The Waste Land
Critique • Quotes
First editionFirst publication
1922
Literary form
Poem
Writing language
English
Author's country
England
Length
5 parts, approx. 2,700 words
Notable lines
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
— First lines
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.
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag—
It's so elegant
So intelligent
Twit twit twit twit
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo's mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
— Last lines
Critique • Quotes
