a

FOOT. In English accentual-syllable VERSE, the standard

feet are IAMBIC (»^-), TROCHAIC (—^), ANAPESTIC (- ^ - ) ,

DACTYLLIC (-^^), SPONDAIC ( ), and PYRRHIC ( ) .

although others sometimes occur. The number of feet in

a line forms another means of describing the meter. The

following are the standard English lines: MONOMETER, one

foot; DIMETER, two feet, TRIMETER, three feet; TETRAMETER,

four feet; PENTAMETER, five feet, HEXAMETER, six feet,

also called the ALEXANDRINE; HEPTAMETER, seven feet, also

called the "FOURTEENER" when the feet are IAMBIC.

METONYMY: A common FIGURE OF SPEECH which Is characterized

by the substitution of a term naming an object closely

associated with the word in mind for the word Itself. In

this way we commonly speak of the king as "the crown," an

object closely associated with kingship thus being made to

stand for "king."

83

MONOMETER* See METER.

OCTAMETER* A line of VERSE consisting of eight feet.

OXYMORON> Etymologically, "pointedly foolish"; a rhetori

cal ANTITHESIS bringing together two contradictory terms.

Such a contrast makes for sharp emphasis. Examples are:

"cheerful pessimist," "wise fool," "sad joy," "eloquent

silence."

PARADOX» A statement which while seemingly contradictory

or absurd may actually be well-founded or true. Paradox

is a rhetorical device used to attract attention, to secure

emphasis.

PENTAMETER* See METER.

PERSONIFICATION* A figure of speech which endows animals,

ideas, abstractions, and inanimate objects with human

form, character, or sensibilities; the representing of

imaginary creatures or things as having human personalities,

intelligence, and emotions; an impersonation In DRAMA of

one character or person, whether real or fictitious, by

another person.

PROSODY* The theory and principles of VERSIFICATION,

particularly as they refer to RHYTHM, ACCENT, and STANZA.

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PYRRHIC* A FOOT of two unaccented syllables (i/^).

REPETITION* A rhetorical device reiterating a word or

phrase, or rewording the same Idea, to secure EMPHASIS.

RHETORICAL QUESTION* A question propounded for its

rhetorical effect and not requiring a reply or Intended

to induce a reply. The rhetorical question Is most used

in PERSUASION and in ORATORY, the principle supporting

the use of the rhetorical question being that since its

answer is obvious and usually the only one possible, a

deeper Impression will be made on the hearer by raising

the question than by the speaker's making a direct state

ment.

RHYTHM* The passage of regular or approximately equiva

lent time intervals between definite events or the recur

rence of specific sounds or kinds of sounds Is called

rhythm. . . . In POETRY three different elements may func

tion in a pattern of seemingly regular temporal occurrence

QUANTITY, ACCENT, and number of syllables (see METER).

In English poetry, the rhythmic pattern is most often

established by a combination of ACCENT and number of

syllables. This pattern of a fairly regular number of

syllables with a relatively fixed sequence of stressed

and unstressed syllables lends Itself to certain kinds

t

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of basic rhythmic analysis in English VERSIFICATION.

The rhythm may be "marching" or double—that is, Involve

one stressed and one iinstressed syllable, as in IA>:BS

and TROCHEES. Or it may be "dancing" or triple--that

is, involve one stressed and two unstressed syllables,

as in DACTYLS and ANAPESTS.

RIME* Similarity or identity of sound existing between

accented syllables occupying corresponding positions

within two or more lines of verse. The correspondence

of sound is based on the vowels and succeeding consonants

of the accented syllables, which must, for a perfect

rime, be preceded by different consonants. That is, "fan"

and "ran" constitute perfect rimes because the vowel and

succeeding consonant sounds are identical and the preceding

consonants ("f" and "r") are different. Rime, In that it

is based on this correspondence of sounds, is related to

ASSONANCE and ALLITERATION, but Is unlike these two forms

both in construction and in the fact that it Is commonly

used at stipulated Intervals, whereas ASSONAI CE and ALLITER. -

TION are pretty likely to range freely through various posi

tions.

Rime is more than a mere ornament or device of

VERSIFICATION. It performs certain valuable functions.

To begin with, it affords pleasure through the sense

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Impression it makes. The ear of the reader recognizes

a sound already echoing in his consciousness and the accord

the two similar sounds set up is likely, if the poet has

deftly rimed, to bring the reader a real, sensuous gratl-

fioation. Again, the recurrence of rime at regular inter

vals serves to establish the form of the STANZA. Rime

serves to unify and distinguish divisions of the poem since

it is likely that the rime sounds followed in one STANZA—

the Spenserian for instance—will be changed when the next

STANZA is started. This principle at once gives UNITY

to the one STANZA and marks it off as separate from the

next, affording a sense of movement and progress to the

poem as a whole. The fact that these qualities as well as

others reside in rime will be immediately granted when we

recall how commonly folklore and the play of children—to

take only two instances—resort to rime to make memorizing

easy.

The types of rime are classified according to two

schemes* (1) as to the position of the rimed syllables In

the line, and (2) as to the number of syllables In which

the Identity of sound occurs.

On the basis of the position of the rime, we have:

1. END RIME, much the most common type, which occurs at the end of the verse.

2. INTERNAL RIME (sometimes called LEONINE RI:-:E), which occurs at some place after the beginning and before the closing syllables.

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3. BEGINNING RIME, which occurs in the first syllable (or syllables) of the verse.

On the basis of the number of syllables presenting

similarity of sound, we have*

1. MASCULINE RIME, where the correspondence of sound is restricted to the final accented syllable as "fan' and "ran." This type of rime is generally more forceful, more vigorous than those below.

2. FEMININE RIME, where the correspondence of sound lies in two consecutive syllables, as in "lighting" and "fighting." This is sometimes called double rime. FEMININE RIME is used for lightness and delicacy In movement.

3. TRIPLE RIME, where the correspondence of sound lies in three consecutive syllables, as in "glorious" and "victorious." Triple rime has been used for serious work-such as Thomas Hood's humorous, satirical verse, for the sort of use Byron makes of it in his satiric poems, and Ogden Nash in his comic ones.

RUN-ON LINES: The carrying over of sense and grammatic

structure from one verse to a succeeding one for comple

tion. The opposite of END-STOPPED LINES.

SCANSION* The dividing of VERSE into FEET by indicating

ACCENTS and counting syllables to determine the METER of

a poem. Scansion is a means of studying the mechanical

elements by which the poet has established his rhythmical

effects. The METER, once the scanning has been performed,

is named according to the type and number of FEET employed

in a VERSE.

SIMILE* A figure of speech In which a similarity between

two objects is directly expressed, as in Kilton's

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A dungeon horrible, on all sides round. As one great furnace flamed;

Here the comparison between the dungeon (Hell) and the

great furnace is directly expressed in the as which labels

the comparison a simile. Most similes are introduced by

as or like.

SPONDEE* A FOOT composed of two accented syllables ( - ) .

STANZA* A recurrent grouping of two or more lines of a

poem in terms of length, metrical form, and, often, RIME-

SCHEME. However, the division into stanzas Is sometimes

made according to thought as well as form, in which case

the stanza is a unit not unlike a paragraph of prose.

STROPHE is another term used for stanza, but one should

avoid VERSE in this sense, since VERSE is properly reserved

to Indicate a single line of poetry. Some of the more

common stanzalc forms are COUPLET, TERCET, QUATRAIN, RIME

ROYAL, OTTAVA RIMA, and the SPENSERIAN STANZA.

STROPHE * See stanza.

SYMBOL* In a literary sense, a symbol is a TROPE which

combines a literal and sensuous quality with an abstract

or suggestive aspect, . . . Literary symbols are of two

broad types* one Includes those which embody within them

selves universal suggestions of meaning, as the ocean and

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land suggest time and eternity, the voyage suggests life,

and phallic symbols are universally recognized. Such

symbols are used widely (and sometimes unconsciously)

in the world's literature. The other type of syTPbol

secures its suggestiveness not from qxialitles Inherent In

Itself but from the way in which it is used in a given work.

SYNAESTHESIA* The concurrent response of two or more of

the senses to the stimulation of one. The term Is applied

in literature to the description of one kind of sensation

in terms of another—that is, the description of sounds

in terms of colors, as a "blue note," of colors in terms

of temperature, as a "cool green," etc.

SYNECDOCHE * A form of METAPHOR which in mentioning a part

signifies the whole or the whole signifies the part. In

order to be clear, a good synecdoche must be based on an

Important part of the whole and not a minor part and,

usually, the part selected to stand for the whole must be

the part most directly associated with the subject under

discussion.

TETRAMETER* See METER.

TRIMETER* See METER.

TROCHEE* A two-syllabled poetic FOOT consisting of an

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accented and an unaccented syllable, as In the word happy.

TROPE * In RHETORIC a trope is a FIGURE OF SPEECH involving

a "turn" or change of sense—the use of a word In a sense

other than its proper or literal one.

VERS LIBRE: See free verse.

VERSIFICATION* The art and practice of writing VERSE.

Like PROSODY the term Is an Inclusive one, being generally

used to connote all the mechanical elements going to make

up poetic composition* ACCENT, RHYTHM, the FOOT, METER,

RIME, STANZA FORM. DICTION, and such aids as ASSONANCE,

ONOMATOPOEIA, and ALLITERATION. In a narrower sense

versification signifies simply the structural form of a

VERSE or STANZA such as Is revealed by careful SCANSION.

rhetorical and prosodic patterits in tm waste laitd by

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