Overview[]
“Belladonna” means beautiful lady. The word suggests Madonna (the Virgin Mary) and, therefore, the Madonna of the Rocks as in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting.
Connection to The Waste Land[]
The rocks symbolize the church. But there are also other rocks – rocks of dryness of the waste land. Belladonna is also an eye-cosmetic and a poison – the deadly nightshade. In the next line, the figure of the Birgin becomes “thelady of the situations” – the woman in the waste land – foreshadowing the neurasthenic (the suffering from nervous exhaustion) lady in part 2: A Game of Chess.