T. S. Eliot was a very influential pessimist, always and constantly thriving on his hatred of little things and his love life. Eliot was born in St. Louis Missouri – 1888 ad. His parents were both writers and loved the arts, most effectively passing on the genes to their son. While growing up he learned many things, his parents were extremely social and intellectual and they pushed him to achieve the highest of statuses. He went to college at Harvard University and then moved to London to go to Oxford. He then became a citizen of England in 1915.
While in England Eliot held many jobs to keep the payments on his 5th floor English apartment and his college tuition. Eliot quickly became popular with Britain and was known as a great poet and a literal critic. Eliot is best known for two of his works: The Waste Land (1922) and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915). Actually the Love song is the beginning of the Waste Land. The Waste Land is in 5 parts, so it is more of a story in poetical form. In the Love Song, Eliot actually sounds a bit like a optimist, quite frankly though his own waste landsteps in half way through.
This is his only poetic work I like. But it will never be at the top of any of my lists. In this song , JAP (J. Alfred Prufrock) is writing a letter to his honey, the girl he is in love with. In this poem Eliot uses a lot of visual imagery, he is very good with his adjectives and brings such a happy correlation of thought into a grim reality he would call his Waste Land. He talks of how : In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo. – TLSJAP stanza 13 and 14 It has been my thought that this may signify his type.
Eliot, again was an intellectual and then o he would most likely hang out where the smart people were and get away from: Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurant with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent. – stanzas 6-9 He actually gives the evidence to where he found his women, and how he likes to stroll through the outdoors and ending up in places of eloquence, and High Society. Even though he had a medium amount of money. He was still accepted in places for lower pay because of his high intelligence and the intelligence of his women. People enjoyed his company.
He goes on alking about how there will always be time for us referring to the love that which he shares for her, and that there will always be time for things, but letting each other look at the joy as present and the escape from his Waste Land. He goes on in stanza 37 – 48 telling how they would grow old together, while still with the people that surround them that they love so dearly. He then tells of how he knows things and how life always goes (evidence of realism) in stanzas 49 – 54. Now here you can start to sense his pessimistic side shed a bit, talking of the: To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ays, And how should I presume?
Stanza 60 & 61 Of course I guess you could take that as a repentance line but, I dont think so, lets go on. From stanzas 70 – 86 it shows what I think is his deep side and talking as if he were actually a Realist which he probably was, at least to me. He humbles himself a great deal , which is good , but talks of how things slowly fade , referring a lot to his baldness and how age takes a toll on relationships. This is my favorite part of the poem, because he brings you into his soul, not just letting you taste the action . I feel that this is how he lived life.
Always leaving people to taste the good stuff around him but behind his eyes ly his brain and behind his brain his heart and when his company least expected it, I could see him waving his hands and saying, Come all! Come! Come!… come and feel my pain… come and pity me… come and think I am humble….. even though I dont care much of any of you. That is the picture I get of JAP who is also Eliot, in life, but yet his background, his unnoticeable conscience. In stanza 87 – 98 he speaks of his anxiousness to ask people into his Waste land , is wanting to let them see his truth.
Then he tries to cover for himself by saying: Should I say: That is not what I meant at all, That is not it, at all. stanzas 97 & 98 In stanzas 119 and finishing the poem at 131 he ends off, sorry to say, in a pessimistic tone of self pity and morbidity. He talks about his age weighing on his soul and never being what he wants to look like in the eyes of others and his eagerness in death by saying: We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown. anzas 129 – 131 That is a great background on how Eliot viewed life. Realistically and fading into the distance with love meaning nothing at all. Well, on to what is called T. S. Eliots Waste Land. To brief you on my thoughts I very much dislike this poem for many reason which will be laid out in the next couple paragraphs. The poem is simply a look in to the soul of Eliot, a man with great writing capabilities but uses them for the pleasure of striking his enemy and hiding the truth without being up-front, using stories of ancient myths in German and Latin to convey his apathy.
Eliot throughout this whole poems loves to mock and scorn his ex-wife. Her sexual desire he could not satisfy and whose love he cannot return. – T. S. Eliots Waste land. Page 98 by: James E. Miller. Jr. He uses many sexually explicit gestures in the writing because that was the only way his fantasies could be met… through writing. I think the man is sick, hes full of crap! – Eric Paoletti But he reveals his hatred toward her in these lines: More sinned against than sinning , bruised and marred, The lazy laughing Jenny of the Bard. The same eternal and consuming itch Can make a martyr and a onsuming bitch) There is much more but as you can see not very appropriate at all. Again this man won a Nobel Prize and was loved by Americans and the English. How on Earth did he achieve that? Probably because that is what the world is hungry for. Explains acts of fantasizing date rape and the hatred of his wife that he loved so much in the Love Letter, than leading into divorce. Overall if you ask me, T. S. Eliot didnt need fame, fortune and the Nobel Prize. He needed serious mental help and most importantly, the God he talked of so vaguely throughout his writing.
