The Waste Land 1V

“Phlebas is an integral part of the poem… he is needed ABSOLOOTLY where he is.” Ezra Pound

Write a critical appreciation of “Death By Water” and its relevance to “The Waste Land” with particular focus on language, form and structure.

 “Death By Water” is the fourth section of Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” and could be interpreted as the pinnacle point of the literary piece. Eliot’s shortest section conveys the moral message behind the whole poem through its traditional structure, rhyming couplets and reminiscence to the written techniques of Aesop’s fables and parts of the Bible.

“The Waste Land” was written in 1922 and is composed of 5 sections: ‘The Burial of the Dead’, ‘A Game of Chess’, ‘The Fire Sermon’, ‘Death By Water’ and ‘What The Thunder Said.’ It was dedicated to Eliot’s friend and editor Ezra Pound, who unlike Eliot felt it necessary to keep section four of the poem, deeming Phlebas as an ‘Integral part of the poem.’ The title of the section “Death by Water” may contextually be linked with Eliot’s personal life at the time the poem was written. Like many parts of his later work ‘The Hollow Men, the title of this section could reflect the slow and painful deterioration of his wife’s mental state and their marriage. Drowning is a horrendous way to die and Eliot may have seen his marriage and lack of spiritual fulfilment as a horrendous way to live.

           

Phlebas is ‘A fortnight dead’ but still only just ‘Entering the whirlpool’ which, judging by the time the poem was written, indicates a link to the soldiers of WW1 left to rot in no-mans land; deprived of a proper burial, their bodies just wasting away. Also ‘A fortnight dead’ could be written in reference to the two weeks Eliot spent in a hotel on the Thames prescribed by his doctor in order to have him recover from his depression. Perhaps he felt it so difficult to be in isolation with his own despair that he wished he were ‘A fortnight dead’. The theme of despair, the physical reality of death and the knowledge that decay triumphs over all is evident here.

Structurally, “Death by Water” is deliberately after “The Fire Sermon” depicting society’s desolation after WW1 and the loss of amorous importance concerning sexual activities, ending with the repetition of ‘burning’ and pleas to God to end the madness. Water obviously quenches fire but Eliot uses the liquid to describe another horrible death rather than salvation in “Death By Water.” “Death By Water”, as it is on face value the simplest section of the poem, could be seen as a respite between the two much longer and complicated sections of three and five, with the same themes such as death, resurrection and life depicted in a more condensed and understated fashion. The reader utilises all previous understanding of the other sections to interpret this ‘fable’. “Death By Water” fulfils the prophecy given by Madame Sosostris in “The Burial of the Dead”, she advises “Fear death by Water” and “Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead” has drowned, sacrificed for the common good. Eliot uses this sophisticated and subtle technique to link the poem together structurally.

“Death by Water” is the only section without use of different dialects. The use of line breaks and space makes it easy to read with no enjambment, Eliot’s intention being that the section is the easiest to comprehend and interpret. Eliot’s use of certain repeated words links the themes of the poem together: “Dead” recurs eight times and “Bones” seven, these words fitting into the same semantic field which creates images of life, death and the tentative possibility of resurrection. The sibilance of “Seas swell” and the alliteration of “Phlebas… Phoenician… fortnight… forgot” creates an image of the motion of the water flowing back and forth repeatedly, ceasing for no one, merciless.

“Profit and loss” signals that Phlebas was a merchant. The fact that he “Forgot” about his money shows what little worldly treasures matter after death and an educated reader would recognise Phlebas as the Phoenician sailor, one of the tarot cards used by Madame Sosostris in “The Burial of the Dead”.  This link with tarot suggests a hint about the darker side of religion, as tarot cards are often associated with black magic; Eliot has already foreshadowed the tone of “Death By Water”.

“Death by Water” does not show a continuation of Eliot’s experimentation with form and free verse in comparison to the other sections of the poem, as a ten-line stanza written in rhyming couplets “Swell…fell” and “Jew… you”, it creates the most traditionally formal section of the poem. The moral message is emphasised by Eliot’s writing the section in a format reminiscent of Aesop’s fables or Biblical passages.  Phlebas is a chained metaphor. He is repeatedly referred to throughout the poem although apart from this section not by name; he is the drowning Stanbergesse sailor and the man whom Madame Sosostris predicts will drown in “The Burial of the Dead”. “Death By Water” signifies the ideas of renewal and regeneration by hinting at primitive fertility rituals; Phlebas is given as a sacrifice so that fertility will come again to the land. This is wholly relatable to the legend of the Fisher King, (whose impotence rendered the land infertile) and how people travelled to try and heal him to restore fertility to the lands.

The water is described as having “Picked his bones in whispers” which personifies the sea and shows it getting into his body and into his soul, all encompassing him; Eliot’s own spiritual turmoil could be a reference here. “He passed the stages of his age and youth” almost displays the dead Phoenician as reflecting on his life as the sea unravels his body and “Gentile or Jew” shows that class is irrelevant here, all will die in the end and have to look back on their life, their mistakes and regrets. This is in contrast to the previous section which is entirely about the class divides and their unhappy sexual relationships; the woman described in “The Fire Sermon” first thinks after sex “Well now that’s done: and I’m glad it’s over”. This is the only section directed at the reader; in all the others the poetic narrators were addressing different people. “O you” and again “You” makes the section personal and reinforces the moral message. “Turn the wheel and look windward”, as well as having obvious nautical references, is also showing how everyone is trying to direct their lives and find direction. This is true of Eliot at any rate in his search for spiritual salvation. Eliot is telling the reader to “Consider Phlebas”, to recall our own mortality and this connotes the idea of vanitas paintings as Eliot is forcing the reader to think about death, just as the paintings forced people to look at death.

Eliot uses an omniscient narratorial voice in “Death By Water” to achieve the complexity and depth of the section whilst commenting on society’s reliance on scapegoats. We blame the innocent when there is no one else to blame and the use of caesuras emphasises each of Eliot’s points, “Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you”. A religious connotation of this section is God sacrificing Jesus on the cross, his greatest act of omnibenevolence just as innocent Phlebas is given to God in an attempt to aid the common good. Eliot describes Phlebas “Entering the whirlpool”; this could be in reference to the whirlpool of history and cultural references present in the rest of the poem.

Phlebas links together the entire literary piece and in my opinion he is essential in conveying the moral message that Eliot is trying to communicate to post WW1 England. The section “Death By Water” could stand on its own as a poem but Eliot’s integration of it into the organised chaos that is the rest of the poem offers respite for the reader and a chance to reflect on themselves, which was Eliot’s intention. I agree with Ezra Pound entirely, “Phlebas is an integral part of the poem… he is needed ABSOLOOTLY where he is.”