T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot had quite a family background to live up to. With Presidents and Deans in the family bloodline, Eliot had no chance but to be something great and something great he was indeed. Among his great tasks he completed was “The Wasteland.” It can be considered one if not the most influential poem of the 20th century. As I read the material I can see why. This to me is a very difficult read because it makes so many references to so many other writings and in order for you(well me) to understand where Eliot was coming from you have to go back and take your mind back to the reference to see where their mind was at, so you can see where Eliot’s mind was at, so you can make up your mind on what to think…….whew, sorry about that. An example of what I mean is this in “I had not thought death had undone so many.”(line 63) This comes from “Dante’s Inferno,” again one of my favorites, and as you go back and understand how the inferno was developed you can come back to Eliot and really appreciate what he is trying to say. As it says in the footnotes, Chapter 3 versus 55-57 of the Inferno

An interminable train of souls pressed on,
so many that I wondered how death could have undone so many
(from the Inferno)

The versus which are very similar talk about how he is surprised to see how many people live life in the middle. This means that these people are not completely devoted to serving God or are not considered completely evil. Thus, this made them unable to go to either Heaven or Hell. Now all that deciphering was made for only one line of this poem. This is why I consider this a hard read for me, maybe the hardest of our semester. I mean it is almost as if ever line has a life of its own. At no means is this a negative critique of his work. I loved this piece and I see why it is so widely praised. And I guess it is fitting that with his family legacy such a piece would come from him. As he is truly a genius.