WHAT THE THUNDER SAID
T. S. Eliot · 1922
In the first part of Part V three themes are employed:
the journey to Emmaus, the approach to the Chapel Perilous
(see Miss Weston’s book) and the present decay of eastern Europe.
357. This is _Turdus aonalaschkae pallasii_, the hermit-thrush
which I have heard in Quebec County. Chapman says (_Handbook of
Birds of Eastern North America_) “it is most at home in secluded
woodland and thickety retreats. . . . Its notes are not
remarkable for variety or volume, but in purity and sweetness of
tone and exquisite modulation they are unequalled.” Its
“water-dripping song” is justly celebrated.
360. The following lines were stimulated by the account of one
of the Antarctic expeditions (I forget which, but I think one
of Shackleton’s): it was related that the party of explorers,
at the extremity of their strength, had the constant delusion
that there was _one more member_ than could actually be counted.
366-76. Cf. Hermann Hesse, _Blick ins Chaos_:
“Schon ist halb Europa, schon ist zumindest der halbe Osten
Europas auf dem Wege zum Chaos, fährt betrunken im heiligem Wahn
am Abgrund entlang und singt dazu, singt betrunken und hymnisch
wie Dmitri Karamasoff sang. Ueber diese Lieder lacht der Bürger
beleidigt, der Heilige und Seher hört sie mit Tränen.”
401. “Datta, dayadhvam, damyata” (Give, sympathize,
control). The fable of the meaning of the Thunder is found
in the _Brihadaranyaka—Upanishad_, 5, 1. A translation is found
in Deussen’s _Sechzig Upanishads des Veda_, p. 489.
407. Cf. Webster, _The White Devil_, v. vi:
“. . . they’ll remarry
Ere the worm pierce your winding-sheet, ere the spider
Make a thin curtain for your epitaphs.”
411. Cf. _Inferno_, xxxiii. 46:
“ed io sentii chiavar l’uscio di sotto
all’orribile torre.”
Also F. H. Bradley, _Appearance and Reality_, p. 346:
“My external sensations are no less private to myself than are my
thoughts or my feelings. In either case my experience falls
within my own circle, a circle closed on the outside; and, with
all its elements alike, every sphere is opaque to the others
which surround it. . . . In brief, regarded as an existence which
appears in a soul, the whole world for each is peculiar and
private to that soul.”
424. V. Weston, From _Ritual to Romance_; chapter on the Fisher
King.
427. V. _Purgatorio_, xxvi. 148.
“‘Ara vos prec per aquella valor
‘que vos guida al som de l’escalina,
‘sovegna vos a temps de ma dolor.’
Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina.”
428. V. _Pervigilium Veneris_. Cf. Philomela in Parts II and
III.
429. V. Gerard de Nerval, Sonnet _El Desdichado_.
431. V. Kyd’s _Spanish Tragedy_.
433. Shantih. Repeated as here, a formal ending to an
Upanishad. ‘The Peace which passeth understanding’ is a feeble
translation of the content of this word.