Exploring The Waste Land
A commentary page linked from The Waste Land, Part II, line 126


Part II
Line 126

In the draft for what are now lines 124-126 the man was thinking "I remember the hyacinth garden. Those are pearls that were his eyes, yes!" making it appear that the hyacinth girl was the also the drowned Phoenician Sailor of lines 47-48. Although the words "the hyacinth garden" have been removed from the published version of the poem what Eliot removed in the editing process he restored via his note. Eliot's note to line 126 indicates that what is in the man's head is both the Hyacinth garden (mentioned on line 37, but read all of lines 35-41) and the drowned Phoenician Sailor (lines 47-48.)

Eliot's note to line 218 says "Just as the one-eyed merchant, seller of currants, melts into the Phoenician Sailor ..." and we have here in Eliot's note to line 126 an indication that Eliot associated the drowned Phoenician Sailor with the hyacinth girl.


Exploring The Waste Land
File name: kq126.html
File date: Sunday, September 29, 2002
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