- "I have seen with my own eyes Sibyl (Prophetess) hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked her "What do you want?" She answered, "I want to die." - Petronius, Satyricon." The prophetess Sibyl continued to age but she could never die. Her "I want to die" line emphasizes her pessimism about the future as she can see the decaying future but cannot escape it.
- American poet and early modernist. Influenced the work of T.S. Eliot.
- The best blacksmith.
- A much thickened underground part of a stem.
- Lake Starnberg (Starnberger See) in Germany.
- A row of columns supporting a roof.
- Court Garden, Munich.
- I am not Russian, I come from Lithuania, I'm German.
- Fresh blows the wind/to the homeland/My Irish darling/where do you linger?
- A bulbous plant of the lily family.
- Desolate and empty seas.
- Talented fortune teller.
- A person who claims to have a supernatural ability to perceive events in the future.
- Death by Water, also a prediction for the rest of the poem.
- Tarot card: Davinci's painting.
- Tarot card: exploring the unknown, a journey, leaving behind security.
- Tarot card: cycles, turning point.
- Tarot card: Eliot's invention, Smyrna merchant.
- Tarot card: new perspective, requiring sacrifice.
- London.
- Anglican church, London.
- Battle near Sicily between Roman Republic and Carthage, bloody.
- Hypocrite reader! -- My doppelgänger -- My brother!
- Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra reference. Cleopatra commit suicide over love.
- Polished or perfect.
- Beaten out of shape by hammering.
- Cupid.
- Large quantity of something.
- A soft, greasy substance used as an ointment.
- Ceiling.
- Small chest for holding valuables.
- Beautiful woman kidnapped, raped and imprisoned by King Tereus in Book VI of Metamorphoses. The King cuts out her tongue. This reference indicates her inability to communicate.
- Never to be broken, infringed, or dishonoured.
- This was referenced in the first section, as part of the drowned sailor. The lover only thinks of drowning, suicide.
- Demobilization.
- The bottom piece of a side of bacon.
- Trees that cast over river, losing their leaves, transition from summer to fall to winter.
- A mythological spirit, a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers.
- River in London.
- Alluding to a river song in Prothalamion by Spenser, a book about the twin marriage of his two daughters.
- Lake in Switzerland.
- Death.
- In reference to the Fisher King.
- A top floor or attic room.
- Actaeon and Diana from The Parliament of Bees, based on greek mythology about turning a man into a stag when he watches her bath in a spring, this section is a reference to sexuality.
- And, O these voices of children, singing in the cupola [cask or vault]
- Sounds of birds. Like the Greek myth of King Tereus where sisters turned into birds.
- Recalled from "A Game of Chess".
- Referring to the violation of Philomela by King Tereus.
- One-eyed merchant from "A Game of Chess".
- Currants are the dried out version of a fruit, indicating sterility.
- Language used by ordinary people, popular.
- Both male and female, blind but can see the future.
- Full of danger or risk.
- A severe abscess or multiple boil in the skin, typically infected.
- Giving or indicating a good chance of success; favourable.
- An old-fashioned term for a record player.
- A kitchen utensil used for slicing vegetables.
- A member of an ancient Hellenic people inhabiting part Asia Minor. They colonized the islands known as the Ionian Islands.
- Downwind.
- Covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint.
- A cable car.
- Lying face upward.
- Buddha's fire sermon.
- Saint Augustine's confessions.
- Not Jewish. Christianity spread from Jewish into Gentile cultures.
- Of a loud noise, to be repeated several times as an echo.
- Meant to mirror the crucifiction of Christ but no resurrection.
- Not able to produce children.
- A large insect.
- A small migratory North American thrush, noted for its melodious song.
- A passionate expression of grief of sorrow.
- Chiefly derogatory, a large group of people.
- Tending to remind one of something.
- A tank for storing water.
- French version of cock-a-doodle-doo.
- Give.
- Acting with or showing care and thought for the future.
- Sympathize.
- Control.
- Having little or no rain; too dry or barren to support vegetation.
- He disappeared in the refining flame.
- The Prince of Aquitaine to the ruined tower.
- In this sense, it means taking chaos and “fitting” it into a poem or art.
- The Peace which passeth understanding. The non-western words indicate many thing. They are literally taken as ultimate resignation, however they also suggest that the Eastern culture is where our hope for regeneration can be found.