Eliot's Notes to "The Waste Land" // 1.64

Lines 64-65:

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

Eliot's Note:

63. Cf. Inferno IV, 25-27:

“Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare,
non avea pianto ma' che de sospiri,
che ml'aura eterna facevan tremare.”

Additional info:

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 Inferno, see the note to the dedication.


Return to Line 64