| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Sportsman by Xenophon: Choose a good dog for the purpose. When the bitch is ready to whelp
she should not be taken out hunting continuously, but at intervals
sufficient to avoid a miscarriage through her over-love of toil. The
period of gestation lasts for sixty days. When littered the puppies
should be left to ther own dam, and not placed under another bitch;
foster-nursing does not promote growth in the same way, whilst nothing
is so good for them as their own mother's milk and her breath,[3] and
the tenderness of her caresses.[4]
[1] Or, "Winter is the time at which to pair dogs for breeding, the
bitches to be released from hard work, so that with the repose so
secured they may produce a fine litter in spring."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: that are madly outstretched to grasp it, and forces His pity and
forgiveness on the unwilling soul. Finding that it was the
principle of LIFE which grew stronger within him, the young man
at last meditated an awful crime. The thought of self-destruction
haunted him day and night. He lingered around the wharves, gazing
into the deep waters, and was restrained from the deed only by the
memory of the last loving voice he had heard. One gloomy evening,
when even this memory had faded, and he awaited the approaching
darkness to make his design secure, a hand was laid on his arm. A
man in the simple garb of the Friends stood beside him, and a face
which reflected the kindness of the Divine Father looked upon
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: expeditions. He wants to get rid of you. Did one ever hear of a man
settled in life, a well-behaved, quiet man galloping about like a
warlock?"
"But, my dear mother, you do not understand that he must have
excitement to fire his genius. He is fond of scenes which----"
"I would make scenes for him, fine scenes!" cried Madame Guillaume,
interrupting her daughter. "How can you show any consideration to such
a man? In the first place, I don't like his drinking water only; it is
not wholesome. Why does he object to see a woman eating? What queer
notion is that! But he is mad. All you tell us about him is
impossible. A man cannot leave his home without a word, and never come
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot: free to London'; and the Bill of Lading, etc., were to be handed
to the buyer upon payment of the sight draft.
Notes 196 and 197 were transposed in this and the Hogarth Press edition,
but have been corrected here.
210. 'Carriage and insurance free'] 'cost, insurance and freight'--Editor.
218. Tiresias, although a mere spectator and not indeed a 'character',
is yet the most important personage in the poem, uniting all the rest.
Just as the one-eyed merchant, seller of currants, melts into
the Phoenician Sailor, and the latter is not wholly distinct
from Ferdinand Prince of Naples, so all the women are one woman,
and the two sexes meet in Tiresias. What Tiresias sees, in fact,
The Waste Land |
