The hyacinth girl in The Waste Land Poem

Hyacinth is the name of a flower which is a symbol of sensuous love. In Greek mythology, hyacinth is supposed to have sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, a youth who was killed accidentally by Apollo.

Apollo turned his blood into flower which bears his name “Hyacinth”. Hyacinth girl is the young girl with hyacinth flower.

Eliot presents the guilty love affair through the image of the hyacinth girl. The hyacinth girl is in fact a young and beautiful lady of the present age who has now been forgotten by her lover. A year ago this emotional lady came in contact with the lover who had intense sentiments for her.

As her lover gave her hyacinth flower, she was called hyacinth girl. Her arms were full with hyacinth flowers. Her hair was wet. The episode of the hyacinth girl with her arms decked with hyacinth flowers and her hair wet symbolizes the fertility festival and youthful passionate love. She represents the spirit of spring, joy and abundance.

This is an image of the ecstasy of love in a garden. But as their love was lusty, the lover lost his senses. He had no mystical eyes that could see into the heart of this lady some symptoms of eternity. Hence, there is desolation and emptiness in his heart. He is neither conscious nor unconscious.

So modern love is portrayed by the poet without mysticism. The poet does not consider that love outside marriage is sacred in the past as well as in the present. Such guilty love does not give a sense of satisfaction.

Thus, Eliot conveys to his reader that in modern age, love has degenerated into lust. Hence there is no longer life giving and vital sense of satisfaction in the love affairs of the present age.