Student Question
What nursery rhyme is referenced at the end of The Waste Land?
Quick answer:
The popular nursery rhyme mentioned at the end of The Waste Land is "London Bridge Is Falling Down." At the end of the poem, Eliot calls back to the crowd mentioned in the first section, "The Burial of the Dead." He describes the crowd flowing over London Bridge and observes that "death had undone so many."
In the final stanza of The Waste Land, T. S. Eliot includes the line
London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down.
This is a quotation from a popular nursery rhyme, the chorus of which goes as follows:
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
The origins of this rhyme have been lost, but it dates back at least to the seventeenth century and is included in various anthologies of verse from the nineteenth century onwards. In the nineteenth century, it was often sung by children while they played a game in which a column of players would pass beneath an arch made by two other players holding up their arms. At the end of the verse, the two players forming the arch would bring their arms down, trapping one of those in the column.
There are various explanations for the words of the rhyme. It is sometimes thought to be a literal comment on the dilapidation of London Bridge, which was, for many years, the only path over the River Thames. However, a more baroque hypothesis is advanced by Lady Gomme in The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This is the idea that children were buried alive in the foundations of the original bridge. There are also theories that the rhyme refers to an attack on London Bridge by Viking invaders in the eleventh century. In any case, within the poem, the line clearly refers back to Eliot's image of the crowds flowing over the bridge in the poem's first section, "The Burial of the Dead."
Get Ahead with eNotes
Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.
Already a member? Log in here.