The lovely image of lilacs in the spring is here associated with “the dead land.” Winter was better; then, at least, the suffering was obvious, and the “forgetful snow” covered over any memories. The Waste Land Themes Death. Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain.” Right away we are given clues of the unknown speakers un happiness. The dystopian elements can also be see through this because the corpse is buried in the persons garden. of Babel: We will never be able to perfectly comprehend one another. ‘The Burial of the Dead’ is a perfect example of this, as the reader is never quite sure who is speaking, or if Eliot is simply quoting another work. winter, the time of forgetfulness and numbness, is indeed preferable. It also hints at the impact of the First World War on the people of Europe. Winter is mentioned once again. matters. is mixed with childhood reminiscences about a “hyacinth girl” and novels from these lines). Such is the wasteland of modern life. is left with the feeling of being trapped in a crowd, unable to After this digression, Eliot offers the reader a snatch of speech, this time from the mouth of the “hyacinth girl.” This girl, perhaps one of the narrator's (or Eliot's) early loves, alludes to a time a year ago when the narrator presented her with hyacinths. The speaker begins by asking a rhetorical question: ‘What are the roots that clutch, what branches growOut of this stony rubbish?’. It is challenging to follow the tone and languages of the poem. The next couple lines we learned that the speaker is a sort of character in the poem but i doubt it is T.S Eliot himself. April, which is a beautiful month of the year, is made ugly by speaking of lilacs growing out of dead land and dried up tubers. The burial of the dead in T.S Eliots “The Waste Land” begins with these four lines “April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing The woman mixes a meditation on the seasons with We leave this scene and find ourselves recognisably in London for the first time, and are told that the speaker witnessed a crowd of people flowing over London Bridge, whom death has undone. The first stanza of ‘The Burial of the Dead’ opens with a paradox, or an observation that seems to contradict common sense: ‘April is the cruelest month, breedingLilacs out of the dead land. This gives us more evidence that the speaker is in depression. He confronts a figure with Later, Eliots affirms his belief in human hopelessness by quoting Tristan und Isolde, the tragic German opera: “Oed und leer das Meer” – or, “Desolate and empty sea.” (42). Keeping with the rest of the poem’s tone, the tarot cards the speaker draws, such as the “drowned Phoenician Sailor” or the “one-eyed merchant” are all negative cards, predicting trouble ahead.