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

The Waste Land

Lines 13-18

And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

Context

According to Eliot (1971), this scene is drawn from a conversation between Eliot and the Countess Marie Largish of Bavaria. A similar scene is found in Larisch's memoir, My Past.