The Waste Land and Other Poems (Vintage Classics)
A Vintage Classics edition of T. S. Eliot's most groundbreaking poems
"This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper." Those famous concluding lines of T. S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" have resonated with readers for nearly a century. As with "April is the cruelest month," from The Waste Land and "Do I dare disturb the universe?," from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Eliot's words have permanently entered our cultural bloodstream. Through the poems in this volume, representing his first four published collections, Eliot reshaped modern literature with a daring and overpowering vision of a decaying civilization and the urgent need for spiritual renewal.
"This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper." Those famous concluding lines of T. S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" have resonated with readers for nearly a century. As with "April is the cruelest month," from The Waste Land and "Do I dare disturb the universe?," from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Eliot's words have permanently entered our cultural bloodstream. Through the poems in this volume, representing his first four published collections, Eliot reshaped modern literature with a daring and overpowering vision of a decaying civilization and the urgent need for spiritual renewal.
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Community Reviews
I realize this a great classic but I had to watch a course by Victor Strindberg of Duke University just to understand most of these poems. The Waste Land for example, seems to necessitate a knowledge of all of Western history, literature, and Western and Eastern religion. Like who even understood this poem on their except Ezra Pound?
I am about to expose myself as the uneducated, brainless twit I must be because I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL ELIOT IS TALKING ABOUT.
I don't know if I would have felt differently had we read this in college and a professor had nudged me toward that "A-ha!" light bulb moment.
I read these poems silently to myself. I read these poems out loud. They were just words that meant nothing to me. I even looked online for line by line explanations, and then it was even worse because I found out that I still didn't give a damn.
Life's too short for me to pretend I love this. 2 Stars
(Let the rotten fruit and veggie throwing begin.)
I don't know if I would have felt differently had we read this in college and a professor had nudged me toward that "A-ha!" light bulb moment.
I read these poems silently to myself. I read these poems out loud. They were just words that meant nothing to me. I even looked online for line by line explanations, and then it was even worse because I found out that I still didn't give a damn.
Life's too short for me to pretend I love this. 2 Stars
(Let the rotten fruit and veggie throwing begin.)
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