THE
WASTE
LAND
::
T. S.
ELIOT
POEM MAP ENDNOTES SOURCES ABOUT

The Waste Land

Lines 64-65

Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.

Eliot's Note

64. Cf. Inferno IV, 25-27:
“Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare,
non avea pianto ma' che de sospiri,
che l'aura eterna facevan tremare.”

Context

Canto IV, lines 25-27, from James Finn Cotter's translation of the Inferno:

Here, as far as listening could tell,
The only lamentations were the sighs
That caused the everlasting air to tremble.

For more information about the The Divine Comedy, see the note to the dedication.

References