Reading Week 14: Eliot, Part X


T.S Eliot:

- 1888 to 1965
- Full name Thomas Stearns Eliot
- Modernist poet who rejected the pretentious style of late Victorian era poetry and focused on being highly focused and conjuring strong imagery.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

- Refers to Dante's Inferno by quoting it
- Mainly evokes strong imagery, describing things in quirky interesting ways (the evening being described as being spread out across the sky like a patient knocked out on a table, describing the yellow fog to be acting very animal-like).

The Wasteland:

- Poem is very difficult to read and full of references of other stories on purpose. Eliot wanted people to be frustrated by his poetry so much that they develop interest in learning about it just so they can understand it, and hopefully would gain a deeper appreciation for poetry as an art in the process.

Anna Akhmatova:

- 1889 to 1966
- Russian poet who spoke as a lover, wife, mother, and person. Covers fear, love, hope, pain and other very personal emotions.
- Despite being very patriotic, the authorities believed she was too independent and cosmopolitan, leading them to ban her books. They only became available to the public after Stalin's death.

Requiem:

- One long poem about grief and mourning split up into many small stanzas each with their own title.
- Often references Mary and Jesus to compare the feeling of watching your son be executed to how Mary must have felt.

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