Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.38 AVERAGE
4.38 AVERAGE
Eliot never fails to make me smile! Also my first time re-reading Practical Cats after seeing Cats, so that was a joy!
medium-paced
Although 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' is probably my favourite poem of all time the rest of this collection is mostly pretentious dogshit. Perhaps I am not educated enough to understand the intricate web of intertextual references that Eliot spins but I am educated enough to feel the bordeom that is its consequence. Apart from 'The Love Song', 'La Figlia Che Piange' and 'The Wasteland' nothing else drew my interest apart from some snippets here and there.
I do have to admit to not having read the plays which make up the majority of the collection because I only got halfway through the first before wanting to gouge my eyes out.
I do have to admit to not having read the plays which make up the majority of the collection because I only got halfway through the first before wanting to gouge my eyes out.
Some of the better poems (Ash Wednesday, Hollow Men) are closer to a 4, but I didn’t find most of these poems to be special.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Eliot’s poetry is wonderful and strange and confusing and complicated and allusive and beautiful and dangerous. I definitely recommend reading some of his work - be prepared to not understand everything and to be okay with that; not understanding can be a great experience. That being said, if you’re interested in all of the allusions Eliot makes, check out [b:A Guide to the Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot|119232|A Guide to the Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot|B.C. Southam|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1347758033s/119232.jpg|114794], which I found to be an interesting counterpart to Eliot’s poems. (Also, a good guide for the Four Quartets is [b:Redeeming Time: T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets|79940|Redeeming Time T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets|Kenneth Paul Kramer|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1392092324s/79940.jpg|77193].)
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A favourite re-read, poetry I repeatedly dip into, especially when between books.
I enjoyed The Waste Land even more the third time around. I did enjoy his poems a lot more than his plays.