Allusions & Connection to The Waste Land[]
A journey through death and time
Just as fire burns and purifies so does water drowns and purifies. This section forms a contrast with “The Fire Sermon”, maybe a contrast between the symbolism of fire and water. Some specific connections can be made: the drown Phoenician Sailor recalls the drowned god of the fertility cults. The head of the god was thrown into the water as a symbol of death and it is carried by the currents to Bylobs where it’s taken out of water, signifying the reborn of the god. The drowned Phoenician Sailor is also compared as being similar or equal to the death in Ariel’s song in the Tempest. “Entering the whirlpool” here, the whirlpool might acts as a portal to another world, showing the rebirth of immediate life after death. The whirlpool also symbolizes the Wheel of Fortune to mark the temporal world. Overall, one may suggest this section gives an instance of the conquest of death and time (“The perpetual recurrence of determined seasons”, the “world of spring and autumn”, “birth and dying”) through death itself.