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Abstract Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis
vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:
Sibylla ti theleis; respondebat illa: apothanein thelo.
[I have seen with my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a jar,
and when the boys asked her “What do you want?” She answered,
“I want to die.”]
[Cumaean Sibyl was the most famous of the Sibyls, the prophetic
old women of Greek mythology; she guided Aeneas through Hades in the
Aeneid. She had been granted immortality by Apollo, but because she
forgot to ask for perpetual youth, she shrank into withered old age
and her authority declined.] Notes on "The Waste Land"Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the
incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested
by Miss Jessie L. Weston's book on the Grail legend:
From Ritual to Romance (Macmillan []). Indeed,
so deeply am I indebted, Miss Weston's book will elucidate
the difficulties of the poem much better than my notes can do;
and I recommend it (apart from the great interest of the book itself)
to any who think such elucidation of the poem worth the trouble.
To another work of anthropology I am indebted in general, one which has
influenced our generation profoundly; I mean The Golden Bough; I have
used especially the two volumes Adonis, Attis, Osiris. Anyone who is
acquainted with these works will immediately recognise in the poem
certain references to vegetation ceremonies.
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