The theme of death in The Burial of the Dead

The title of the first part of the poem The Burial of the Dead already indicates the main
topic of the whole section, which is full of images of death. All images can be divided into
those, which are concerned with the death of nature and those, which are concerned with
a death of a human being. According to the New Critical theory, images should be
explained through thematic oppositions. The following thematic oppositions form the
idea of the death of nature in the first part of the poem:
a) Spring (the birth of new life in nature) <=> winter (numb dream)
The first episode shows the change of seasons. April is coming, a happy month, which
should symbolize the rebirth of nature after a long winter. But the spring is not welcome
in the”dead land”, which is ”covered in forgetful snow”. ”The dead land” prefers remaining
in its present state of sleeping forgetfulness.
b) Fertility <=> sterility
The image of dead nature, which is not able to regenerate after the winter, is extended in
the next episode through the dreadful picture of ”the stony rubbish” , where the plants
cannot grow. The idea of sterility, which is an important part of Eliot’s imagery, appears
here for the first time. With respect to nature it is seen as inability to bring the circle of
seasons into move. Sterility is metaphorically expressed through dryness (”dead tree”,
”dry stone”), while fertility is associated with water (”spring shower, rain”).
As far as the topic of human death is concerned, no clear thematic oppositions can be
established. There are rather some parallels between the images of the dead nature and
the desolated “unreal city”, which is inhabited only by ghosts
The natural state of seasons is broken; there is no hope of rebirth of nature. ”The dead
nature” influences human beings, makes them die as well. The speaker walks through the
city “under the brown fog of a winter dawn”, meets his dead fellow Stetson in the crowd of
the ghosts and asks him about the corpse which he planted in his garden last year.
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom next years?[3]
A metaphorical use of the verbs to plant, to sprout, to bloom with the reference to
a corpse provides another clear parallel between the death of nature and the death of a
human being.
The dead man gives no answer; that intensifies the emptiness and hopelessness of the
situation. The speaker, who is alive, is able to see the ghosts of the dead and speak to
them. This fact might hint at the mental or moral death which is more terrible as the
physical one. The ghosts who flowed up the Unreal City are alive and dead at the same
time. They are nothing but the products of the dead land, of decaying civilization.
The prediction of Madam Sosostris, who is a fortuneteller, implies another interpretation
of the topic of death. Madam Sosostris foretells “death by water”. Her predictions are
based on some vague symbols which are not the part of a traditional pack of cards. For
example, Belladonna, which is actually a poisonous plant or The drowned Phoenician
sailor, a dead person, is the part of her death predictions. The use of the false cards and
vague foretelling might hint at the fact that Madame Sosostris does not possess the
prophetic power like Sybil, but just makes arbitrary meaningless moves with the pack of
cards. Thereby the author wants to stress the meaninglessness and emptiness of the
modern life: mystic predictions of a charlatan displace the real belief. This detail may be
interpreted as a hint at religious decay. The idea of religious decay goes far beyond the
interpretation of the text and may be extended in term of another critical approach.
One of Madame Sosostris’s predictions comes true in the fourth section of the poem -
death by water. Death in its different forms fills the wasteland, reappears in different
parts of the poem and remains indispensable for the understanding of the motif of decay.

2.2 The theme of Memory in The Burial of the Dead

The second episode of the first section describes the woman’s childhood recollections,
which are full of nostalgic sadness. Her recollections are mixed with her current
existence, which is barren and meaningless in comparison with her past, when she felt
free. (The image of sledding down the mountain serves as an expression of freedom.)

By means of this scene the thematic opposition past <=> present is created. This thematic
opposition is of great importance for the understanding of the motif of decay, because
decay means that things go to ruin slowly. The confrontation of the past with the present
helps to realize how badly things are decayed. In contrast to the present, associated with
the ”dead land”, the past is full of brightness, happiness and joy of life. The following
epithets are used for the description of the past: wet hair, hyacinths girl, garden. They
form the images of water and fertility, which promote the idea of Birth of New Life , as I
have already mentioned above. The present, on the contrary is associated with the ”fear in
a handful of dust”. ”The handful of dust” is actually nothing. The present is meaningless.
The current barren state of the decaying civilization is exposed by means of comparison
with the glorious time of the past.

The theme of Rebirth in The Burial of the Dead

The Christ images in the poem, along with the many other religious metaphors, posit
rebirth and resurrection as central themes. The Waste Land lies fallow and the Fisher
King is impotent; what is needed is a new beginning. Water, for one, can bring about that
rebirth, but it can also destroy. What the poet must finally turn to is Heaven, in the
climactic exchange with the skies: “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” Eliot’s vision is
essentially of a world that is neither dying nor living; to break the spell, a profound
change, perhaps an ineffable one, is required. Hence the prevalence of Grail imagery in
the poem; that holy chalice can restore life and wipe the slate clean; likewise, Eliot refers
frequently to baptisms and to rivers – both “life-givers,” in either spiritual or physical
ways.

The theme of Seasons in The Burial of the Dead

"The Waste Land" opens with an invocation of April, “the cruellest month.” That spring
be depicted as cruel is a curious choice on Eliot’s part, but as a paradox it informs the rest
of the poem to a great degree. What brings life brings also death; the seasons fluctuate,
spinning from one state to another, but, like history, they maintain some sort of stasis;
not everything changes. In the end, Eliot’s “waste land” is almost seasonless: devoid of
rain, of propagation, of real change. The world hangs in a perpetual limbo, awaiting the
dawn of a new season.