Many are familiar with the “Mad Hatter”, a quirky man from Lewis Carol’s “Alice and Wonderland”, Eliot uses this comparison to exaggerate his mind state and the audience’s opinion of the narrator. In this same poem he lists the names …show more content…
A reoccurring symbol in T.S. Eliot’s poetry is water. Water is generally associated with the themes of purity and life, as every living thing needs it to survive; however, Eliot uses water to symbolize both life and death in his works. Phlebas, a sailor in Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land”, dies from drowning. In this same poem, Eliot describes a civilization and their longing for rain to end their drought. This need, in a sense, shows the idea that water restores life, which contrasts Phlebas’ water-caused death. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” the narrator mentions that he likes to spend time by the