THE WASTE LAND - THE FIRE SERMON

THE FIRE SERMON

Ø  The title of this section is taken from the famous sermon of Lord Buddha in which the word is shown burning with lust and passion. It also reminds one of the Confessions of St. Augustine who described the world as ‘a cauldron of unholy leaves’.

Ø  The section opens with Tiresias surveying the Thames scene in the autumn. The leaves have fallen and the wind moves noiselessly. The Thames is deserted. In summer, the place was thronged by rich men and flirtatious women. All of them have now left, leaving behind empty bottles, cigarette cases, handkerchiefs and other signs of their revelry. The water is a source of purification and regeneration but the degenerate moderns do not realize this. They defile the river. As a result the river ‘sweats oil and tar’. The pollution of the river symbolizes spiritual degeneration. The river scene puts us in mind of a similar scene in
Spencer’s Prothalamion.

Ø  The protagonist mourns the pollution of the river water. As he sits on its banks fishing in the dull canal near the gas house, a cold wind blows. It brings to him the sound of the senseless laughter of London crowds who move about rattling like dried bones. Memories crowd in upon him and he is reminded of Bonnivard in the Prison of Chillon in Byron’s famous poem. Lamenting his loss of freedom on the banks of Lake Leman; or the captive jews in the bible weeping by the river Babylon.

Ø  The protagonist is also reminded of the Fisher King, fishing for the regeneration of his brother, and of Ferdinand mourning the death of his father, the king of Naples. Water and fishing were symbols of transformation in the past but now they have lost their significance. The protagonist sees only dry bones about him rattled by rats. Further the protagonist sees Mrs. Porter and her daughter washing their feet with soda water and thus making themselves attractive enough o the customers visiting their brother. Reference to ‘sound of horns and hunting’ in Marvel’s To His Coy Mistress puts us in mind of Actaeon being brought face to face with Diana, the goddess of chastity. However in this passage the horns are the horns of the cars bringing such coarse customers as Sweeney to the brothel-keeper Mrs. Porter. The lust and sexual perversion of the modern man is further emphasized by the French song ‘O these children voices singing in the choir’ from Verlain’s Parsifal. In this poem Sir Parsifal reaches the Chapel perilous in search of the Holy Grail. But there is no purity in his heart and his sex instincts are aroused by the children’s voices singing. The modern man’s perverted sex with children is hinted at here.

Ø  Similarly the song of the nightingale evokes, not remorseful feelings, but only coarse sexual feelings in the minds of the moderns.

Ø  The homosexuality rife in our time is hinted at in the next passage. Mr. Eugenides, the Smyrna merchant, formerly brought both merchandise and fertility cults to Europe. But now he spreads only homosexuality. He invites the protagonist Tiresias to hotels known to be hotbeds of homosexuality.

Ø  The relationship not only between men but between men and women is also perverted. A typist, tired after the day’s work, is approached by a coarse man. He has sex with her,without minding her indifference and lack of active participation.

Ø  The women does not feel guilty at all. After the man leaves, the women merely puts a record on the gramophone and listens to the music.

Ø  Tiresias next visits the quarters inhabited by the poor. The protagonist hears the chatter of fishermen and sailors in the rivers. These poor men are also not free from sexual perversion and sin as brought out by the songs of the three Thames’ daughters, i.e. three poor girls living on the banks of the river.

Ø  First the three daughters of Thames sing together. They sing of dirty modern commerce. Pleasure boats drift on the river, splashing water and spar on the logs of wood floating down from Greenwich. This is described as a voyage undertaken in the past by Queen Elizabeth with her favourite Leicester in her richly decorted pleasure boat. Her pleasure boat is far superior to the drab merchant ships of our time. But Elizabeth’s sex relationship with Leicester was as sterile as that of the daughters of Thames. Queen Elizabeth dominated her lover. This is unlike the humiliation suffered by the daughters of the Thames at the hands of their heartless men.

Ø  The Three daughters of the Thames sing separately about their sins. The first girl hates the dirty atmosphere of Highbury. She confesses that she was violated in Richmond and Kew. She lost her virginity in a boat.

Ø  The second daughter had quite a moving experience. Her lover wept after the event and promised to reform. The girl did not show any concern. For, she knew that the man’s remorse was only a passing feeling.

Ø  The third girl was undone on ‘Margate sands’, a sea-side pleasure spot in London. She feels the  insignificance and nothingness of her life. Her people are helpless humble people, like dumb-driven cattle.