Part II: A Game of Chess
TextII. A Game of Chess The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, Glowed on the marble, where the glass Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines From which a golden Cupidon peeped out (Another hid his eyes behind his wing) Doubled the flames of seven branched candelabra Reflecting light upon the table as The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it, From satin cases poured in rich profusion; In vials of ivory and coloured glass Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes, Unguent, powdered, or liquid—troubled, confused And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air That freshened from the window, these ascended In fattening the prolonged candle-flames, Flung their smoke into the laquearia, Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling. Huge sea-wood-fed with copper Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone, In which sad light a carvèd dolphin swam. Above the antique mantel was displayed. As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale Filled all the desert with inviolable voice And still she cried, and still the world pursues, "Jug Jug" to dirty ears. And other withered stumps of time Were told upon the walls; staring forms Leaned out, leaning, hushing the room enclosed. Footsteps shuffled on the stair. Under the firelight, under the brush, her hair Spread out in fiery points Clawed into words, then would be savagely still. "My nerves are bad to-night. Yes, bad. Stay with me. "Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. "What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? "I never know what you are thinking. Think." I think we are in rats' alley Where the dead men lost their bones. "What is that noise?" The wind under the door. "What is that noise now? What is the wind doing?" Nothing again nothing. "Do "You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember "Nothing?" I remember Those are pearls that were his eyes. "Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?" But O O O O that Shakespearean Rag-- It's so elegant So intelligent "What shall I do now? What shall I do?" "I shall rush out as I am, and walk the street "With my hair down, so. What shall we do to-morrow? "What shall we ever do?" The hot water at ten. And if it rains, a closed car at four. And we shall play a game of chess, Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door. When Lil's husband got demobbed, I said-- I didn't mince my words, I said to her myself, HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Now Albert's coming back, make yourself a bit smart. He'll want to know what you done with that money he gave you To get yourself some teeth. He did, I was there. You have them all out, Lil, and get a nice set, He said, I swear, I can't bear to look at you. And no more can't I, I said, and think of poor Albert, He's been in the army four years, he wants a good time, And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said. Oh is there, she said. Something o' that, I said. Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look. HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME If you don't like it you can get on with it, I said, Others can pick and choose if you can't. But if Albert makes off, it won't be for lack of telling. You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique. (And her only thirty-one.) I can't help it, she said, pulling a long face, It's them pills I took, to bring it off, she said. (She's had five already, and nearly died of young George.) The chemist said it would be alright, but I've never been the same. You are a proper fool, I said. Well, if Albert won't leave you alone, there it is, I said, What you get married for if you don't want children? HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Well, that Sunday Albert was home, they had a hot gammon, And they asked me in to dinner, to get the beauty of it hot-- HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME Goodnight Bill. Goodnight Lou. Goodnight May. Goodnight. Ta ta. Goodnight. Goodnight. Good night, ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night. |
Notes- Cupidon refers to Cupid, which represents love and curiosity. While one heavenly creature is curious, there other is shy/shameful. -Seven branched candelabra is referring to a menorah which symbolizes enlightenment and flames symbolize passion -clouded judgment and heighten passion, contrast between purity and authenticity. -candles are a phallic symbol -"Sylvan scene" an allusion mentioned through the painting depicts the rape of Philomela. The scene pulled from Ovid’s Metamorphoses- refer to the summary for the full story -Jug Jug a crude way of commenting about women's breasts. - We only enjoy a brief moments of beauty. -These objects have withered and only signify what was lost -Reference to World War 1 trenches -This dialogue represents dwelling on the nothings and normalities of everyday life. The marriage is completely dull, hence the repetition of the word nothing. --driving in a close car can mean turning your back to nature and fertility -Reference to John Gospel: waiting for Christ's resurrection and dreading the Roman authorities -demobbed means being released from the military -HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME both refers to the pub calling last call as well as a judgment call for Lil as if to say "Time to change your life for the better, time to get with it" -Women's worth as wives were represented by their physical appearance. Lil's role in the household is strictly sexual. "Good Time" = having sexual intercourse. -Others will gladly perform sexual acts for your husband if you won't. -Lil looks and acts like an old woman, needing new teeth and not desiring sex (unhappy) -implication that Lil took abortion pills, which is whats affecting her appearance -chemist= doctor -Urgency building as "HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME" is repeated. Tension also builds, moving poem to brink |
Technical DevicesTechnical device: Imagery is using visually descriptive or figurative language, this is shown in the lines 1-10
Technical device: Line 3 "wrought with fruited vines" is a biblical allusion where it states " Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine" Technical device: -“like a burnished throne” -– an allusion to Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. Technical device: Personification is the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman. This is shown in the line "stirred by the air That freshened from the window" Technical device: Imagery in the lines 15-20 Technical device: Juxtaposition or contrast between of fire and material items of sadness with water and natural elements of freedom in the lines 18-20. Technical device: Repetition repeating the words speak and think, two actions one of doing and the other of being. Technical device: Allusion to Isaiah 44:18, which was a prophecy of a time when the minds of sons of men became so closed to the world Technical device: Allusion to Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Technical device: Metaphor comparing the rarity and beauty of pearls to the eyes of the man she is speaking to. Technical device: Repetition is a literary device that repeats the same words or phrases a few times to make an idea clearer. Eliot uses this technique in the line "HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME" Technical device: Aside is a remark made in an undertone so as to be inaudible to others nearby. This can be seen in lines 82 & 85. Technical device: Allusion to Hamlet " You are a proper fool" Technical device: Allusion to Shakespeare's Hamlet. These were Ophelia's last words in her mad state to Claudius and Gertrude |
Part II Paraphrased
The second section of “The Wasteland” begins with a description of an unknown woman sitting on a chair that looks like a “burnished throne” which is an allusion to Cleopatra. The room is filled with lavish decorations, including coffered ceilings, thus creating a very grand and appealing setting. This women remains unknown, perhaps Eliot’s wife or maybe she just represents the upper class. Eliot mentions “satin perfumes”, “vials of ivory and colour glass”, and “the glitter of jewels” which means that both the room and the woman are well put together, maybe even to gaudy. The painting above the mantel depicts the rape of Philomela. The scene pulled from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the original story, King Tereus’s wife bids him to bring her sister Philomela to her. Upon meeting Philomela, Tereus falls instantly and hopelessly in love; nothing must get in the way of his conquest. Racked with lust, he steals away with her and rapes her in the woods –- the "sylvan scene” Eliot mentions. He then ties her up and cuts off her tongue so that she may not tell others of what has happened. He returns to his wife, but Philomela is able to weave on a loom what has happened to her; she gives the loom to her sister, who, upon discovering the truth, retrieves Philomela, slays Tereus’s son, and feeds his carcass to the king. When he finds out that he has been served his son for dinner, Tereus flies into a rage, chasing both Philomela and his wife out of the palace, and all three of them transform into birds. The speechless Philomela becomes a nightingale.
Snippets of dialogue begin. The woman complains that her nerves are bad, and requests that someone stay with her. When she asks them what they are thinking, the person retorts, “I think we are in rats’ alley / Where the dead men lost their bones.” The woman demands to find out whether the person knows “nothing,” then asks what she should do now, what they should do tomorrow. The person answers with a rote itinerary: “The hot water at ten. / And if it rains, a closed car at four. / And we shall play a game of chess, / Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.” The last stanza of the section depicts two women talking in a pub at closing time – hence the repeated phrase “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME.” The subject of conversation is a certain Lil, whose husband Albert was recently released from the army after the war. He gave Lil money to get a new set of teeth, but she has hesitated: “You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face." Lil has apparently taken abortion pills and is unhappy in her marriage. The dialogue grows more fractured and the closing time announcements become more frequent, and finally the stanza devolves into a quotation from Hamlet: Ophelia’s final words to Claudius and Gertrude, “Good night ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.”
The name itself comes from Thomas Middleton’s seventeenth-century play A Game of Chess, which the said game is an allegory to describe historical plots. Eliot offers it up as one of several activities, when the woman demands: “What shall we ever do?” Chess recalls “lidless eyes,” as its players bide the time and wait “for a knock upon the door.” Chess belongs to this lifeless life; it is the quintessential game of the wasteland, dependent on numbers, devoid of feeling or human contact. Interaction is reduced to a set of movements on a checkered board.
Snippets of dialogue begin. The woman complains that her nerves are bad, and requests that someone stay with her. When she asks them what they are thinking, the person retorts, “I think we are in rats’ alley / Where the dead men lost their bones.” The woman demands to find out whether the person knows “nothing,” then asks what she should do now, what they should do tomorrow. The person answers with a rote itinerary: “The hot water at ten. / And if it rains, a closed car at four. / And we shall play a game of chess, / Pressing lidless eyes and waiting for a knock upon the door.” The last stanza of the section depicts two women talking in a pub at closing time – hence the repeated phrase “HURRY UP PLEASE IT’S TIME.” The subject of conversation is a certain Lil, whose husband Albert was recently released from the army after the war. He gave Lil money to get a new set of teeth, but she has hesitated: “You ought to be ashamed, I said, to look so antique I can’t help it, she said, pulling a long face." Lil has apparently taken abortion pills and is unhappy in her marriage. The dialogue grows more fractured and the closing time announcements become more frequent, and finally the stanza devolves into a quotation from Hamlet: Ophelia’s final words to Claudius and Gertrude, “Good night ladies, good night, sweet ladies, good night, good night.”
The name itself comes from Thomas Middleton’s seventeenth-century play A Game of Chess, which the said game is an allegory to describe historical plots. Eliot offers it up as one of several activities, when the woman demands: “What shall we ever do?” Chess recalls “lidless eyes,” as its players bide the time and wait “for a knock upon the door.” Chess belongs to this lifeless life; it is the quintessential game of the wasteland, dependent on numbers, devoid of feeling or human contact. Interaction is reduced to a set of movements on a checkered board.