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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In the opening lines of ‘The Fire Sermon’, the poet-speaker bemoans the loss of a past drenched in mythological praxis: ‘The nymphs are departed’ is duplicated in an epistrophe (l. 175, l. 179). Just as the title of the poem’s first section, ‘The Burial of the Dead’, pays homage to ceremonial mores, for it is reminiscent of ‘The Order for the Burial of the Dead’ in The Book of Common Prayer, the mantric tricolon of the Sanskrit term ‘Shantih’ (l. 433) concluding The Waste Land — betokening ‘threefold peace in body, mind, and spirit’ (Shah) — appears in Hindu and Buddhist liturgy. This pursuit of mythico-ritual antiquity is further signified by the ‘empty chapel’ (l. 388) in ‘What the Thunder Said’, an epic replica of the Chapel Perilous in Arthurian legend which the Quester must confront at the final stage of the Grail Quest. Precisely, the prefix ‘-un’ appended to the proper noun ‘Unreal City’ (l. 60, l. 207) demonstrates that the unifying voice of the poem tends towards undoing rather than doing — quietus is a prerequisite to resurrection. The Christian paradox of life through death is thus affianced to Osirian myths of ancient Egyptian religion through a systematic appeal to rebirth.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
I didn't care for this poem much, for all that it's so talked about.
Also, this book was very little and doesn't count towards my reading challenge.
Also, this book was very little and doesn't count towards my reading challenge.
I'm not big on poetry, but I loved this one. I actually had fun interpreting it and enjoyed discussing it. One of the better things I'd read during high school, that's for sure.
Poetry doesn’t often make me cry but here we are. This one is an instant lifelong favorite.