The First Eighteen Lines of The Waste Land
Summary
Anthony Hecht's Yale Review essay analyzes the opening lines of The Waste Land, arguing that manuscript revisions (from Königsee to Starnbergersee) and biographical/historical details enrich the poem's reading. Hecht connects memory, desire, and civilizational collapse in the opening and situates these elements within Eliot's broader biographical and literary context, including references to Habsburg history and Wagner.