Status Updates From Hope without Optimism

Hope suggests a tremulous, half-fearful expectation, the mere ghost of a robust assurance. In modern times, it has had almost as bad a press as nostalgia, which is more or less its opposite. Hope is a slender reed, a castle in the air, agreeable company but a poor guide, fine sauce but scanty food. If April is the cruelest month for The Waste Land, it is because it breeds false hopes of regeneration.

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