Reviews

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot

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lmrising's review

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medium-paced

3.75

tregina's review against another edition

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4.0

I will freely admit that I admire Eliot's work more than I enjoy it, but I enjoy his poetry more than I enjoy his plays, and I enjoy (if enjoy can be said to be the right word) The Waste Land more than most other poetry, so it alone boosts the rating. Though that said, the supplementary materials in the book also give it a boost; I often don't read supplementary materials, preferring to get to the meat of it, but these were insightful and illuminating and I particularly appreciate the contemporary reactions to Eliot's writings.

icmcmx's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

futurama1979's review against another edition

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4.0

i found this collection so delightful. moving from "Prufrock" in 1917 to "Poems" in '20 and finally "the Waste Land" in '22, you really see Eliot's themes mature and evolve. 'Lovesong' as well as 'Gerontion' and of course 'the Waste Land' really clicked in to me as favourites, although the whole collection carried weight. there were a few in french, which i searched out translations for, but i think they're missing something i would have gotten could i read in the original french.

the way Eliot tackles themes like love and death change as the years spanned in this collection go by; i found that interesting to keep on the pulse of. to me, the best lines in the collection were these, from a piece out of the "Poems 1920" segment:

i have lost my sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch
how should i use them for your closer contact?