The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot Part 3 – The Fire Sermon and Death by Water

This is the third in a four part series of episodes where I will present for you the classic poem “The Waste Land” read by the poet T.S. Eliot. 

This poem is the story of a soul in despair. 

In the section titled “The Fire Sermon” Eliot presents an old marriage song contrasting the Thames River with it’s polluted “wasted” condition.  Then, he transports us into a dull and passionless seduction of a typist by her lover.  The overall image here is a complete lack of passion with nothing to live for.  The next section “Death by Water” refers back to the prophecy made by the fortune-teller in the first section of the poem.  Here, Eliot shows how death must always precede transformation and rebirth.

These two sections “The Fire Sermon” and “Death by Water” comprise the darkest part of the Waste Land, leading to a finale that gives us hope for the world.