the death of Phlebas the Phoenician
E482009
The death of Phlebas the Phoenician is a brief, symbolic episode in T.S. Eliot’s "The Waste Land" that portrays a drowned sailor whose fate reflects themes of mortality, transformation, and the erasure of individual identity.
Statements (41)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
episode in a poem
ⓘ
literary motif ⓘ symbolic episode ⓘ |
| addresses | the reader directly through admonition ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
bodily decay
ⓘ
drowning ⓘ forgetfulness ⓘ the turning of the tide ⓘ water imagery ⓘ |
| contrastWith |
the arid landscapes elsewhere in The Waste Land
ⓘ
the chatter and fragmentation of other sections of the poem ⓘ |
| creator | T. S. Eliot NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| depicts |
Phlebas the Phoenician
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
a drowned sailor ⓘ |
| genre | modernist poetry ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
classical myth of drowned sailors
ⓘ
maritime and Phoenician trade imagery ⓘ |
| interpretation |
often read as a meditation on the inevitability of death
ⓘ
often read as a moment of potential spiritual insight ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryDevice |
allegory
ⓘ
imagery ⓘ symbolism ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | Modernism ⓘ |
| locatedInWorkSection | Part IV "Death by Water" of The Waste Land NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
erasure of individual identity
ⓘ
mortality ⓘ the cycle of death and rebirth ⓘ the passage of time ⓘ transformation ⓘ |
| narrativeFunction |
contrast with the spiritual barrenness elsewhere in the poem
ⓘ
moral warning to the reader ⓘ |
| partOf | The Waste Land NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
mythic method in T. S. Eliot's poetry
ⓘ
themes of The Waste Land ⓘ |
| setIn | the sea ⓘ |
| symbolizes |
the dissolution of the self
ⓘ
the fate of modern humanity ⓘ the fragility of human life ⓘ the indifference of nature ⓘ the loss of personal identity in death ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.