Eliot's The Waste Land

Better Late Than Never. . . . Right? 

I had a hard time deciding what to write about The Waste Land. 

I feel as though I would need to read it more and read other people’s opinions about it to understand it better. 

So I am going to focus on something easy.  I am going to pick apart one of my favorite sections.

And bats with baby faces in the violet light

Whistled, and beat their wings

And crawled head downward down a blackened wall

And upside down in the air were towers

Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours

And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells

                                                                                          (694)

Bats!!

Full Disclosure (well, partial because why would I give full disclosure?)

I have a slight obsession with bats, especially those with “baby faces”.  Seriously, I have a Bat Ecology books (textbooks) on my Amazon wish list.  I would have them on my bookshelf if I wasn’t poor.  

But that is not the only reason I love this passage.

“violet light”

Is it only me who gets this eerie feeling along with “violet light”.  It reminds me of black lights. That kind of creepy neon-purple glow that feels almost toxic like neon green does.  Furthermore, it reminds me of ultraviolet light both in name and because violet light is the step above/before UV light. 

It has a short wave-length and I think humans have a hard time seeing those wave lengths.

But since this passage is right before a massively Hindu inspired section I think it is important to consider Hindu as a guiding point as well.  I Google searched it, though I shouldn’t admit it (I need to get better at pretending I am a genius).

Seventh Chakra

Crown Chakra

So violet is used to represent the seventh or Crown Chakra (Sahasrara).  And I read (on Wiki, though it was sourced) that the Crown Chakra represents “pure consciousness”.

Random Thought

 It reminds me of how Marie Curie would comment about the pretty blue-green light that would glow from her test tubes (actually radioactive isotopes).  

I know that is a lot to say just about one word, but I saw enough color in T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land that it needed at least a little exploring.  Colors have such strong connotations (varying across cultures) that I think they do a lot of work in a poem or other text. 

For example: Purple, because it has such different connotations, would give a completely different feel to the passage.  Purple can make one think of royalty, nobility and wealth.  It does not have the same feel and evokes completely different images then "violet" even though they are similar colors.  

Sounds

I love the repeated “b” sounds as in “bats”  “baby” “beat” “blackened” “bells” ,

And the repeated “w” sounds and the repeated  “ow” sounds. 

"Whistled" "wings" "wells" "wall" "were"

"downward" "down"  "down  "towers" "hours" "out"  

It really adds to the eeriness.