T.S. Eliot

I found it very interesting that T.S. Eliot was actually born in America. It proved to me just how much British literature at the time influenced today’s modern writers. Though Eliot lived during the same time as many of the other writers we have studied only his family and history were rooted in America instead of Europe. Nearly all of the works we have studied in this course have been reflections of Europe at the time they were created which is why I found it so interesting that Eliot was born and raised as an American.
I really enjoyed being able to listen to Eliot read his own work with the clip Dr. Glance provided us. I have never had the opportunity to hear any of these writers read their work as they intended it. Therefore, I jumped on the opportunity to be able to listen to Eliot. The change of tones in his voices really helped me to get a better grasp for his work “The Waste Land”. However, I must admit I still struggled with this poem for understanding. When the texts states that Eliot felt difficulty was necessary, they were not exaggerating! I think most of what made his writing so hard to understand was all the allusions to past authors works. I unfortunately did not understand all of his references. One thing I have come to hate from many of the works we have read in this class is authors who purposely try to make their more writing more difficult and cryptic then necessary. (Admittedly, that is probably due to my own laziness and ignorance as a student) I thought this poem had a lot of aspects that made it very different from most other poetry we have studied.
The shortest section of “The Waste Land” was my favorite. Just because “Death by Water” was his shortest section does not mean it was by any means easy to interpret. The way he wrote it reminded me of a parable or lesson you were taught as a child. This lesson however was a little morbid. “Death by Water” focuses on the physical aspect of death and does not hint at any sort of spiritual afterlife. This section is set up in “the Burial of the Dead” where Madame Sosostris warns of the Phoenicians Sailor who drowned in the ocean. Thanks to the foot notes I was able to catch the reference of the “pearls that were his eyes” (48) to Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. The foot note allowed me to understand that “The Tempest” depicts a very similar scene to “Death by Water” where a body is brutally decapitated by drowning. Madam Sosostris warns, “Fear death by water” (55) which set the scene for the fourth section of this poem.
I thought it was very interesting how Eliot never hints to an afterlife in this section or suggests any spiritual aspect of death. Instead, he only depicts the depressing truth, the physical end of earthly life. Most poets attempt to touch on the deeper end and meaning of life, here Eliot does not seem to do this. He writes that it does not matter whom you are when it comes to death. When you drown, your body decays and sea creatures eat away at you. There is nothing romantic or deep about it. You stop breathing; you stop seeing, listening, feeling. Nothing matters any more and there is nothing else to come.

“Gentile or Jew/ O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.” (319-321)

It is as though Eliot is trying to warn readers to be careful not to take themselves too seriously during their time on earth. Your religion, occupation, social status, does not matter once you die. I admit there is a lot of parts in “Waste Land” that I do not understand, but I feel as though that may be the intention of Eliot. He did not want reading and understanding poetry to be easy, and in many ways I do not think he wanted readers to always fully understand his work. Though I am sure I was way off par when making my assumptions of his readings, unlike other purposely difficult writers I actually really enjoyed reading his work.