The Waste Land

By

T. S. Eliot

QUOTATION: I think we are in rats’ alley
Where the dead men lost their bones.
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), Anglo-American critic, poet. The Waste Land (l. 115–116).

QUOTATION: She smoothes her hair with automatic hand,
And puts a record on the gramophone.
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), U.S.-born—British poet, critic. The Waste Land, “The Fire Sermon.”

QUOTATION: And we shall play a game of chess,
Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), Anglo-American critic, poet. The Waste Land (l. 137–138).

QUOTATION: He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), Anglo-American critic, poet. The Waste Land (l. 328–330).

QUOTATION: I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you.
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), Anglo-American critic, poet. The Waste Land (l. 54–57).

QUOTATION: I sat upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order?
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), Anglo-American critic, poet. The Waste Land (l. 424–426).

QUOTATION: Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe....
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), U.S.-born—British poet, critic. The Waste Land, “The Burial of the Dead.”

QUOTATION: Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), Anglo-American critic, poet. The Waste Land (l. 312–314).

QUOTATION: Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair
Spread out in fiery points
Glowed into words, then would be savagely still.
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), U.S.-born—British poet, critic. The Waste Land, “A Game of Chess.”

QUOTATION: What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal
ATTRIBUTION: T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888–1965), U.S.-born—British poet, critic. The Waste Land, “What the Thunder Said.”

[1] - [2] - [3] - [4]