<P> Eliot originally considered entitling the poem He do the Police in Different Voices . In the version of the poem Eliot brought back from Switzerland , the first two sections of the poem -- ' The Burial of the Dead ' and ' A Game of Chess ' -- appeared under this title . This strange phrase is taken from Charles Dickens ' novel Our Mutual Friend , in which the widow Betty Higden says of her adopted foundling son Sloppy , `` You might n't think it , but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper . He do the Police in different voices . '' Some critics use this working title to support the theory that , while there are many different voices ( speakers ) in the poem , there is only one central consciousness . What was lost by the rejection of this title Eliot might have felt compelled to restore by commenting on the commonalities of his characters in his note about Tiresias , stating that ' What Tiresias sees , in fact , is the substance of the poem . ' </P>
<P> Eliot originally considered entitling the poem He do the Police in Different Voices . In the version of the poem Eliot brought back from Switzerland , the first two sections of the poem -- ' The Burial of the Dead ' and ' A Game of Chess ' -- appeared under this title . This strange phrase is taken from Charles Dickens ' novel Our Mutual Friend , in which the widow Betty Higden says of her adopted foundling son Sloppy , `` You might n't think it , but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper . He do the Police in different voices . '' Some critics use this working title to support the theory that , while there are many different voices ( speakers ) in the poem , there is only one central consciousness . What was lost by the rejection of this title Eliot might have felt compelled to restore by commenting on the commonalities of his characters in his note about Tiresias , stating that ' What Tiresias sees , in fact , is the substance of the poem . ' </P>
the title for the second section of the waste land is taken from
the title for the second section of the waste land is taken from
Charles Dickens ' novel Our Mutual Friend
Charles Dickens ' novel Our Mutual Friend