After reading and re-reading and re-reading T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland I have come to the conclusion that I have no idea what Eliot is trying to say. On one hand, some of the language that T.S. Eliot uses is really very beautiful. When read aloud, I really love the way the words run so smoothly together. My favorite lines in the poem were in the beginning, "April is the cruellest month, breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/ Memory and despair, stirring/ Dull roots with spring rain/ Winter kept us warm, conveying/ Earth in forgetful snow, feeding/ A little life with dried tubers" (5). I love these lines and really the first entire stanza, but alas I really do not understand what he is trying to say. I could guess, but I feel like I would probably be very wrong.
Something else that I saw out of this poem that was very interesting to me were the different types of languages Eliot used throughout the poem. I never knew what any of it meant without looking at the footnotes or what language it even was. For some reason, I think that the way he uses the different languages is trying to show the world as a whole in some way. Really though, I am just confused about it.
I found the critical readings interesting and it began to sort of make me understand what The Wasteland was all about and where it came from. It was interesting to learn about why Eliot wrote about it and the background of it. It was also intriguing to see how it was published and how important it was for Eliot to make it the way it was. I can definitely see how European culture affected Eliot because of all the references he made throughout the poem.
Overall, I am very excited to learn about this poem in class. I just hope that someone understands it better than I did!
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2 comments:
I agree I have no freaking idea of wht the hell was going on in this poem not a clue. I also like when he started off the poem with something that we could relate too in today's society. the months was something that could be related too.T.S. ellito was a creative writer but no meaning behind his work. I hope in class we can get a better understanding of the poem. The footnotes did help some what, but not much.
I'm totally with you both on no understanding anything that was said in the poem. Personally, I didn't find the critical readings that informative on the content of the poem. They mostly just told me about the history of the poem and of T.S.E's hardships. I really was hoping that one of them would go more into detail of what the poem meant itself.
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