i had not thought death had undone so many

novazembla commented on the word i had not thought death had undone so many

Circling and circling, it seemed to scorn all pause.

So it ran on, and still behind it pressed

a never-ending rout of souls in pain

I had not thought death had undone so many

as passed before me in that mournful train.

-Dante's Inferno, Canto III: The Gate of Hell (Ciardi translation)

Unreal City

Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,

I had not thought death had undone so many.

-T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

June 2, 2009

rolig commented on the word i had not thought death had undone so many

So was Ciardi borrowing from Eliot, who may have been thinking of the line in Dante?

June 2, 2009