This presentation was given as the semester-end presentation on the "“Da Da Da”, What the thunder said in Eliot’s Poem ‘The Waste Land'" for the paper 106 '20th Century Literature 1900 to 1945' in the M.A. English Semester 2

1. “WHAT
THE THUNDER
SAID”
-
‘THE WASTE LAND’
by T S Eliot
PREPARED BY
GHANSHYAM KATARIYA

2. Introduction
Name: Ghanshyam Katariya
Roll No:07
Paper No: 106
Paper Name: 20th Century Literature 1900 to 1945
Topic: “Da Da Da”, What the thunder said in Eliot’s Poem ‘The
Waste Land’
Submitted At: Smt. S. B. Gardi. Department of English
Email ID: gkatariya67@gmail.com

3. Table of Content
Introduction to
The Waste land
T S Eliot
What the
thunder said
Da, Da, Da
Da- Damyata
conclusion

4. T. S. Eliot(1888- 1965)
● Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright,
literary critic and editor.
● He is Considered as one of the 20th century's major poets and a
central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.
● His Famous works are,
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock(1915),”
“The Waste Land” (1932),
“The Hollow Men” (1925), and
“Ash Wednesday” (1930).

5. The Waste land
● The Waste Land is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely
regarded as one of the most important poems of
the 20th century and a central work of
modernist poetry.
● It was Published in 1922 and contained 434-line.
● The Waste Land is divided in Five parts,
1. The Burial of the Dead.
2. A Game of Chess.
3. The Fire Sermon.
4. Death by Water.
5. What the Thunder Said.

6. What
the
thunder
said
“He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience
Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water”(Eliot)
● Now the "crowds of people" take on substance, and the Fisher
King, like the Hanged Man, becomes more distinct in the Man
with Three Staves.
● To these, as to the dead Sailor, the opening theme is relevant; for
the Thunder, as herald of spring, speaks of revival.
● Death has become an agony; and, after his journey through the
Waste Land, the protagonist is given by the Thunder three staves
which could make revival possible.(Williamson)

7. “What is that sound high in the air
Murmur of maternal lamentation
Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth
Ringed by the flat horizon only
What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal”(Eliot)

8. ● Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves
Waited for rain, while the black clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant.
The jungle crouched, humped in silence
Then spoke the thunder.
● त्रय ाः प्र ज पत् ाः प्रज पतौ पपतरि ब्रह्मचययभूषुर्देव मनुष्य अजुि
उपषत्व ब्रह्मचयं र्देव ऊचुियबवीतु नो भव पनपत तेभ्यो
हैतर्दक्षिमुव च र्द इपत व्यज्ञ पिष्ट ३ इपत व्यज्ञ पि्ेपत
होच्र्द म्यतेपत न आस्थेव्योपभपत होव च व्य ज्ञ पिष्टेपत ॥ १ ॥
● र्द र्द इपत र्द म्यत र्दत्त र्दयध्वपमपत तर्देतत् त्रय पिष्षेहथं र्द नं
र्दय पमपत ॥ ३॥ (“Brihadaranyak Upanishad Gita Press
Gorakhpur”)
● ‘What the Thunder Said’, the quester reaches the core of the
contemplative and ascetic quest leading towards the unitive
way. This is the moment in which the thunder, symbolizing
God, speaks and the quester answers by interpreting what
he hears.(Knox)

9. Da- Datta Da- Dayadhvam Da-
Damyata
To Give.
“what have we
given?”
“By this, and this
only, we have
existed
Which is not to be
found in our
obituaries”(Eliot)
To sympathise with
other(compassion).
“We think of the key,
each in his prison
Thinking of the key,
each confirms a prison
Only at nightfall,
aetherial rumours
Revive for a moment a
broken Coriolanus “
(Eliot)
Self-control.
The boat responded
Gaily, to the hand expert
with sail and oar
The sea was calm, your
heart would have
responded
Gaily, when invited,
beating obedient
To controlling hands
(Eliot)

10. “ I sat upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order?
London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down
Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam uti chelidon—O swallow swallow
Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie”(Eliot)

11. Having traveled the Grail road to no avail, he ends in the knowing but
helpless state of the Fisher King. Now that the Thunder has spoken,he is
the Man with Three Staves-with three cardinal virtues that could be
supports, that would insure the rain. But awareness is not will, and so he
thinks of preparing for death.(Williamson)
The first-from the Arnaut Daniel passage again-presents an image of
voluntary suffering for purgation, the purgatorial burning hinted at the
end of Part III; the second expresses the desire for regeneration, and
connects with the nightingale image of "inviolable voice"; the third, to
which the swallow's attention seems to be implored, presents an image of
the protagonist's predicament, suggesting both the tower of self and the
ruined chapel. Thus, even in their broken state, these fragments form a
pattern. (Williamson)

12. Conclusion
● Prajapati, the father and creator, imparts advice to the gods,
men and demons with one single syllable, Da. Gods, men
and demons understand the word of Prajapati differently,
respectively as Damyata/ Datta/Dayadhvam (we should
control ourselves, we should give, we should have
compassion). The Upanishad ends with ‘shanti, shanti,
shanti’, an expression predicting ‘peace that passes
understanding’ to those who respond to the word.(Knox)
● The imperfections of the soul’s response are inherent in the
limitations of the recipient. They do not diminish the
moment of revelation, the recognition of which is the door
to the peace that ‘surpasses all understanding’, as the last
words of The Waste Land also suggest. (Knox)

13. “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih”(Eliot)
Thank You

14. Works Cited
“Brihadaranyak Upanishad Gita Press Gorakhpur : narad : Free
Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 6 May 2019,
https://archive.org/details/BrihadaranyakUpanishadGitaPressGorakhp
ur_201905. Accessed 10 March 2023.
Eliot, TS. “The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.” Poetry Foundation,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land.
Accessed 10 March 2023.
Knox, Francesca. (2015). Between Fire and Fire: T.S. Eliot's The Waste
Land. The Heythrop Journal. 56. 10.1111/heyj.12240.
Williamson, George. “The Structure of ‘The Waste Land.’” Modern
Philology, vol. 47, no. 3, 1950, pp. 191–206. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/434823. Accessed 10 Mar. 2023.