The Waste Land
Critique • Quotes
First editionFirst publication
1922
Literary form
Poem
Writing language
English
Author's country
England
Length
Five 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
