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The Waste Land, Prufrock and Other Poems (Thrift Editions)
by
T.S. Eliot,
Paul Negri
After sitting through T.S. Eliot's reading of "The Waste Land," listeners may be inclined to hang up the earphones for a spell. There are no flaws to Eliot's steady-toned interpretation; in fact, his delivery is quite remarkable in its ability to match the poem's constant, somber mood. It's just that 25-plus minutes of Eliot's desolate landscapes--rendered even m...more
paper, 49 pages
Published
January 26th 1998
by Dover Publications
(first published 1998)
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Uncle!
I measured out my life with coffee spoons in the hours, weeks, indeed months between when I first picked this up and when I subsequently set it down unfinished. It gets two stars in deference to the world of literary critics and english PhD's who call Eliot a master.
I want to believe that good poetry has something to share with us. I even keep a copy of Garrison Keillor's anthology "Good Poem's For Hard Times" on my night stand, for Pete's sakes! It...more
I measured out my life with coffee spoons in the hours, weeks, indeed months between when I first picked this up and when I subsequently set it down unfinished. It gets two stars in deference to the world of literary critics and english PhD's who call Eliot a master.
I want to believe that good poetry has something to share with us. I even keep a copy of Garrison Keillor's anthology "Good Poem's For Hard Times" on my night stand, for Pete's sakes! It...more
T.S. Eliot takes a lot of work. I wouldn't recommend just plowing through The Wasteland on your own. It's the type of poem you only really understand when you discuss it in a group. If I hadn't studied it in a class in college, I'm sure I never would've understood it.
I would give 5 stars to Prufrock alone, and probably 3 or 4 to the rest. I especially loved Prufrock when I was single, b/c I think it captures the essence of male timidity. The language is oblique, but has some pow...more
I would give 5 stars to Prufrock alone, and probably 3 or 4 to the rest. I especially loved Prufrock when I was single, b/c I think it captures the essence of male timidity. The language is oblique, but has some pow...more
Not my first time to this particular rodeo, and am struck, as always, by the fact that the poetry (and particular the titular poem) serves one at so many different stages of life. At first it seemed impossibly romantic, in my sort of On The Road stage, in love with Reality and Grit and Smoking and Cities way. I knew about many of the references then from half-assed research, but reading it now again many of those allusions feel more natural and much more illuminating. Part 3 particularly, with T...more
Good, yes, but incredibly inaccessible for anyone without an English degree. This is probably best read as part of a course so there is someone to guide you through the language and all the literary references, and it would help if you have a good command of French (and it would be even better if you also understood at least some Greek and Latin).
This isn't to say that all of the poems in this collection are as inaccessible as "The Wasteland" and some of the others. Once you'...more
This isn't to say that all of the poems in this collection are as inaccessible as "The Wasteland" and some of the others. Once you'...more
I suspect that I am missing something, but I simply didn't get it. I spent the huge bulk of the time confused and wanting the damn thing to just be over with already. Maybe someday I'll go back and try again with fresh eyes.
Do not suddenly break the branch, or[return]Hope to find[return]the white hart behind the white well.[return]Glance aside, not for lance, do not spell[return]Old enchantments. Let them sleep,[return]'Gently dip, but not too deep',[return]Lift your eyes[return]Where the roads dip and where the roads rise[return]Seek only there[return]Where the grey light meets the green air[return]The hermit's chapel, the pilgrim's prayer.[return][return]As well as The Waste Land, this small book contains The Lov...more
If you asked me a few years ago to make a list of who I thought would be on the list of poets most influential to my own voice, I would never have selected Eliot. I have always been a little intimidated by his intelligence. For me, the key to gaining a deeper appreciation for Eliot was a deeper study of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Modernists like Eliot and Auden and Pound most remind me, for all their experimentation, of those old tellers of epic tales: the attention to language and rhythm, the idea of ...more
Been reading this for a while and finally finished. It contained Prufrock and Other Observations, Poems 1920, and The Waste Land.
Prufrock and other Obersvations contained some incredibly brilliant moments. The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock might be my favorite poem from him and bits and pieces of other poems were fantastic. Overall though the collection was inconsistent with great highs and some definite lulls.
Poems 1920 seemed to be more consistent overall and but it...more
Prufrock and other Obersvations contained some incredibly brilliant moments. The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock might be my favorite poem from him and bits and pieces of other poems were fantastic. Overall though the collection was inconsistent with great highs and some definite lulls.
Poems 1920 seemed to be more consistent overall and but it...more
"Let us go then, you and I, when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table..."
This collection contains two of Eliot's most famous works, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land, but it also includes all the other poems he published betwen 1917 and 1922. I love Eliot and his use of allusion and symbolism in poetry. Because this volume is annotated there was a constant string of footnotes translating text and explaining r...more
This collection contains two of Eliot's most famous works, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land, but it also includes all the other poems he published betwen 1917 and 1922. I love Eliot and his use of allusion and symbolism in poetry. Because this volume is annotated there was a constant string of footnotes translating text and explaining r...more
This volume contains Eliot's first two books of Poetry and his magnum opus, "The Waste Land," with its much needed (and thankfully) introductions, foot notes and critical commentary. Without the afterword analysis, I don't think I would appreciate some of the earlier poems as much as I eventually was able to do. I particularily enjoyed several where I did not feel as lost as to the poet's thematic meaning or narrative. Mr. Eliot's literary aspirations and ideals for great poetry are...more
there is a very small quantity of poetry volumes, and books in general that could compare to the quality of this book.
it has achieved such a collection of achievements that are so very difficult, and as a collaboration has never been seen.
first: any holder of a respectable degree in English literature, or student, or even your average avid reader would tell you; the waste land is mother of all avant gard.
and that alone is a tremendous achievement, but to achieve it while still ...more
it has achieved such a collection of achievements that are so very difficult, and as a collaboration has never been seen.
first: any holder of a respectable degree in English literature, or student, or even your average avid reader would tell you; the waste land is mother of all avant gard.
and that alone is a tremendous achievement, but to achieve it while still ...more
This is definitely one of the most difficult pieces of literature that I've ever read. I had to read this for a British literature class and I'm thankful for that because I don't think there's any way I could have hoped to make much sense of it on my own.
I only read the two titular poems but I was really impressed by them. It's not easy to unpack all the allusions and make sense of his heavy fragmentation but as I read them a few times over they gradually started to make sense. Eliot ...more
I only read the two titular poems but I was really impressed by them. It's not easy to unpack all the allusions and make sense of his heavy fragmentation but as I read them a few times over they gradually started to make sense. Eliot ...more
Being made to read Eliot in college, I found myself often wallowing in his dense, polyglot world of allusions. Revisiting a lot of these now, I was actually struck by just how good of a poet he is, not by his erudition, not his ability to fold dozens of obscure classical references into stanzas, not by his intellectual gamesmanship, but just by how suavely ominous his poems are. He's got this fantastic sense of rhythm and he's able to really pull you into a lot of dark, claustrophobic spaces wit...more
So perfect that this was claimed by both the British AND American Literature Modernist courses at my university. And I didn't mind reading it twice and benefitting from 2 (very different and equally awesome) prof's interpretations...
Two favored excerpts:
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all: —
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
*
And would it have been w...more
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all: —
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
*
And would it have been w...more
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I liked it, but I know I'm going to have to read it some more to really begin to understand it. I probably need to find some sort of study materials to go along with it too.
No poem has affected me more than The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. I don't think anyone should go their entire life without having experienced Eliot's writing in that piece.
"I am moved by fancies that are curled/Around these images, and cling:/The notion of some infinitely gentle/Infinitely suffering thing.
Eliot's probably my favorite poet of all time, so I don't have anything negative to say about this collection, which I read for class.
I have a love/hate relationship with TS Eliot. On the one hand, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is hands down my favorite poem ever written (hence the five star rating).
On the other hand, a lot of his other poetry (like The Wasteland) seems less like poetry and more like "lets see how many literary references I can fit into one line of poetry." While I do understand that my lack of literary expertise will hinder me from understanding his poetry, one can't help but feel that El...more
On the other hand, a lot of his other poetry (like The Wasteland) seems less like poetry and more like "lets see how many literary references I can fit into one line of poetry." While I do understand that my lack of literary expertise will hinder me from understanding his poetry, one can't help but feel that El...more
Crazy difficult to get the meaning, but we have a great teacher in our Literary Huddle! What a poet!
I found his sense of rhythm and sound exciting, and there are many memorable phrases that one can take away. I was not as impressed with The Wasteland as I expected to be; I actually preferred many of his other poems.
The Wasteland is pretentious...the rest are lovely.
This is a classic and worth reading every page.
I mean, it's fucking Prufrock, nah mean?
The Wasteland is a poem that makes me crumble inside and yearn for that which is ineffable, elusive and beyond the realm of the ordinary consciousness. Eliot is one of few poets who can bring to the surface of my mind a deeply held spiritul conviction that the world is both lost and saved at the same time. Eliot makes me believe in Original Sin and redemption. No other poet has ever quite moved me in the way he manages to move me in The Wasteland. When I read it I feel emotionally devastated...more
In my opinion, early 1900's western literature has 2 towering icons, Eliot and Joyce. These two mastered the english language and set up the literary ideals the beats and acid culture would try to dismantle. The Wasteland is not for amateurs and is about as easy to read as Moby-Dick but is equally as worth it. It is incredibly dense, but every word was chosen for a reason, and the entire thing flows beautifully. Prufrock is more accessible and much easier (and shorter) of a read. A great poem on...more
I read only Prufrock and The Wasteland at the suggestion of a few friends. As I've often heard, Eliot is perhaps better understood and appreciated when read with a course rather than by oneself, and I found this to be true. Prufrock was beautiful and illustrative, subtle. I understand why The Wasteland is what it is, but I need some more background and some guidance from someone who has studied the poem. Upon that, and completion of the rest of the collection, I would imagine I would award it 5 ...more
I have absolutely no idea what's going on half the time. But it's so hilariously pompous and ridiculous and random. HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME.
Pretty good. Needs at least two reads for complete understanding.
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Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry." He wrote the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, and Four Quartets; the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party; and the essay Tradition and t...more
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“My friend, blood shaking my heart
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms”
—
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More quotes…
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
Or in memories draped by the beneficent spider
Or under seals broken by the lean solicitor
In our empty rooms”
