April is the cruellest month

The famous opening words of the poem seem at first paradoxical: it is winter that is normally personified as "cruel", whereas April signifies the return of warmer, sunnier days. But the return to life requires pain and effort, as opposed to the numbness of hibernation. Eliot is warning that western society prefers passivity to moral and spiritual growth.

April is also the season of Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. We are reminded, however, that the symbolism of death and resurrection is more ancient than Christianity, originating in prehistoric fertility rites associated with the sowing of seed and the growth of the crops.

There is a gruesome reprise of this theme at the end of the section when a speaker enquires:

"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,

Has it begun to sprout?"

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