Cf. Webster, _The White Devil_, v. vi: by T. S. Eliot: Summary, Meaning & Analysis
This concise, impactful poem by T.
This concise, impactful poem by T. S. Eliot draws inspiration from a dirge in John Webster's Jacobean tragedy *The White Devil*, in which a character laments to the dead about nature's indifference. Eliot adopts this somber tone to reflect on death, decay, and the empty solace that nature provides to those who are dying or grieving. It feels like a harsh footnote to Webster's work — devoid of consolation, emphasizing the stark reality of mortality.
Tone & mood
The tone feels both cold and ceremonial, reminiscent of a funeral led by someone who has lost faith in the very concept of funerals. Eliot maintains the archaic, incantatory rhythm of Webster's original, which heightens the sense of bleakness. There’s no warmth or consolation—just a stark, clear-eyed look at the reality of death when you peel away the rituals surrounding it.
Symbols & metaphors
- The robin-redbreast and the wren — In English folk tradition, these birds were believed to cover unburied dead with leaves—symbolizing the small, instinctive gestures of care that nature provides. However, this care is mechanical rather than compassionate, which is precisely Eliot's argument.
- The wolf — The wolf embodies death and decay in its animal form—it’s the force that disrupts burial, ensuring that the dead don't remain undisturbed. It symbolizes how the natural world remains indifferent to our rituals of mourning.
- The grave / burial — Burial here doesn’t represent peace or transition; instead, it highlights futility. Interring the dead is merely a temporary act that ultimately holds no significance in the face of nature’s and time’s relentless appetite.
- Webster's dirge (the intertextual echo) — By directly referencing Webster in the title, Eliot transforms the literary tradition of the death-song into a symbol — a prolonged human effort to cope with death through art, which the poem subtly indicates has never truly succeeded.
Historical context
T. S. Eliot wrote this poem in the early 1920s, around the same time he created *The Waste Land* (1922). During this period, he was heavily influenced by Jacobean drama, contributing critical essays on writers like Webster, Middleton, and Tourneur to various journals. He appreciated their stark depictions of death and decay. In John Webster's *The White Devil* (c. 1612), there's a well-known dirge in Act V, scene vi, where a character's body is mourned, calling on birds to care for the dead and warning about the wolf. Eliot adopts this imagery almost directly but strips away any lingering comfort found in Webster's lines. This poem reflects Eliot's larger aim in the early 1920s: to use fragments of older literature to explore a modern spiritual void, where traditional forms persist but the beliefs that once gave them life have faded.
FAQ
'Cf.' stands for the Latin *confer*, which translates to 'compare.' Eliot encourages the reader to examine Webster's scene in conjunction with his own poem—he's not concealing the source but highlighting it. The essence lies in the comparison: first, observe what Webster created, and then consider how Eliot reinterprets that same material.
No. Eliot uses similar imagery and some of the same phrases, but the emotional tone is entirely different. Webster's dirge, despite its dark themes, is set within a dramatic context that provides it with ritual significance. In contrast, Eliot's version removes that context, leaving the imagery bare and without purpose — a distinctly modern and very Eliotic approach.
In Webster's original, the wolf poses a direct threat to the unburied body. Eliot takes this image and broadens it: the wolf represents everything that disrupts human efforts to honor death—decay, the passage of time, and the indifference of nature. The line 'with his nails he'll dig them up again' gives the wolf an almost demonic, relentless quality.
Eliot argued that a poet creates not only as an individual but also within a larger tradition, a concept he explores in his essay 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' (1919). When poets quote or reference earlier writers, it's not a sign of laziness or arrogance; rather, it's a means of gauging what has been lost from their time to his. The contrast between the certainties of Webster's Jacobean era and the doubts of Eliot's post-WWI context becomes a significant theme in itself.
Bleak and ceremonial. It carries the rhythm of a ritual — like a chant or a prayer — yet the content offers no solace. This tension between form and emotion is the heart of the poem.
Yes, in both spirit and time. Each work draws on fragments of earlier literature to examine a world where traditional meanings have crumbled. *The Waste Land* even quotes Webster directly. This shorter poem can be seen as a more focused exploration of the same themes: death, ritual, and the inadequacy of inherited language to provide comfort.
There isn't a clearly defined speaker — the voice feels impersonal, almost like a ritual. This choice is intentional. Eliot frequently omits the personal 'I' to give the poem a sense of being a cultural commentary instead of a private confession. The speaker could represent any mourner, or even no one in particular, which enhances the universality of the bleakness.
Nature here offers no comfort or redemption. The birds that attend to the dead do so with a mechanical detachment, and the wolf that disturbs the grave shows the same indifference. Nature merely processes the dead — it neither mourns nor cares, and it cannot be bargained with. This perspective stands in stark contrast to the Romantic tradition that Eliot was pushing back against.