I. The Burial of the Dead
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee* [A lake near Munich]
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten*, [A park in Munich]
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.* ['I am not Russian at all,
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke's, [I am a German from
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled, [Lithuania']
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in winter. .....
II. A Game of Chess
The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne,
Glowed on the marble, where the glass
Held up by standards wrought with fruited vines
From which a golden Cupidon peeped out
(Another hid his eyes behind his wing)
Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra
Reflecting light upon the table as
The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it,
From satin cases poured in rich profusion.
In vials of ivory and colored glass,
Unstoppered, lurked her strange synthetic perfumes,
Unguent, powdered, or liquid--troubled, confused
And drowned the sense in odors; stirred by the air
That freshened from the window, these ascended
In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.
Huge sea-wood fed with copper
Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone,
In which sad light a carved dolphin swam.
Above the antique mantle was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues, .....
10 de febrero de 2009
THE WASTE LAND (T.S. Eliot)
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Wilkie Collins
12 comentarios:
well, this is our friend Eliot again this time the Waste Land, possibly his best. We´ve published it here because in the Bacon Exhibition it is mentioned as having influenced the paintor, what do you think of these two extracts? the Game of chess starts like Cloepatra´s description which we wiil show so that you can compare both.
The Waste Land is magnificent I specially like the beginning, the game of chess is really wonderful too it has quite a few references to other poems as Carmen says it´s nice to see the poets quoted from their masters and incorporated their verses or words or images to their own poetry.
Goodness me! I’ve trying to catch the meaning of the poem for more than three hours. I’m tired, at sixes and sevens, and more or less in the same point as I was at first. Carmen, Why are you so keen to torment us?
I'd like to discuss the extracts on Friday's class. Would it be possible?
:-)
Exploring The Waste Land...
http://world.std.com/~raparker/exploring/thewasteland/exmap.html
...an interesting hypertextual exploding-exploring experiment on T.S.Elliot
Hi Byronic shadow, thank you very much for the information. But I think that this exercise of analysis has to be done without any extra information apart from the one given by the extracts. As this composition has to prove our understanding English only by reading, not to demonstrate whether we are experts interpreting Literature or not. Of course, I´ll see the link you has written, but after writing the composition, which I find (it??), by the way, very difficult!!
Sorry Maria, but, this time, I disagree with you. I’ll catch your point, which is, by the way, very true; however, in my opinion, commenting this text is a great opportunity to learn. But for Carmen forcing us to write about it, I’d never have read or know anything about “Te Waste land”. I have to recognize that this composition has been very difficult for me, has taken me many hours, even days, to finish it and I have had to work my hardest. But, in the end, I’ve learnt many things, not only about Elliot and the poem, but also about history, mythology and other authors and their work. In fact I’ve got two different interpretations of the text, one before reading extra information, and other after doing it.
Many times, doing the compositions, or reading a text by Shakespeare or others, I feel powerless and grow angry with Carmen because so difficult a work demands me a lot of time and effort. But, in the end, I must recognize that have it not been for this,not only I wouldn’t never have read Shakespeare(e.g.) in English, or even in Spanish, because I used to find him dull, tedious and difficult to understand. I also wouldn't have learnt many other things. At present, after looking for extra information each time we have read something by Shakespeare, Keats etc. I’ve learnt a great number of new things.
My only problem is being that the Gold book, which is very boring, is becoming a bit forgotten, but, sincerely, I’ll have the book next year and I can do it then, but We won’t have Carmen anymore and, without her encouragement it is difficult that we read , in English, authors like Milton, Elliot, Keats, etc.; some novels?: Perhaps, but, Poetry? I doubt it.
There is a typography mistake in my previous text: In the second paragrahp, second line, the fourth word is had, not have.
And after this, in third line, the subject is misplaced after not only, it sould be after wouldn't: there is an inversion.
Paloma, I think you have misunderstood me, because I agree with you while you disagree with me though both say the same. The only difference is that I prefer not to look for information before doing compos in order to see if I´ve understood something. Then, not only is it advisable, but also very interesting to get some information and compare it to what I had written. It just depends of oneself curiosity and the longing to know more. And that will happen on friday when it will take place Carmen´s masterclass.
As for reading poetry, I hope I would continue doing it after EOI´s epoch.
Mistake: Carmen´s masterclass will take place
In such a case I beg your pardon. As you say, I'd misunderstood you.
You are suposed to read the extracts and see what you make of them, then, you can go and do a bit of research, but honestly the Wasteland is difficult to interpret because what Eliot is trying to do is to revise our myths under a new light, trying to prove that what went before his time was not accurately interpreted, was, to a certain state valualess, he is trying to give us a new perspective, a dreary one. He is trying to prove that we are lonely, isolated, one might say, so was Hamlet, but the presentation is different, isn´t it, in Hamlet´s case something had happened to him which changes his life,in the Wasteland we don´t seem to know why "I read much of a night, and go south in the winter".
Research is very important but one can and should be able to enjoy and find meaning (even if it is not the meaning another person has found) in poetry.
Paloma, don´t worry about the gold, it´s a matter of correcting, and of having done the exercises.
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