- Water, Rain, Red, and Violet in The Waste Land

T. S. Eliot often uses a number of metaphors, images, and references within his writing that the reader must be both aware of and pay close attention to in order not to miss them. Furthermore, there are a number of themes and motifs that are repeated throughout; and if the text is not read closely they can easily be overlooked.

One of the major themes that Eliot seems to be obsessed with in his writing is Infertility. He incorporates the concept of infertility in many ways; including infertility in terms of lack of productivity, infertile land, and sexually infertile/non-reproductive beings. Even the title of one of his most important works is called The Waste Land, hinting to a land which is nothing but infertile and unable to produce.

One of the ways that Eliot discusses infertility is with the use of the image of water. Water is often used as a metaphor for life and fertility within The Wasteland, and the lack of water represents void of life and infertility. In line 22, Eliot writes “And the dry stone no sound of water.” Eliot talks about a world, possibly referring to the modern world he lived in, as dry and void of any water. Water here seems to represent life and fertility; instead there is nothing but a wasteland. The image of water comes up many more times throughout such as on lines: 55, 136, 182, 201, 257.

The word water comes up incessantly in the last section as well. In all instances, Eliot again talks about the dryness of the place and how “Here is no water(331),” “there is no water (357).” Instead there is “Rock and no water and the sandy road (332).” Eliot uses words like rocky and Sandy, symbolizing the inability to grow or plant new life, stressing the land’s infertility and lack of water/life.

Throughout the poem, Eliot also uses the image of rain to overlap and reinforce the image of water as well. In the last section Eliot describes the lack of water as “dry sterile thunder without rain (347).” This use of rain is balanced with the word ‘sterile,’ again emphasizing how sterile and infertile the land is. Furthermore, Eliot describes “the limp leaves” as having “waited for rain.” Whenever he mentions a word which suggests life like water or rain, Eliot uses it in reference to something limp or lacking this water/rain, suggesting this theme of infertility.

Another technique that Eliot often employs throughout his writing is the use and repetition of specific colors. In The Wasteland, Eliot uses the colors of red and violet quite often throughout the poem. The first instance of the color red is in line 24/25 of the poem, “… Only/there is shadow under this red rock,” This red description comes right after he mentions the rock of being void of water, using red to suggest a destructive and futile emotion. In the last section of the poem, Eliot again uses the color red amongst his detailed descriptions of the lack of water. Eliot writes, “red sullen faces sneer and snarl.” Here too Eliot uses the color red to represent a destructive emotion of aggression as the “faces snarl.”

In addition to the color red, Eliot often uses the color violet to describe what is going on in his poem. Violet seems to have somewhat of a decadent quality and is used twice to describe “the violet hour.” Eliot describes the violet hour as a time of waiting, “like a taxi throbbing waiting.” It is a throbbing sort of wait, a painful and slow anticipation. Later in the poem Eliot uses violet again to describe the “violet air” with “cracks and reforms” and “falling towers.” Again there is this unsettling quality that is reflected in the color violet.

It is apparent from Eliot’s usage of imagery and metaphor that when reading his text, or any text, it is necessary to look out for repetition of key images. In this way one can learn more about a specific word or image by the descriptions and allusions made from the other times it is mentioned in the text.