what the thunder said (322-358)

What the thunder said- the first section (lines 322-358)

Links to the previous poem: Elliot uses a few different motifs throughout his poem, and most of these are included in the closing chapter. The color red and rocks relates back to the red rock, which was the only shelter. Also is the lack of water, symbolic of religious belief or faith. Furthermore, the barren landscape the speaker appears in lacks all form of love or compassion, it is strictly harsh and forbidding-a wasteland.
The first paragraph of the section is all remembering the tragic loss of a city or sacred place; this also ties into the last half of this section. “Falling towers Jerusalem Athens Alexandria Vienna London” It says that after the war has been fought, and the silence falls over the ruined city, and after the prisons has been destroyed. The thunder is plains or artillery of some kind shelling the ruins. Everyone is already dead, those who are left, are simply dying with patience, this line is hilarious.
The second paragraph refers to the lack of water, and the abundance of rock. Mountains and mountains of rock, but without water. By making the connection that water is a symbol of faith and religion, perhaps rock is a symbol of everything earthly and meaningless. Such as money, technology, and the infrastructure we surround ourselves with. Red is again used in the paragraph to describe the faces sneering from beneath “mud cracked houses” mud of course cracks when it looses all of its water. This is a great image of how society crumbles without fate.
The third set is in my opinion the most interesting in the entire poem. Elliot uses the sound of the words to attempt to create a drip dropping patter with words. The words are that of someone seeing a shimmering mirage among the craggy rocks, rushing toward it only to realize his folly. He again refers to the cicada from earlier paragraphs, retaining his flower motif.