I actually enjoy his voice- not in this one, but when he reads "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Portrait of a Lady." It sounds harsh here, but in those recordings, it's rather soothing.
Wonderful poem, though I prefer The Love Song of J A P myself. I can understand 0194D to a degree though, when I studied it at school I didn't like it either (though I was not such a drama queen about it), but as time has gone on I've come to see why it is so powerful. I think its a poem to complex and too adult in its melancholy to be understood by the average child.
Thank you for the upload, even though he's not a great reader I love knowing I'm hearing Elliot's voice. These emotions are his.
Eliot's understanding of England was that of an American tourist, and leads to a profoundly flawed, profoundly interesting understanding of what England is.
In the end, it doesn't matter that Eliot was more American than English. He lived in a vision of England even more bizarre than that of P. G. Wodehouse (who was English), but it is the poetry that matters.
I believe his best poem is not "The Wasteland" or even "Four Quartets".
I believe it is "La Figlia Que Piange". Anybody agree?
@eastwood1941 Perhaps the understanding of a foreigner to England is more true, certainly more perfect, than that of an Englisher. I know that I don't have any concept of England, a country where I was born and have lived all my life, except from literature and films.
Interesting comment, which I think I can relate to myself. Being English (as, presumably, being any other nationality) could well be a disadvantage in one respect, in that one is too close to the reality to see it objectively- not seeing the wood for the trees.
But Eliot's vision of England was a romantic/intellectual one, because that's what he was- his modernism is only skin deep.
I apologise for my mis-spelling of "La Figlia Che Piange", and would recommend Eliot's reading of this.
It's amazing, I've had so many highly intellectual conversations about this poem, and then I come here to hear Eliot read it, and check out the comments below, and low and behold, idiocracy crowds the comments. If you don't like the poem, that's fine. Many people, even highly intelligent ones, hate Eliot. And there's no inherent value in a poem simply because it's difficult. But it ISN'T trash, nor shit, nor whatever you want to call it simply because you don't get it. Grow up, people!
@brandon1ucas I guess your first mistake was looking at the comments. Youtube comments: Idiotly charmed at their frequent disappointment, the disappointment of which is heightened by the tiny percentage of gems. The youtube comment only appreciates the gems for their worth in rising expectations to be dashed, and could care less about the gems in and of themselves. But curiosity and ease of mouse scroll means comment wins. Luckily, the youtube comment can just be just as easily forgotten about.
each man dies alone, eichmann his children. frich wheet der mein heimat zu, a a mento a porai a granta a maria madelana a donna a contro vorto, appostila comunicate ni fide u christiana, freatleeloes, each man dies alone litterlay farming man.
Numptial sleep is deep, deep as they reap and seap and creep and leap and dazzle and frazzle and mazzle, and a muslim at his mosicis gun, goes boom blop doom. And the shiad with his pride, he comandist an army of mind. The reaper sows his thorn and never reap afore the storm. but after what laughter a toil in tale,
Can you imagine the god of war in the mountains, how his voice travels. Axe, art, industry or warfare? yeah the blacks wear golden armour and the other side silver. like butter. i have no tools.
@PedroAlonsoLopez I certainly don't have the performative capacity to do the Waste Land justice. A lot of poets in fact can't do their own poems performative justice. There's nothing wrong with that. Even in pop music, Bob Dylan for example was a great song writer, but obviously couldn't sing as well. Some classical composers for example that can be as great a pianist/violinst as the piece requires, but not everyone.
@PedroAlonsoLopez I certainly don't have the performative capacity to do the Waste Land justice. A lot of poets in fact can't do their own poems performative justice. There's nothing wrong with that. Even in pop music, Bob Dylan for example was a great song writer, but obviously couldn't sing as well. There are some classical composers that can be as great a pianist/violinst as their piece requires, but not everyone. So, this really isn't something to be offended by.
Is it about restoring devine right? of man's first disobedience, and the fruit. of that forbidden, tree, whose mortal taste. brought death ito the world, and all our woe, with loss of eden, till one greater man, restore us, and regain the blissful seat. fight for devine right. Did you hear them bloom, only to stop the ears with blissful sound? A people with no father. I stole in to my fathers house. Trumpet his name. Christ showed the kingdom of heaven within, then showed gods mercy. look
I love this poem and since studying it I have got deeply into Eliot. It's just a shame that I have to write on it for an essay. I feel the essay spoils it for me and it's my favourite Eliot poem. :(
@ryan06105 One would hope a man can change, no? This is a theme throughout Eliot - if you feel more English than American is it possible to align yourself over time with something you identify with more? This is why he went the whole hog and got so deep into Anglicism. He felt more at home in England than the States. In his soul he was English.
But as an example, John Lennon lived in America for I believe the last ten years of his life, but he never adopted an American accent. But Eliot is an interesting case study: with all his religious, conservative leanings, he revealed himself to be far more Midwestern than European. Despite his best efforts to adopt the speech, dress, and habits of a proper Englishman, he could never hide his roots.
@PedroAlonsoLopez Not to mention the fact that to say that he "grew up" in Missouri would be thoroughly misleading. He spent much time on the east coast where he had deep family roots. Not to mention his Harvard education.
@PedroAlonsoLopez I don't agree with that you wrote "In his soul he was English." First off, you're getting metaphysical, but I know what you mean. But if you want to talk about 'souls', lets talk about them in terms of art. I'd say the 'soul' of his poetry was American, not British. He said of his poetry "in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America." His roots were English, but you're speculation isn't necessarily right just because you post it on the internet
@ryan06105 so truly. It would be great to hear him read in more conversational tone. had a teacher who had us memorize poetry, and recite. recall many people memorizing him. a shame some schools stopped teaching literature s/a this. Later, it was all really trashy stuff. This in gradeschool, lol, then trash in college. go figure.
English was yet another mask for TommyBoy. And, by the way, the difference between real English a la Churchill and English in a Missouri English family was not as overwhelming as it is today. Dig? Listening to Auden gone American is rather ghastly, int? Or shall we promote Gicano?
@TheBlindPig1 Hmm...sorry to bug you again, but what is that? Could you get me a link or something? I've done some searches that turned up nothing, and you've gotten me curious now.
@ChornyKlegg The difference is that Eliot knew life could not be captured in words. That is what makes him a poet and Linton Kwasi Johnson second rate.
Yes, this is a difficult poem to understand, especially in this day and age of but therein, in this poem's confusion, lies it's meaning. Elliot takes the Grail legend and places it in the modern day. In short, summarizing more than I should, the narrator is the knight searching for the Grail which will revive the king and consequently the kingdom, which is this current world we live in. The Grail I would deduce could be a number of things, to me it is poetic inspiration.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
I hate the fact that i have to do this atrocious poem for an essay, every time I hear this drab voice and read his pathetic words on paper, which seems to be cement to me anytime I read this poem, its like a hitman, who obtained anonymous photo of me as the target not knowing I was the sender, is aiming his sniper directly at head as I hold still to and pray that he doesn't miss because I want it to be all over; for hell couldn't compare to the agony that this poem gives me.
@0194D It's a shame you are being force to read it. Try to listen to the poem without prejudice and hear Eliot's pain in the face of life. He is attempting to break through his icy personality to a universal (and timeless) message and so he avoids any dramatic effect or pull that might give you relief (or cartharsis). It is a poem about agony that induces agony. In other words it is a successful poem.
I was joking man, what I said was a joke off of long and complexed similies and metaphors that seem to go on and on. It was meant to be sound that way.
Would you like to explain more on it though, I already turned my paper but you made it seem more interesting than I believe it really is, so I'd like to hear your opinion on it
Lol, how the hell did you not notice I was joking. It was obviously a joke. Its a good poem, very boring and the narration makes it worse, but never the less good. It was a parody off of complexed simile, how they seem really long and streched out. It was a joke...old sport.
@0194D you probably just shouldn't be in school? Maybe a trade school of some kind or just take up working in a restaurant. You should move on and do whatever you like. It's a shame for people who don't have a taste for literature or theory, philosophy, thinking, whatever, to have to do it--- when so many who LOVE THIS can't afford educations.
Please excuse yourself from this existence, but while you are still here DON'T jump to conclusions about me. Your ignorantly assumed comment shows you(obviously) know nothing about me or who I am. I love literature, philosophy and "thinking"(in quotes b/c it seemed like insult in your comment). I just don't like The Waste Land. Everyone has their opinions. It's boring. There are so many other things that I would rather read and do an essay on than simply read this trash.
@0194D Ah. I see. A real highbrow type. What do you believe should be taught instead? Enlighten us about the grand literature that more high-minded folks s/a yourself find not "boring." (That's a real critical category right there..."not boring," lol).
I love how you are going on this rant, and I just don't care to argue with you. It's my opinion. Grow up and deal it. Also I just had to do an essay on this, it was never really talked about in classes. So it wasn't taught.
And what would I say to read over this? Anything, you name it, anything.
Hahaha, still laughing at this rant you went on, it's sad in a way. You go and rant my friend, you obviously need to release so steam because of my opinion.
@0194D My, you really are high-brow. No wonder you think TSE is "boring." But then, I bet there are a lot of truly intelligent waitresses out there. Are you a class-ist, too? What? A communist maybe--- like you think all waitresses are stupid? That's a very marxist position, and often communists disregard TSE and also, (of course!) poets s/a the inner part of the circle, Ezra Pound, who was locked up for 13 years in St. Elizabeth's for his radio show).
I'm pretty sure there are some intelligent waiters and waitresses( Why did you mention waitresses only, do you believe only women are fit to wait tables?) out there. I was just saying, I could get a job better than waiting table, w/o a degree. Since you suggested I drop out and work in a restaurant, I simply countered with the fact that I could get a job w/ far more money to offer.
But that's besides the matter and off topic, the waste land is trash.
Lol, you and all of the others are the ones who are so offended by my opinion, that you all comment with either anger or sarcasm(to hide your anger XD)
Notice that I posted my comment, and everyone else replied to it( like yourself ), all I'm doing is repling back to you all.
All opinions are worth the same. So your opinion is "worth a lot isn't it"(Which of course is sarcasm).
I know you still read it lol, but it's not too much longer than any of the other ones. Lol, you can read the drab ass piece of shit(and get butthurt when someone doesn't like it) called the wasteland, but you can't read a comment less than 500 characters. lmfao anyways, you probably still read it anyways. lol
I like Eliot's reading very much, very much indeed, (thank you Pedro Alonso!), but not the poem. I'm am with the few that shout: The Emperor is Naked! This bizarre mixture of words, his own and those taken from everyone else, in every academically correct language, makes no sense and is not even beautiful!
my english teachr who teaches AP lit as well, btw im in 9th grade at the time, hes taken years nd still has not analyzed this poem. the man is a genius nd for him to not yet fully analyze this poem, it blows me away im glad tht my teachr introduced this to me. T.S. Elliot is a poetic genius..has anyone read The Hollow Men by Eliot? im reading it in class currently wit my teachr nd it is quite puzzling....Mistah Kurtz-He Dead
ahh btw i am an American in NY jus wantd to say tht we respect Eltiot..
@shillbuster I have uploaded the second part (see my vids) and I have planned to do the rest but I doubt I will end up doing it. Suffice to say that anybody who has not read the poem but has searched out a video of it would be a strange person indeed.
@PedroAlonsoLopez Then I must be a strange person indeed. What's wrong with wanting to hear a poem *sound*? I believe poetry is meant to be read aloud, to be heard. So I came here to hear, for the first time, a masterpiece. Thank you for posting it. It is very nice to be introduced to the poem by Eliot reading it to me himself...
@nextren I agree. Poems are meant to be read aloud. Sometimes they cannot be simply understood UNLESS they are heard. Written word and spoken word both activate the ORAL part of our brains.
@TLHobo yes, but his family originated from the UK, they fled england cause of religious persecution. you know that they ( jews ) also see Eliot now as an anti-semite ? Those zionists want to destroy the integrity of all great western-poets ( also pound, etc )
I studied him in one of my classes for my English Major. He was American, but adored Europe and, "tried too hard to be British," according to my British professor who instructs this American Literature class. Oh, irony. Eliot was one of the best we ever had.
@029Mhelz I agree. "Winter kept us warm" has to be one of the most culturally meaningful and resonant lines ever and he just reels it off - but with gravitas.
i first heard eliot read this when i was in college...i make fun of him, referring to him as one of those dead white european male poets...but i respect his talent...this and the love song of j. edgar prufrock and my favorites...
This is very interesting to hear, but for a real experience, one should listen to the recording of "The Waste Land" that Paul Scofield did for the BBC. It was excellent.
the thing on his back is a shell hes a snail get it SHNEL. shoo the one with the shell is leading we must follow hes going offly slow isnt he perhaps if i overtake hell follow me?
ANd so it came too pass them who knew least had most power...the holocaust...them with shortest sight guided the earth...tony blair burning in hell kill him become a king.
Wallace Stevens once gave a lecture on "The Sound of Words" and the significance of purely HEARING words. I'll be honest, my phonetic understanding of "The Waste Land" when I first read it was profoundly different. Eliot's metered reading gives me a completely different understanding of the Biblical and Western rhetoric he uses throughout the poem. Wallace Stevens was right - the sound of words is crucial. Thank you for posting this. Where the hell did you find it?
I don't have the foggiest idea what he wanted to say. Honestly, I think there are very few people who do. But still, I am stuck with it throughout my whole course in American Lit, which in turn does suck a good deal !
This is, in my opinion, a case where the poem itself exists as a form of profound expression that is almost disconnected from its own meaning. It's a whirlwind of imagery and crazy ideas, and as intense as any music I have ever heard. It is no mystery why this guy caught people's attention while so many thousands of others doing basically the same thing were practically ignored. Pure talent.
he reminds me of the dude reading the necronomicon in Evil Dead, :P. It's quite ominous, and I think it's important to hear the original poet read his work. Although with a poem such as this, it's more important to get a feel for it yourself, because you often dictate the meaning more than Eliot does.
I know little .. yet I always prefer the man himself to read his own work, to my mind no-one else comes close. First heard him ten years ago on BBC r3 ... incredible.
@aka1darkknight You can check out some of the poets who hung around with Eliot's crowd: H.D., Ezra Pound, Yeats of course, Marianne Moore, Mina Loy, e.e. cummings. For contemporary poems, I found Robert Hayden's style remarkably similar to Eliot's, and Elizabeth Bishop is always fun (she had already established a rapport with Eliot when she was only a child)
Firstly, Eliot sounds like someone is crushing his shriveled, old balls.
Secondly, Hitler states in his book "Mein Kampf" that "The Waste Land" was one of the prime sources for the Nazi movement. Thus, Eliot is the father of Nazism.
Thirdly, Eliot was once on academic probation for masturbating in public.
Fourthly, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was a poem written to describe Eliot's homicidal tendencies.
Fifthly, T.S. stands for Thomas Stearns. Worst name ever!
I think the way he reads this is very telling - Eliot was a man who knew the difference between words that are meant to be read, and words that are meant to be spoken. The deadpan delivery just shows that he knows what the poem is, and isn't trying to make it into something more dramatic.
O.O I have nothing intellectual to say, except that I thoroughly enjoyed "The Waste Land". As for my own, personal kind of comment...I will promptly forget his voice, and let the voice I gave him replace it whenever I reread this, as silly as that is. Not saying I dislike his reading, but he sounds too normal for such an innovative poem. ....A strange thing to say about the author, but....oh well. ^^; I would have been upset if I never heard him speak, though, so thank you! ^_^
I am familiar with Eliot's reading but not of the Waste Land - which I learnt almost by heart when I was maybe 20 in 1968. We had his reading Prufrock and other poems -I think his reading is great. he is / was a great poet. Thanks for this.
I rewrote The Waste Land and read it in NY when I was visiting and here in Auckland where it went down very well. It started as an exercise suggested by Bernadette Mayer, one of list, i.e. "Rewrite someone difficult"
I kept the Laforgian ironic (almost comical -the corpse..can bloom again! I didn't use that but it is amusing) tone but also the sense of revelation or "mystery" etc
He has an interesting way of reading it. I also read this, before hearing this, which is good, as I might have been influenced by it, but I never would have guessed that this was the author, as most people read it with more expression. Good German pronunciation, sort of Bavarian accent.
il miglior fabbro...Eliot & Pound have their own charm. As for Pound's "unrecognizable renditions of tradition (sic) Chinese verse"; they're 'interpretations' and not strict 'translations' let alone 'renditions'. "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is particularly powerful.
Wow. I am learning so much from reading all of your comments! I just wanted to say that it's good to hear his voice, but I suddenly feel a bit put to shame.
I just heard Chris Matthews refer to February as the cruelest month. He's an illiterate blowhard prick. Are those Ezra Pound's notations at the beginning? The greater craftsman? I think so.
A hack? A who's-who of the greatest modernist poets and writers of the 20th century would disagree. Pound wrote some great poems and some not-so great poems. It was T.S. Eliot who dedicated The Waste Land to Pound, whose suggestions Eliot credited with making the Waste Land the landmark poem it is. As for his translations, I don't read, write or speak chinese so I can't really speak to that. It's not what he's famous for. Translations are a tricky business. But you're 21, no use to tell you that
Oh, the usual reasons: his bigotry, his prudery, his social snobbery, his far right wing politics, and, most of all, his unpardonably foolish belief that the decline of western civilization could be ascribed largely to enlightenment secularization.
@polymath7 Thanks. I had heard of Eliot's anti-semitism but not so much about the other things you mentioned. But it's a fact of life, isn't it, that great art is sometimes produced by awful people. Wagner was a detestable human being, but his music can move me to tears. Go figure.
@polymath7 hahaahh so well spoken. probably an asperger's case. i had a professor who noted that his readings of his own poetry reminded him of frasier crane... this was years ago.. yes, perhaps pretentious and pedantic, but alas...magnificent indeed
I don't understand how his accent is like that. (He is from the West!!) It sounds like a traditional southern New England accent. I have that (although not so drawn out) and I am one of the last ones who still have it. It has been on the decline since after the Great War. Everyone thinks I am British. A bit like the Auntie Mame accent. That too is quite extreme!
He was born in St. Louis but went to Harvard and most of his family was from or had connections with New England. Also, he spent a lot of his life in England so it's a combination of the two...
he became a British subject in 1927 and lived in Britain 38years until his dieing day, perhaps he lost his accent over time, as many do, that would explain the accent.
If you listen to recordings of Ezra Pound, it's uncanny how similar his voice is to Eliot's. I'm tempted to call it a mutual affectation. But perhaps it's simply the accent of men so well-versed in the multi-linguistic universality of Latin poetry (as Pound and Eliot were) that they've internalized it. I don't know. Eliot was from Missouri, and Pound was from Idaho.
Eliot was American, indeed, but he became British subject in 1917. I've been stuying American and British literature, and it got my attention that Eliot is mentioned in both anthologies (that I have read) as one of the most remarkable writers of the 20th Century in both countries.
I couldnt agree more my friend. If you study poetry you could read also odysseus elytis and george seferis. They are from my country and they got the nobel prize. I believe that both these poets where influnenced by T.S. Eliot
It isn't a fake English accent. It is an American accent. I don't think you've ever payed much attention to accents if you thought this was meant to be British. Technically speaking, Eliot is British though since at the age of 39 he became a British subject even if he was born in America. This, however, it is a drawn out American accent.
I actually enjoy his voice- not in this one, but when he reads "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "Portrait of a Lady." It sounds harsh here, but in those recordings, it's rather soothing.
ephemeraldeep 2 weeks ago
He sounds like a frightfully educated foreigner, like someone deeply learned from India, almost...
chowchow0726 3 weeks ago
i love ts eliots poetry, but not when he reads it
mr093242 1 month ago
He should never have read his own work aloud. Awful voice set to inarguably one of the best poems ever written.
Khuno2 1 month ago
Wonderful poem, though I prefer The Love Song of J A P myself. I can understand 0194D to a degree though, when I studied it at school I didn't like it either (though I was not such a drama queen about it), but as time has gone on I've come to see why it is so powerful. I think its a poem to complex and too adult in its melancholy to be understood by the average child.
Thank you for the upload, even though he's not a great reader I love knowing I'm hearing Elliot's voice. These emotions are his.
Surells 2 months ago
Eliot's understanding of England was that of an American tourist, and leads to a profoundly flawed, profoundly interesting understanding of what England is.
In the end, it doesn't matter that Eliot was more American than English. He lived in a vision of England even more bizarre than that of P. G. Wodehouse (who was English), but it is the poetry that matters.
I believe his best poem is not "The Wasteland" or even "Four Quartets".
I believe it is "La Figlia Que Piange". Anybody agree?
eastwood1941 2 months ago
@eastwood1941 Perhaps the understanding of a foreigner to England is more true, certainly more perfect, than that of an Englisher. I know that I don't have any concept of England, a country where I was born and have lived all my life, except from literature and films.
kosmischesynth 2 months ago
Interesting comment, which I think I can relate to myself. Being English (as, presumably, being any other nationality) could well be a disadvantage in one respect, in that one is too close to the reality to see it objectively- not seeing the wood for the trees.
But Eliot's vision of England was a romantic/intellectual one, because that's what he was- his modernism is only skin deep.
I apologise for my mis-spelling of "La Figlia Che Piange", and would recommend Eliot's reading of this.
eastwood1941 2 months ago
hypocrite reader, my double, my brother
jacobmatthes2 3 months ago
missouri or whatever...listen to the poem....and listen to it twice more, for once shall not be enough.
baashish 4 months ago in playlist baashish's Favourited Videos
It's amazing, I've had so many highly intellectual conversations about this poem, and then I come here to hear Eliot read it, and check out the comments below, and low and behold, idiocracy crowds the comments. If you don't like the poem, that's fine. Many people, even highly intelligent ones, hate Eliot. And there's no inherent value in a poem simply because it's difficult. But it ISN'T trash, nor shit, nor whatever you want to call it simply because you don't get it. Grow up, people!
brandon1ucas 4 months ago
@brandon1ucas I guess your first mistake was looking at the comments. Youtube comments: Idiotly charmed at their frequent disappointment, the disappointment of which is heightened by the tiny percentage of gems. The youtube comment only appreciates the gems for their worth in rising expectations to be dashed, and could care less about the gems in and of themselves. But curiosity and ease of mouse scroll means comment wins. Luckily, the youtube comment can just be just as easily forgotten about.
thecruelapril 4 months ago
each man dies alone, eichmann his children. frich wheet der mein heimat zu, a a mento a porai a granta a maria madelana a donna a contro vorto, appostila comunicate ni fide u christiana, freatleeloes, each man dies alone litterlay farming man.
duncangray2011 4 months ago
Thank you so much for posting this.
adrianafischetti 6 months ago
April sure is the cruelest month!
ETKSyiemiong 6 months ago
I recited this part of The Wasteland for a competition once. It made me cry the first time I read it.
SavannahG14 6 months ago
You showed me fear in a handful of dust. Thank you. Schubert tore my heart out with his Adagio. TS tore my heart out with his Wasteland.
TheMimifur 7 months ago
Numptial sleep is deep, deep as they reap and seap and creep and leap and dazzle and frazzle and mazzle, and a muslim at his mosicis gun, goes boom blop doom. And the shiad with his pride, he comandist an army of mind. The reaper sows his thorn and never reap afore the storm. but after what laughter a toil in tale,
TheBlindPig1 7 months ago
This is the elegiaic voice of three thousand years of civilization speaking through a modern prophet.
lfmat 7 months ago
Can you imagine the god of war in the mountains, how his voice travels. Axe, art, industry or warfare? yeah the blacks wear golden armour and the other side silver. like butter. i have no tools.
TheBlindPig1 7 months ago
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Flepus 8 months ago
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HNCS2006 8 months ago
@HNCS2006 so you think you know how to read the poem better than the poet?
PedroAlonsoLopez 8 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez I certainly don't have the performative capacity to do the Waste Land justice. A lot of poets in fact can't do their own poems performative justice. There's nothing wrong with that. Even in pop music, Bob Dylan for example was a great song writer, but obviously couldn't sing as well. Some classical composers for example that can be as great a pianist/violinst as the piece requires, but not everyone.
HNCS2006 8 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez I certainly don't have the performative capacity to do the Waste Land justice. A lot of poets in fact can't do their own poems performative justice. There's nothing wrong with that. Even in pop music, Bob Dylan for example was a great song writer, but obviously couldn't sing as well. There are some classical composers that can be as great a pianist/violinst as their piece requires, but not everyone. So, this really isn't something to be offended by.
HNCS2006 8 months ago
Is it about restoring devine right? of man's first disobedience, and the fruit. of that forbidden, tree, whose mortal taste. brought death ito the world, and all our woe, with loss of eden, till one greater man, restore us, and regain the blissful seat. fight for devine right. Did you hear them bloom, only to stop the ears with blissful sound? A people with no father. I stole in to my fathers house. Trumpet his name. Christ showed the kingdom of heaven within, then showed gods mercy. look
TheBlindPig1 8 months ago
i think i'm gonna die from "boringness".
keep3xplor1ng 8 months ago
The Burial of the Dead.
canadianbacon007 9 months ago
I love this poem and since studying it I have got deeply into Eliot. It's just a shame that I have to write on it for an essay. I feel the essay spoils it for me and it's my favourite Eliot poem. :(
dollydot123 9 months ago
I love Eliot but someone should have grabbed him by the collar and said, "Hey Tommy Boy, reality check time: you grew up in Missouri!"
ryan06105 9 months ago 6
@ryan06105 One would hope a man can change, no? This is a theme throughout Eliot - if you feel more English than American is it possible to align yourself over time with something you identify with more? This is why he went the whole hog and got so deep into Anglicism. He felt more at home in England than the States. In his soul he was English.
PedroAlonsoLopez 9 months ago 23
@PedroAlonsoLopez
But as an example, John Lennon lived in America for I believe the last ten years of his life, but he never adopted an American accent. But Eliot is an interesting case study: with all his religious, conservative leanings, he revealed himself to be far more Midwestern than European. Despite his best efforts to adopt the speech, dress, and habits of a proper Englishman, he could never hide his roots.
ryan06105 9 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez But he also said his poetry was 'purely American'!
Elitist20 7 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez Not to mention the fact that to say that he "grew up" in Missouri would be thoroughly misleading. He spent much time on the east coast where he had deep family roots. Not to mention his Harvard education.
wcjones451 4 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez I don't agree with that you wrote "In his soul he was English." First off, you're getting metaphysical, but I know what you mean. But if you want to talk about 'souls', lets talk about them in terms of art. I'd say the 'soul' of his poetry was American, not British. He said of his poetry "in its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America." His roots were English, but you're speculation isn't necessarily right just because you post it on the internet
thecruelapril 4 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez Sort of like the reverse of Chrisopher Hitchens, although Eliot a poet, Hitchens a journalist.
JayGatsbyOdysseus 1 month ago
@ryan06105 so truly. It would be great to hear him read in more conversational tone. had a teacher who had us memorize poetry, and recite. recall many people memorizing him. a shame some schools stopped teaching literature s/a this. Later, it was all really trashy stuff. This in gradeschool, lol, then trash in college. go figure.
westchesterny 6 months ago
@ryan06105 Uh, man, this poem is called "The Waste Land." Have you ever BEEN to Missouri?
ModernTimepiece 4 months ago 2
@ryan06105
ulp007 3 months ago in playlist ulp007's favorites
English was yet another mask for TommyBoy. And, by the way, the difference between real English a la Churchill and English in a Missouri English family was not as overwhelming as it is today. Dig? Listening to Auden gone American is rather ghastly, int? Or shall we promote Gicano?
ulp007 3 months ago in playlist ulp007's favorites
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, and the dry stone no sound of water.
jordanforever21 9 months ago
girl pure satanasm wo wielest due. A death in march douth spoil all heavens grace, while flowers bloom the orchard grave. nuff said.
TheBlindPig1 9 months ago
@TheBlindPig1 What is that quote from? It's really good.
Leonhart231 8 months ago
@Leonhart231 Its wildest flowers, not while. Its from alexandero mancho, winter in the heart of eternity.
TheBlindPig1 8 months ago
@TheBlindPig1 Hmm...sorry to bug you again, but what is that? Could you get me a link or something? I've done some searches that turned up nothing, and you've gotten me curious now.
Leonhart231 8 months ago
april is the cruelest month
heathski23 10 months ago
or did Linton Kwasi Johnson capture in words just what it is to be alive,
more than some white middle-class native American holed up
in England could ever do, an emigree,
fleeing, an expatriate, I'm lost for words!
to describe the pair of them
ChornyKlegg 10 months ago
@ChornyKlegg The difference is that Eliot knew life could not be captured in words. That is what makes him a poet and Linton Kwasi Johnson second rate.
PedroAlonsoLopez 10 months ago
Yes, this is a difficult poem to understand, especially in this day and age of but therein, in this poem's confusion, lies it's meaning. Elliot takes the Grail legend and places it in the modern day. In short, summarizing more than I should, the narrator is the knight searching for the Grail which will revive the king and consequently the kingdom, which is this current world we live in. The Grail I would deduce could be a number of things, to me it is poetic inspiration.
Onprose 10 months ago
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I hate the fact that i have to do this atrocious poem for an essay, every time I hear this drab voice and read his pathetic words on paper, which seems to be cement to me anytime I read this poem, its like a hitman, who obtained anonymous photo of me as the target not knowing I was the sender, is aiming his sniper directly at head as I hold still to and pray that he doesn't miss because I want it to be all over; for hell couldn't compare to the agony that this poem gives me.
0194D 10 months ago
@0194D It's a shame you are being force to read it. Try to listen to the poem without prejudice and hear Eliot's pain in the face of life. He is attempting to break through his icy personality to a universal (and timeless) message and so he avoids any dramatic effect or pull that might give you relief (or cartharsis). It is a poem about agony that induces agony. In other words it is a successful poem.
PedroAlonsoLopez 10 months ago 22
@PedroAlonsoLopez
I was joking man, what I said was a joke off of long and complexed similies and metaphors that seem to go on and on. It was meant to be sound that way.
Would you like to explain more on it though, I already turned my paper but you made it seem more interesting than I believe it really is, so I'd like to hear your opinion on it
0194D 10 months ago
@0194D You should study it well. You might learn how to string together a half decent simile.
jimztar 10 months ago
@jimztar
Lol, how the hell did you not notice I was joking. It was obviously a joke. Its a good poem, very boring and the narration makes it worse, but never the less good. It was a parody off of complexed simile, how they seem really long and streched out. It was a joke...old sport.
0194D 10 months ago
@0194D
I love Eliot. Listening to his words as he intended them should add something to it for you. Granted this isn't his entire reading.
SuperKrystalicious 10 months ago
@SuperKrystalicious
Whatever narc
0194D 10 months ago
@0194D well, at least the poem managed to make you feel something
01738083370 8 months ago
@01738083370
yeah boredom, hate and suicidal thoughts.
0194D 8 months ago
@0194D you probably just shouldn't be in school? Maybe a trade school of some kind or just take up working in a restaurant. You should move on and do whatever you like. It's a shame for people who don't have a taste for literature or theory, philosophy, thinking, whatever, to have to do it--- when so many who LOVE THIS can't afford educations.
westchesterny 6 months ago
@westchesterny
Please excuse yourself from this existence, but while you are still here DON'T jump to conclusions about me. Your ignorantly assumed comment shows you(obviously) know nothing about me or who I am. I love literature, philosophy and "thinking"(in quotes b/c it seemed like insult in your comment). I just don't like The Waste Land. Everyone has their opinions. It's boring. There are so many other things that I would rather read and do an essay on than simply read this trash.
0194D 6 months ago
@0194D Ah. I see. A real highbrow type. What do you believe should be taught instead? Enlighten us about the grand literature that more high-minded folks s/a yourself find not "boring." (That's a real critical category right there..."not boring," lol).
westchesterny 5 months ago
@westchesterny
I love how you are going on this rant, and I just don't care to argue with you. It's my opinion. Grow up and deal it. Also I just had to do an essay on this, it was never really talked about in classes. So it wasn't taught.
And what would I say to read over this? Anything, you name it, anything.
Hahaha, still laughing at this rant you went on, it's sad in a way. You go and rant my friend, you obviously need to release so steam because of my opinion.
0194D 5 months ago
@westchesterny
And just for your information, I could get a way better job than working at a restaurant. Without a degree of any kind.
0194D 6 months ago
@0194D My, you really are high-brow. No wonder you think TSE is "boring." But then, I bet there are a lot of truly intelligent waitresses out there. Are you a class-ist, too? What? A communist maybe--- like you think all waitresses are stupid? That's a very marxist position, and often communists disregard TSE and also, (of course!) poets s/a the inner part of the circle, Ezra Pound, who was locked up for 13 years in St. Elizabeth's for his radio show).
westchesterny 5 months ago
@westchesterny
I'm pretty sure there are some intelligent waiters and waitresses( Why did you mention waitresses only, do you believe only women are fit to wait tables?) out there. I was just saying, I could get a job better than waiting table, w/o a degree. Since you suggested I drop out and work in a restaurant, I simply countered with the fact that I could get a job w/ far more money to offer.
But that's besides the matter and off topic, the waste land is trash.
0194D 5 months ago
@0194D Trash eh? now.. how shall jump to Eliot's defence in a calm rational manner...?
Piss off you cunt.
BlinJe 5 months ago
@BlinJe
It's trash. Get over it. It's my opinion. Stop getting so butthurt about it.
0194D 5 months ago
@0194D Oh sorry, your opinion, yes, worth a lot isn't it.
I skipped 5 pages of comments and still find you arguing with other people about this damn poem, and
I'm butthurt? pah.
BlinJe 5 months ago
@BlinJe
Yes you are the butthurt one.
Lol, you and all of the others are the ones who are so offended by my opinion, that you all comment with either anger or sarcasm(to hide your anger XD)
Notice that I posted my comment, and everyone else replied to it( like yourself ), all I'm doing is repling back to you all.
All opinions are worth the same. So your opinion is "worth a lot isn't it"(Which of course is sarcasm).
Anyways don't get your fallopian tubes in a knot.
0194D 5 months ago
@0194D tl;dr
BlinJe 5 months ago
Comment removed
0194D 5 months ago
@BlinJe
I know you still read it lol, but it's not too much longer than any of the other ones. Lol, you can read the drab ass piece of shit(and get butthurt when someone doesn't like it) called the wasteland, but you can't read a comment less than 500 characters. lmfao anyways, you probably still read it anyways. lol
0194D 5 months ago
POETRY'S the dog' dangilly bits
WoWoNiceLady 10 months ago
MIXING MEMOR AND DESIRE.... Ce vers est magnifique.
J'ai étudié Eliot au lycée pendant tout un semestre.. c'est mon meilleur souvenir du cours de littérature.
Il m'a donné envie d'écrire des petits textes moi aussi : si vous voulez les voir, ils sont sur ma chaÎne.
FJPrufrock 11 months ago
I like Eliot's reading very much, very much indeed, (thank you Pedro Alonso!), but not the poem. I'm am with the few that shout: The Emperor is Naked! This bizarre mixture of words, his own and those taken from everyone else, in every academically correct language, makes no sense and is not even beautiful!
Miguel
Jedermann101 1 year ago
@Jedermann101 I couldn't agree more.
aethernal1379 11 months ago
I can't believe Eliot has more views than Ezra Pound's stuff. Democracy in action.
CrimeReport 1 year ago
my english teachr who teaches AP lit as well, btw im in 9th grade at the time, hes taken years nd still has not analyzed this poem. the man is a genius nd for him to not yet fully analyze this poem, it blows me away im glad tht my teachr introduced this to me. T.S. Elliot is a poetic genius..has anyone read The Hollow Men by Eliot? im reading it in class currently wit my teachr nd it is quite puzzling....Mistah Kurtz-He Dead
ahh btw i am an American in NY jus wantd to say tht we respect Eltiot..
ReApErChilLS79 1 year ago
I do not like the poem. Not. At. All. But I like listening to it read out by Eliot. Strange ...?
SatyreIkon 1 year ago
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Sorry, this is nice and all, but how is it a poem? it doesn't rhyme.
ben123wright123 1 year ago
Time to troll... Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, poetry is gay. Thank you, that is all.
TheWitcherFanboy 1 year ago
@shillbuster I have uploaded the second part (see my vids) and I have planned to do the rest but I doubt I will end up doing it. Suffice to say that anybody who has not read the poem but has searched out a video of it would be a strange person indeed.
PedroAlonsoLopez 1 year ago 15
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@PedroAlonsoLopez Hey, I have not read the poem but have searched out a video of it. Why would you say such a person is strange?
tubebooboob 1 year ago
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@PedroAlonsoLopez Hey, I have not read the poem but have searched out a video of it. Why would you say such a person is strange?
tubebooboob 1 year ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez Then I must be a strange person indeed. What's wrong with wanting to hear a poem *sound*? I believe poetry is meant to be read aloud, to be heard. So I came here to hear, for the first time, a masterpiece. Thank you for posting it. It is very nice to be introduced to the poem by Eliot reading it to me himself...
nextren 1 year ago
@nextren I agree. Poems are meant to be read aloud. Sometimes they cannot be simply understood UNLESS they are heard. Written word and spoken word both activate the ORAL part of our brains.
angle021 11 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez
Ironically I am that strange person!
anotherindiekid 10 months ago
@PedroAlonsoLopez Why didn't you add the other three sections of the poem?
pain245 1 year ago
The world will end not with a bang, but a whimper... best line ever
chrisp123ify 1 year ago
If Elliot grew up in Missouri, why does he have an english accent?
zagat44 1 year ago
@zagat44 He lived in England for quite a long time. He probably lost his accent.
TLHobo 1 year ago
@TLHobo yes, but his family originated from the UK, they fled england cause of religious persecution. you know that they ( jews ) also see Eliot now as an anti-semite ? Those zionists want to destroy the integrity of all great western-poets ( also pound, etc )
GeenBAlopTeeVee 1 year ago
I studied him in one of my classes for my English Major. He was American, but adored Europe and, "tried too hard to be British," according to my British professor who instructs this American Literature class. Oh, irony. Eliot was one of the best we ever had.
xbritbrutalx 1 year ago
Play some music over this, It really sets a mood.
DrFrankLee 1 year ago
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DrFrankLee 1 year ago
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DrFrankLee 1 year ago
I like the way he said, " winter kept us warm"
029Mhelz 1 year ago
@029Mhelz I agree. "Winter kept us warm" has to be one of the most culturally meaningful and resonant lines ever and he just reels it off - but with gravitas.
Qightful 1 year ago
i first heard eliot read this when i was in college...i make fun of him, referring to him as one of those dead white european male poets...but i respect his talent...this and the love song of j. edgar prufrock and my favorites...
Kellogs43able 1 year ago
@Kellogs43able J ALFRED prufrock, not edgar. I LOVE it too :)
jullybean315 1 year ago
@jullybean315 do you write poetry or just read it....lol
Kellogs43able 1 year ago
This is very interesting to hear, but for a real experience, one should listen to the recording of "The Waste Land" that Paul Scofield did for the BBC. It was excellent.
grlsprep 1 year ago
the thing on his back is a shell hes a snail get it SHNEL. shoo the one with the shell is leading we must follow hes going offly slow isnt he perhaps if i overtake hell follow me?
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
ANd so it came too pass them who knew least had most power...the holocaust...them with shortest sight guided the earth...tony blair burning in hell kill him become a king.
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
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never seen a pig die.
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
inflection and dynamics are crap in the rendition.He was a staid and emotionless dictator. However this is my favorite poem as wrote,and emote.
bongfodder 1 year ago
you gotta get the allusions and the music
MegaRichjames 1 year ago
if i was a soilder i would fight america for real evil you know man and woman the same spit on them death to america.
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
from the vatican whats worse than pedophilia?hmmm good quesion democracy..correct.
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
we are but children of the dust...if it must be so. in a handful of dust.fear
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
with life is fastly becoming a parady on life...plotless plays everywhere there shalt be no more kings
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
oui stopped in the hof garden and said fuck me in the ass
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
that bit about the sled
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
must stand against the powers of destruction. anyway hypocrite soilder.
TheFriedLiverAttack 1 year ago
i read the love song of J Alfred Prufrock at the age of 14. can't say I understood it quite well then.
Now im 34 and Im turning into J Alfred Prufrock (not that i have a bald spot in my hair)
thats creepy
I wish i can be one of those hollow men again
wasteland didnt feel so ghastly then
intushabitat 1 year ago
Thank you very much for posting this. It is very valuable.
KittyThePooka 1 year ago
Wallace Stevens once gave a lecture on "The Sound of Words" and the significance of purely HEARING words. I'll be honest, my phonetic understanding of "The Waste Land" when I first read it was profoundly different. Eliot's metered reading gives me a completely different understanding of the Biblical and Western rhetoric he uses throughout the poem. Wallace Stevens was right - the sound of words is crucial. Thank you for posting this. Where the hell did you find it?
kienzlesbc 1 year ago
figa che voce...sembra che muore mentre parla
ThePrevi91 1 year ago
My favorite poem ever.
WaterlooFilms 1 year ago
the lad done good
commodoreherring 1 year ago
Red Cloth Series: Ross McCague (In tribute to Eliot)
alsonross 1 year ago
Very cool. Thank you PedroAlonsoLopez!
Iavasloke 1 year ago
I don't have the foggiest idea what he wanted to say. Honestly, I think there are very few people who do. But still, I am stuck with it throughout my whole course in American Lit, which in turn does suck a good deal !
przebieglabrukiew 1 year ago
excelente !!!!!!!!!
Lethhi 1 year ago
This is, in my opinion, a case where the poem itself exists as a form of profound expression that is almost disconnected from its own meaning. It's a whirlwind of imagery and crazy ideas, and as intense as any music I have ever heard. It is no mystery why this guy caught people's attention while so many thousands of others doing basically the same thing were practically ignored. Pure talent.
drezler5 1 year ago
don't try to understand it
HexagonalBolts 1 year ago
Should be pointed out that this is just 'The Burial of the Dead', the first of 4 parts.
retread01 1 year ago
@retread01 5 parts
ThePandaPope 1 year ago
The thing about Wasteland is it performs on its own, and you don't have to be an English snob to enjoy it.
tracehazarrrrd 1 year ago
he reminds me of the dude reading the necronomicon in Evil Dead, :P. It's quite ominous, and I think it's important to hear the original poet read his work. Although with a poem such as this, it's more important to get a feel for it yourself, because you often dictate the meaning more than Eliot does.
crossturneddagger6 1 year ago
We are all doomed.
hislipsaremoving 1 year ago 3
woo go vegan
TSM9356 1 year ago
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All of his [Eliot's] poetry has always seamed bland to me.
TheMr1234na 1 year ago
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@TheMr1234na
All of his [Eliot's] poetry has always seamed pretentious to me.
I do like the line
I will show you fear in a handfull of dust.
zikayoka 1 year ago
Awesome stuff. And the reason he reads it the way he does is cause he wants you to create your own meaning for the words.
Timothy Thomas Cole is another talented St. Louis poet, though probably not your typical one.
Timothy12d3 2 years ago
I know little .. yet I always prefer the man himself to read his own work, to my mind no-one else comes close. First heard him ten years ago on BBC r3 ... incredible.
richardyingren 2 years ago 2
Thank you.
aka1darkknight 2 years ago
yeah, it is interesting seeing emphasis, etc. though. what other poems/poets do you recommend?
aka1darkknight 2 years ago
@aka1darkknight You can check out some of the poets who hung around with Eliot's crowd: H.D., Ezra Pound, Yeats of course, Marianne Moore, Mina Loy, e.e. cummings. For contemporary poems, I found Robert Hayden's style remarkably similar to Eliot's, and Elizabeth Bishop is always fun (she had already established a rapport with Eliot when she was only a child)
cdees88 2 years ago
I agree with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th things aurora said. Still I like his works
clutchusnc 2 years ago
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Firstly, Eliot sounds like someone is crushing his shriveled, old balls.
Secondly, Hitler states in his book "Mein Kampf" that "The Waste Land" was one of the prime sources for the Nazi movement. Thus, Eliot is the father of Nazism.
Thirdly, Eliot was once on academic probation for masturbating in public.
Fourthly, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was a poem written to describe Eliot's homicidal tendencies.
Fifthly, T.S. stands for Thomas Stearns. Worst name ever!
AuroraBoredom 2 years ago
He is still one of the very best technicians ever of the English language. I understand your envy of him. Truly.
barugna 2 years ago 3
I think the way he reads this is very telling - Eliot was a man who knew the difference between words that are meant to be read, and words that are meant to be spoken. The deadpan delivery just shows that he knows what the poem is, and isn't trying to make it into something more dramatic.
tetryst 2 years ago 27
Pound was more important for the ideas he expounded on poetry than for his poetry itself, in my own opinion.
hopkins4545 2 years ago
No. I think no other poet worked the sounds of English so well against the meanings of the words. Musicality of English phrasing almost perfect.
barugna 2 years ago
someone give me a good connotative meaning or thesis on this poem, i gotta do a paper on it soon
Robospace 2 years ago
O.O I have nothing intellectual to say, except that I thoroughly enjoyed "The Waste Land". As for my own, personal kind of comment...I will promptly forget his voice, and let the voice I gave him replace it whenever I reread this, as silly as that is. Not saying I dislike his reading, but he sounds too normal for such an innovative poem. ....A strange thing to say about the author, but....oh well. ^^; I would have been upset if I never heard him speak, though, so thank you! ^_^
willowsnsakura 2 years ago
I am familiar with Eliot's reading but not of the Waste Land - which I learnt almost by heart when I was maybe 20 in 1968. We had his reading Prufrock and other poems -I think his reading is great. he is / was a great poet. Thanks for this.
quagapp 2 years ago 3
I rewrote The Waste Land and read it in NY when I was visiting and here in Auckland where it went down very well. It started as an exercise suggested by Bernadette Mayer, one of list, i.e. "Rewrite someone difficult"
I kept the Laforgian ironic (almost comical -the corpse..can bloom again! I didn't use that but it is amusing) tone but also the sense of revelation or "mystery" etc
quagapp 2 years ago
He has an interesting way of reading it. I also read this, before hearing this, which is good, as I might have been influenced by it, but I never would have guessed that this was the author, as most people read it with more expression. Good German pronunciation, sort of Bavarian accent.
usenetposts 2 years ago
il miglior fabbro...Eliot & Pound have their own charm. As for Pound's "unrecognizable renditions of tradition (sic) Chinese verse"; they're 'interpretations' and not strict 'translations' let alone 'renditions'. "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is particularly powerful.
krg86 2 years ago 2
Wow. I am learning so much from reading all of your comments! I just wanted to say that it's good to hear his voice, but I suddenly feel a bit put to shame.
aileewiley 2 years ago
I just heard Chris Matthews refer to February as the cruelest month. He's an illiterate blowhard prick. Are those Ezra Pound's notations at the beginning? The greater craftsman? I think so.
seans10 2 years ago
Matthews is useless. Pound however is a hack, and his unrecognizable renditions of tradition Chinese verse continue to mislead people even today.
Yongshan28 2 years ago
A hack? A who's-who of the greatest modernist poets and writers of the 20th century would disagree. Pound wrote some great poems and some not-so great poems. It was T.S. Eliot who dedicated The Waste Land to Pound, whose suggestions Eliot credited with making the Waste Land the landmark poem it is. As for his translations, I don't read, write or speak chinese so I can't really speak to that. It's not what he's famous for. Translations are a tricky business. But you're 21, no use to tell you that
seans10 2 years ago
I loathe Eliot, and would very much like to be able to deny his poetic genius, but alas, I cannot.
Magnificent.
polymath7 2 years ago 28
@polymath7
Why do you loathe Eliot? (I'm not criticizing, just wondering.)
cufflink44 1 year ago
@cufflink44
Oh, the usual reasons: his bigotry, his prudery, his social snobbery, his far right wing politics, and, most of all, his unpardonably foolish belief that the decline of western civilization could be ascribed largely to enlightenment secularization.
polymath7 1 year ago
@polymath7 Thanks. I had heard of Eliot's anti-semitism but not so much about the other things you mentioned. But it's a fact of life, isn't it, that great art is sometimes produced by awful people. Wagner was a detestable human being, but his music can move me to tears. Go figure.
cufflink44 1 year ago
@polymath7 Maybe you have something deeply poetic in you, something that shook you
DrLearyUSA 1 year ago
@polymath7 hahaahh so well spoken. probably an asperger's case. i had a professor who noted that his readings of his own poetry reminded him of frasier crane... this was years ago.. yes, perhaps pretentious and pedantic, but alas...magnificent indeed
squiggyklane 1 year ago
@ Polymath7 same here
saptaturaga 1 year ago
The second strophe is incredible.
karlval 2 years ago 4
I don't understand how his accent is like that. (He is from the West!!) It sounds like a traditional southern New England accent. I have that (although not so drawn out) and I am one of the last ones who still have it. It has been on the decline since after the Great War. Everyone thinks I am British. A bit like the Auntie Mame accent. That too is quite extreme!
madeformv7 2 years ago
He was born in St. Louis but went to Harvard and most of his family was from or had connections with New England. Also, he spent a lot of his life in England so it's a combination of the two...
weasley17 2 years ago
he became a British subject in 1927 and lived in Britain 38years until his dieing day, perhaps he lost his accent over time, as many do, that would explain the accent.
davidhunteresq 2 years ago
If you listen to recordings of Ezra Pound, it's uncanny how similar his voice is to Eliot's. I'm tempted to call it a mutual affectation. But perhaps it's simply the accent of men so well-versed in the multi-linguistic universality of Latin poetry (as Pound and Eliot were) that they've internalized it. I don't know. Eliot was from Missouri, and Pound was from Idaho.
seans10 2 years ago
do you have the rest of the poem recited by Eliot?
leahr78 2 years ago
masterpiece
Oscar301 2 years ago
ts eliot was a one of a kind poet.
entropy56.... eliot was american .... read before you post a comment.
moupriksate 2 years ago
Eliot was American, indeed, but he became British subject in 1917. I've been stuying American and British literature, and it got my attention that Eliot is mentioned in both anthologies (that I have read) as one of the most remarkable writers of the 20th Century in both countries.
marbmcr 2 years ago 2
I couldnt agree more my friend. If you study poetry you could read also odysseus elytis and george seferis. They are from my country and they got the nobel prize. I believe that both these poets where influnenced by T.S. Eliot
moupriksate 2 years ago 2
@moupriksate Thank you for the advice!
marbmcr 1 year ago
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What's with the fake English accent of this American?
Entropy56 2 years ago
It isn't a fake English accent. It is an American accent. I don't think you've ever payed much attention to accents if you thought this was meant to be British. Technically speaking, Eliot is British though since at the age of 39 he became a British subject even if he was born in America. This, however, it is a drawn out American accent.
sealsparrow 2 years ago