Reviews
What a pain to understand this must've been, before the internet. (But only if you need to feel in control all the time while reading.)
this long ass, lowkey elitist poem tastes terrible, but i'll read it for you [insert name of my english literature teacher who i love like a mother] no but really, the number of references in this is INSANE. this man was undoubtedly really smart and this is a masterpiece, but also so hard to read... but i guess that's exactly what makes it unique ! despite all of the confusion and perplexity, i liked this poem a lot because its themes are really important and so many lines have this powerful musicality to them. i also feel like it encapsulates the 20th century and its people so well.. so yeah ! i have a love-hate relationship with this poem
över-pretentiös och irriterande att den skrivits så man inte ska förstå. Att man dessutom måste läsa fotnoterna hela tiden var ”the bane of my existance”, vissa saker den sa var helt okej och fick ut några fina citat: ”You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember Nothing? I remember Those are the pearls that were his eyes, ‘Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?” (ca 20s fattar inte vrf boken står som 300s…?)
“April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” I had to read this for a Modernism unit I'm taking, which made sense because I knew nothing about this poem going in except that it's supposed to be THE modernism poem (and also that Ezra Pound edited the shit out of it?) I read T.S Eliot's other famous poem The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock in highschool, which I liked because of it's beautiful writing and clever use of allusions. The wasteland is also beautiful and clever. Maybe too clever because I barely understood anything that was happening. Just when I was getting a good grip on the scene some allusion of other language would crop up and I'd be thrown off my game. We get it, Eliot. You've read all the books, you know all the languages, you've seen all the shakespeare. Just chill. T.S Eliot has such beautiful, rich poetic writing. He really does form so interestingly and created vivid, rich poems. I went back after each section to look up what every line meant - and this was super interesting. It's amazing how much meaning is in one line. But I think the highlight of the poem really is the writing really. It's beautiful at times, creepy in places, ominous and then hopeful. I really enjoyed the flow of it. I think you should all read thisgood ass proper review from someone else because it's brilliant and I loved it. It was interesting to read this and see what everyone's been talking about all these years. I think the last poem was my favourite. “I sat upon the shore Fishing, with the arid plain behind me Shall I at least set my lands in order? London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down
“A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”
is it cheating to include this (admittedly long) poem so i can get closer to reaching my reading goal for the year ? 🤔
3.5. On the whole I like The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock more, but I think if I read up enough I'd be able to like this one more.
This was just so confusing from begininng to end. 3.5*
