I have been reading a little of T.S. Eliot lately. I think poetry has a bad rap. If you say "i like poetry" at a football party, cornhole tournament, or other normal get-together, you may get some weird looks. Like you are nerdy or something. But that is wrong.
I am going to say something that goes against every fiber of me, but American poets are awesome. They are tough, manly and cool. I say that it goes against my fiber because I love the Brits. I love Conan Doyle, Tolkien, Lewis, Dickens, and the list goes on. But when it comes to poetry, I really love Robert Service and T. S. Eliot both who were Americans, although Service was born in England. Granted, Eliot moved to England later in life and became a British citizen (I think,anyway, according to internet info)
I realized something though. Eliot speaks the same language, the same heart song as Robert Smith of the Cure. My husband is either rolling his eyes or laughing at me right now. But seriously.
I like Eliot because although he was a Christian, he did not want to be a "christian" poet. He wanted to be a great poet of the English language. But somehow his beliefs seeped through his poetry, I think because of his honesty. He wasn't superficial or fake.
My new favorite Eliot poem (nothing will beat Hollow Men, although I do like the Magi poem too) is The Waste Land
When lovely woman stoops to folly and
Paces about her room again, alone,
She smooths her hair with automatic hand,
And puts a record on the gramaphone.
and later on...
In this decayed hole among the mountains
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel
There is an empty chapel, on the wind’s home.
It has no windows, and the door swings,
Dry bones can harm no one.
It just seems to have the same feel as the Pornography album by the Cure....
One Hundred Years (one of my favorite songs) here are some of the lyrics to the epic song... Faith is another album that is similar.
Stroking your hair as the patriots are shot
Fighting for freedom on television
Sharing the world with slaughtered pigs
Have we got everything?
She struggles to get away . . .
I am going to say something that goes against every fiber of me, but American poets are awesome. They are tough, manly and cool. I say that it goes against my fiber because I love the Brits. I love Conan Doyle, Tolkien, Lewis, Dickens, and the list goes on. But when it comes to poetry, I really love Robert Service and T. S. Eliot both who were Americans, although Service was born in England. Granted, Eliot moved to England later in life and became a British citizen (I think,anyway, according to internet info)
I realized something though. Eliot speaks the same language, the same heart song as Robert Smith of the Cure. My husband is either rolling his eyes or laughing at me right now. But seriously.
I like Eliot because although he was a Christian, he did not want to be a "christian" poet. He wanted to be a great poet of the English language. But somehow his beliefs seeped through his poetry, I think because of his honesty. He wasn't superficial or fake.
My new favorite Eliot poem (nothing will beat Hollow Men, although I do like the Magi poem too) is The Waste Land
When lovely woman stoops to folly and
Paces about her room again, alone,
She smooths her hair with automatic hand,
And puts a record on the gramaphone.
and later on...
In this decayed hole among the mountains
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel
There is an empty chapel, on the wind’s home.
It has no windows, and the door swings,
Dry bones can harm no one.
One Hundred Years (one of my favorite songs) here are some of the lyrics to the epic song... Faith is another album that is similar.
Stroking your hair as the patriots are shot
Fighting for freedom on television
Sharing the world with slaughtered pigs
Have we got everything?
She struggles to get away . . .
I did not do so well with cool pics and links on this post, so I will end with a depressing Cure song/video
T.S. Eliot always tried to out-Brit the Brits - he very much considered himself British (although I don't know whether he also retained a sense of Americanism). "The Waste Land" predates his conversion to Christianity quite a bit, which is always my explanation to myself for why it doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. ;)
ReplyDelete-Stefanie Ward
And ironically, Robert Service who wrote about Alaska and the Canadian frontier was born in England, and became very much "americanized".
DeleteSometimes, I find, that poetry and music written before a spiritual conversion has a little more angst and passion than post conversion work. And I do like Hollow Men, and to a lesser extent Wasteland. But with Eliot, his poetry after his conversion is just as beautiful and so deep. Thanks Stefanie for reading and commenting. :)