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The Waste Land
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
20 posts | 37 read | 12 to read
The Waste Land - The Waste Land is a long poem by T. S. Eliot. It is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central text in Modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. It was published in book form in December 1922. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruellest month", "I will show you fear in a handful of dust", and the mantra in the Sanskrit language "Shantih shantih shantih". Eliot's poem loosely follows the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King combined with vignettes of contemporary British society. Eliot employs many literary and cultural allusions from the Western canon, Buddhism and the Hindu Upanishads. Because of this, critics and scholars regard the poem as obscure. The poem shifts between voices of satire and prophecy featuring abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location, and time and conjuring of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures. The poem's structure is divided into five sections. The first section, The Burial of the Dead, introduces the diverse themes of disillusionment and despair. The second, A Game of Chess, employs vignettes of several charactersalternating narrationsthat address those themes experientially. The Fire Sermon, the third section, offers a philosophical meditation in relation to the imagery of death and views of self-denial in juxtaposition influenced by Augustine of Hippo and eastern religions. After a fourth section that includes a brief lyrical petition, the culminating fifth section, What the Thunder Said, concludes with an image of judgment. T. S. Eliot - Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 4 January 1965), better known by his pen name T. S. Eliot, was an American-born British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". He moved to England in 1914 at age 25, settling, working and marrying there. He was eventually naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39, renouncing his American citizenship. Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), which is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land (1922), "The Hollow Men" (1925), "Ash Wednesday" (1930) and Four Quartets (1945).[4] He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".
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quietlycuriouskate
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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Today was a pukka writerly day. I went to the Faber Poetry event at Cheltenham Literature Festival, then spent an hour people-watching and writing absolute shite in Waterstones cafe and rounded the afternoon off nicely with a perusal of the stacks in the library. 😁

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Eyejaybee
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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Fascinating to see how different the original draft was from the published version with which we are all so familiar. Ezra Pound‘s amendments made a huge difference. #book #books #bookstagram #dauntbooks #tseliot #thewasteland #ezrapound #faberbooks

10 likes2 stack adds
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Tanisha_A
Waste Land | T S Eliot
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Eliot on the future of our civilisation - "Internecine fighting, people killing one another in the streets." Informative write up on The Waste Land by Eliot - https://bit.ly/2DWgtm9

Cathythoughts I love T S Eliot ❤️ 5y
DivineDiana 😮 5y
Tanisha_A @DivineDiana He got it right. Genius! 😶 5y
38 likes4 comments
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TrishB
Waste Land | T S Eliot
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#poetry #poetrymatters
This is so true 💕

merelybookish 💯 percent agree! 6y
batsy 🙌🏽💕 6y
Tanisha_A @batsy Our fine example, Emily Dickinson! 😀 6y
TrishB @Tanisha_A Dickinson definitely a prime example!! 6y
batsy @Tanisha_A @TrishB She was the first poet to come to mind when I saw this 🙂❤️ 6y
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Bookwomble
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"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood." - T.S Eliot

Less understanding on my part, though some communication on Mr. Eliot's, so by his own
definition, The Waste Land must be genuine poetry. If that sounds less than enthusiastic, it's probably a reflection of my disappointment at not being totally blown away by what is generally reckoned to be one of the greatest poems of the twentieth century. ????

Bookwomble I'm sure the deficit is on my side, and I'll certainly return to this poem as there are undoubtedly depths I've not plumbed.

Four stars, nonetheless, because there's some nice stuff about the cruelty of April, drowned Phoenicians, and overheard gossip about abortions.
6y
VioletBramble I felt the same way when I read the Waste Land. Shortly after reading this I saw an article that mentioned that it if you read Frazer's The Golden Bough first you would better understand the poem because Elliot uses numerous references to that work. Some day, when I'm retired, I may read TGB and then re- read Waste Land. 6y
Bookwomble @VioletBramble Hmm, I've read The Golden Bough, but not sure I made the link. Perhaps reading it again with Frazer's work in mind will help - Thanks 😊 6y
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vivastory I liked this one, but honestly I thought The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock is far superior. 6y
Bookwomble @vivastory I've not read Prufrock - hopefully I'll get to it at some point. I've read Four Quartets and enjoyed that. And Old Possum, obvs! 🐱😺 6y
quietlycuriouskate Prufrock is brilliant! (I haven't read The Wasteland yet, though.) 6y
Bookwomble @River_Voice Looks like another one to add to my TBR pile! 6y
18 likes7 comments
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Heideschrampf
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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“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.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
...“

Who‘d have thought you‘d find one of the One Direction blokes recite TS Eliot on US late night tv!? #jamescorden

https://youtu.be/VlcxeNgA5JE

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WhereTheBooksGo
The Waste Land | T. Eliot
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Mehso-so

Ok, so much of these poems went over my head - I hardly got any of the allusions - but somehow I got swept up in the mood of the words. One to return to again later, I think.

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merelybookish
The Waste Land | T. Eliot
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vivastory Do you read a lot of poetry? 6y
merelybookish Yes, I do. I like to dip in, dip out. I never read a collection cover to cover. I like how it packs a quick punch. ☺️ 6y
Billypar Great post- saved a screenshot since I always feel a little lost trying to select books of poetry. 6y
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merelybookish @Billypar Let me know what you discover! 6y
vivastory It's my favorite book about poetry. Also lends itself for random reading 6y
Billypar @vivastory I hadn't- just stacked it...looks like a good resource! 6y
merelybookish @vivastory I don't know it, thank you! Will stack as well @Billypar. I'm decidedly unserious about poetry. I started reading it when I was in grad school and had young kids. It offered me short bursts of escape. ☺️ 6y
merelybookish @vivastory Do you ever attend the poetry series at Rockhurst? They bring in four poets a year, usually really good ones. I was always glad when I went. 6y
BarbaraBB I do envy people who read poetry. I always try but keep finding it difficult... 6y
vivastory I've only been to two of the events: Charles Simic in 2008 & Edward Hirsch in 2016. I was really hoping to attend Adam Zagajewski's reading in 2013, but was unable to 6y
vivastory So, after I just posted my response I checked on future guests & noticed that Hari Kunzru will be at KC library central branch in April. I'm pretty excited, White Tears is one of my favorites of the year 6y
merelybookish @vivastory Oh cool! I bet he would be Interesting. The library gets some good guests! 6y
merelybookish @BarbaraBB I understand! I was scared of poetry until i was in my 30s. But I just found a few poets I liked. Went from there. Whereas I'm fairly experimental and rigorous in my fiction reading, I'm not at all with poetry. 6y
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Waynegjr
Waste Land | T S Eliot
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"So many, I had not thought death had undone so many."

At Dunkin Donuts

tracyrowanreads My favorite poem. 7y
Tav Great accompanying photo 7y
44 likes2 comments
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jveezer
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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It's #NationalPoetryMonth, so I'm reading my Arion Press edition with some Tai Ping Hou Kui. "If there were water...", I would simply make #tea.

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Krisjericho
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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Feeling this one in my very soul today

Dragon April is the cruelest month 💐 7y
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Waynegjr
The Waste Land | T. Eliot
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I'm writing out by hand some of my favorite poems by hand for #nationalpoetrymonth

Also in a vain attempt to improve my handwriting.

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Krisjericho
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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Pickpick

Did I love this poem? Yes. Did I understand it? No. But I don't think it matters. It is evocative in a way that a lot of poetry isn't. It creates a mood of clarity even when there isn't much actual understanding. What helped me appreciate this poem the most was one of the final lines: "These fragments I have shored against my ruins" Lightbulb moment. I had to stop thinking of The Waste Land as a narrative and think of it as assembled fragments.

Krisjericho As far as the argument about footnoting your own poetry: Is it pretentious? Yeah, kind of. But it's also helpful, so I say way to go. 7y
TobeyTheScavengerMonk Well said. I love reading his poetry, I loves the feelings he evokes and the way he puts words together, but I'm hopeless at analysis. I've made my peace with it though. 7y
Dragon I like to reread this poem in April as it is the cruelest month. So many quotes and titles have come from this poem. It's the only " long " poem I've read for pleasure ? 7y
38 likes1 stack add3 comments
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scripturient
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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A student just sent me a picture of her wall calendar with the caption 'Aaaargh, Eliot is stalking me!!' We discussed The Waste Land in class two weeks ago. 😂😂😂

BookishMarginalia Love those moments! 7y
NovelGirl82 😂😂😂 7y
110 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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LindsayReads
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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Until we meet again...

kalinichta Best of luck with your move! 7y
LindsayReads Thank you, @kalinichta! I can't wait to be in my new place. 7y
49 likes2 comments
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scripturient
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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Preparing for my seminar on Friday. I think my copy of The Waste Land says a lot: it's been held dear but also worked with for a few years now. ❤

tysephine I love seeing how people annotate their books! 7y
JoeStalksBeck ❤❤❤ 7y
britt_brooke Love this! 7y
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Mdargusch It looks well loved. 💗 7y
samwinchester90 I had a lit teacher who was obsessed with Waste Land and found comparisons to it all over the place. Never read it all the way through ... it should really be on my list, though. 7y
H.Louise Pure beauty! 7y
katedensen This is beautiful. 7y
CallMeMax Good luck with your seminar! 7y
minkyb 💙 7y
TheLondonBookworm This looks like all my poetry books! I never understand how people don't make notes in them!! 7y
162 likes3 stack adds10 comments
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Beckys_Books
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot
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St Louis Walk of Fame-enjoying the beautiful morning

Blair_Reads Oh how cool! 7y
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GoneFishing
The Waste Land | T. S. Eliot

April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.

bookfrivolity Love this poem.. Every time things feel futile I wrap myself up in it.. 8y
Readingrobin Echoing sentiment of @bookfrivolity 8y
Kristelh Love it 7y
74 likes6 stack adds3 comments
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Dragon
Waste Land | T S Eliot
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This poem is full of quotes I like. Not saying I understand them or this poem for that matter. #somethingforsept #quotes

review
bookwormalien
Waste Land | T S Eliot
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Pickpick

5/5

MrBook Nice pic! 8y
bookwormalien @MrBook thanks😊 8y
3 likes2 comments