THE WASTE LAND - WHAT THE THUNDER SAID

WHAT THE THUNDER SAID

Ø  The Upanishads tell us of God speaking to His devotees in thunder and pointing out to them the way of salvation in the final section of The Waste Land. Eliot points out the way of salvation to the moderns and so the section is fittingly entitled as ‘What the Thunder Said’. The way of salvation suggested by Eliot is based on the hoary wisdom of India. In the first passage of this section, the poet describes Christ’s arrest and His suffering at the hands of His enemies. Christ was surrounded by dirty, sweating crowds, with burning torches in their hands. There was silence and terror everywhere after his arrest. The use of the word ‘garden’ suggests the death of the fertility of god in vegetation ceremonies. Christ spent a painful period in the palace of the Roman governor Pilate, where he was interrogated and put in prison (Stony Paces). Then it was rumoured that Christ was going to be released. This led to angry demonstration in front of the prison. At last Christ was crucified. Though Christ physically died. Yet he lived on in the minds of his disciples and followers. The twentieth century has totally forgotten Christ. In this sense, Christ is now dead, we have forgotten Christ. We are slowly dying spiritually.

Ø  In the passage beginning, ‘Here is no water, but only rock’, the reference is to the journey of Sir Percival or Parsifal, searching for the Holy Grail. Parsifal and his followers reach the mountain on the top of which is the Chapel Perilous in which is kept the lost Grail. There have been no rains for a long time and so there is universal ruin. As the searcher approaches the Chapel, he has hallucinations. Red ghostly figures seem to look out at the quester from mud cracked houses and mock at him. There is no water not even the sound of water. There is only the endless jarring noise made by insects.

Ø  The next passage narrates a hallucination experienced by the disciples of Christ during their journey to Emmaus, an evil land described in the Bible. One of the disciples sees a hooded figure, wrapped in a brown mantle, walking on the other side of his companion. The disciple does not know who the person is.

Ø  The journey to the Chapel Perilous and the journey to Emmaus had a definite purpose. But the modern humanity wanders about without any definite purpose. This is described in the passage beginning ‘what is that sound’. The hooded hordes symbolize the modern humanity. The murmur of maternal lamentation may be the lamentation of Europe over its plight. Towers are falling, that is, values are collapsing. Eastern Europe is represented as a mad woman, fiddling music on her own hair. The bats in this passage symbolize decay and the ‘towers upside down’ symbolize the perversion of the functions of the church. Church bells are still tolled and people still attend the church. But people have no genuine faith in Christianity, people are spiritually dead. This is symbolized by ‘empty cisterns and exhausted wells’.

Ø  Unlike the fruitless questers of our time, the Knight (Parsifal) ultimately reaches the goal. He reaches the Chapel Perilous on top of the mountain, only to find it in ruins. Still there is some hope. A cock crows, standing on a roof. This symbolizes the end of the hopeless condition and the birth of a hopeful state. Also, there is a damp wind, indicating the arrival of rain and fertility. The maimed King Fisher is likely to return to health.

Ø  Once India did not have rains for a long period. There was universal ruin in India as there is around the Chapel Perilous now. God spoke to the distressed people in thunder, suggesting a three fold way of attaining salvation – Datta, Dayadhvam and Damyata.

Ø  ‘Datta’ means to give. We must give ourselves over to some noble cause, without being swayed by prudential considerations even though such a sacrifice will not be recorded in obituaries or richly rewarded in the wills of rich men.

Ø  ‘Dayadhvam’ means ‘to sympathize’. Modern man is self-centred like Coriolanus. He should come out of the prison of his self and achieve oneness with others.

Ø  ‘Damyata’ means ‘self-control’. If we are spiritually disciplined our life will be easy and smooth, like the easy movement of a boat under expert guidance.

Ø  In the last passage, the poet strikes a personal note and tells the spiritually dead humanity how he hopes to achieve spiritual salvation. The falling of the ‘London Bridge’ symbolizes spiritual and social disintegration of the waste land. The poet turns his back on the dead land and sits fishing on the shore of the river, i.e. he makes efforts for his spiritual re-generation. He remembers some lines from Dante’s Purgatoria and some from another Latin poem, Pervigilium Veneris, which teach him that suffering results in self-purification and beauty is born when the heart is purified. He has also learnt that absolute detachment is necessary for spiritual salvation. These are the principles he has collected and he hopes to save himself by following them in life. Just as the mad Hiernimo in Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy is ready to fit the actors with a suitable play, so Eliot has also fitted or provided humanity with the necessary advice and guidance. In the end, he reminds humanity of the teachings of the Upanishads. It is in this way alone that absolute peace – ‘the peace which passeth understanding’ – can be achieved. Thus the poem ends with a message of hope. The poet suggests a way to attain salvation.

REFERENCE: UNKNOWN SOURCES.