Exploring The Waste Land
A note page linked from The Waste Land, Part III, line 309

Eliot's note for line 309

From St. Augustine's Confessions again. The collocation of these two representatives of eastern and western asceticism, as the culmination of this part of the poem, is not an accident.

Commentator's note

The eastern asceticism mentioned here is Buddha's The Fire Sermon (mentioned in Eliot's note to line 308 ).

Eliot had another quote from St. Augustine ("to Carthage then I came") on line 307 That quote was from Confessions, Book Three, Chapter 1, Section 1. This quote ("O Lord Thou pluckest me out") comes from St. Augustine's Confessions, Book Ten, Chapter 34, Section 53.


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Topics:

T 11 - Augustine, Saint
T 15 - Buddha


Exploring The Waste Land
File name: nq309.html
File date: Sunday, September 29, 2002
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