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

The Waste Land

Lines 31-34

Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind
Wo weilest du?

Eliot's Note

31. V. Tristan und Isolde, I, verses 5-8.

Context

Tristan und Isolde is an 1865 opera by Richard Wagner about the ill-fated affair between the knight Tristan and the lady Isolde. The opera is based on a medieval romance that was absorbed into the Arthurian tradition. The quoted scene occurs near the beginning of the opera, with Tristan escorting the captured Isolde by ship to Cornwall.

Le Galliene translates the quoted lines:

Fresh blows the wind
For home;
My Irish child,
Where do you tarry?

Eliot quotes form Tristan und Isolde again in line 42:

Line 42

Oed’ und leer das Meer.

References