![]() ![]() To heal the fracturing, the poem represents a therapeutic exercise not only for the poet, but also a generation. With his own hope compromised by a series of personal crises, Eliot’s fractured self mirrored a Europe fractured by the incomprehensibility of the millions sacrificed on European battlefields. In his 433-line poem, slivers of hope are crowded by the ubiquitous memento mori, the constant reminders of death. In Eliot’s poem, relief does not come without tarrying with the darkness. Horrified by the return of war in Europe, disturbed by the looming threat of environmental collapse, and fatigued by over two years of a resilient pandemic, we crave relief and inklings of hope. As we wrestle with trouble in our own times, an examination of Eliot’s paean to chaos can prove instructive. ![]() ![]() One hundred years ago, T.S Eliot wrote ‘ The Waste Land’ to find meaning in troubled times. By Dan Meloche TS Eliot (1888-1965) Dust jacket of ‘The Wasteland’ Courtesy: Creative Commons ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |