I personally found the remaining bit of the movie enlightening. It helped me to identify some of the personal attributes that contributed to The Wasteland. I thought it was interesting that Elliot had, had a nervous breakdown during the time of the writing of the poem. I felt it accounted for a lot of the anxiety feeling one gets while reading the poem. I also liked what one of the critics said about how he was, "turning private grief into public grief." They said that he spoke to an age, but that it was still a very personal poem. I felt that this was an accurate illustration at what was happening with the characters in The Wasteland. All of the characters in the poem are experiencing some kind of “private grief” and yet Elliot makes this grief public by writing this poem and exposing these characters to the reader. This particular critic also mentioned something about how the poem seemed “apocalyptic.” It only seemed “apocalyptic” to me more toward the end of the poem with the introduction of the last character. Her utter distain and indifference toward what happens to her is frightening because her world is at its end. It paints a picture of almost an urban death of humanity or conventional sanity. I found that much of what the critics in the movie had to say, helped me to understand more about what this poem was about. It help to illustrate unclear areas with it’s dramatic emphasis from the readers. In closing one of the critics said that, “The Wasteland can’t be explained. You can say all you want about it, but there is nothing really that can be explained.” I think that this is very true of the poem, since so many ideas, and events may have contributed to the writing of this poem it is unclear what exactly this poem is truly about.

Comment by Katherine Sas:

I was also surprised to learn of Eliot's nervous breakdown. It doesn't surprise me that it happened during The Waste Land--the poem is obviously full of inner turmoil. I agree, however, that he effectively turned his private grief public. It is amazing that his personal problems were able to speak for his age, with The Waste Land becoming the icon of modernist poetry, isn't it? Maybe that's the function of true art: to fuse our personal feelings with those of our fellows in other times and cultures.

Comment by Lady Bell

"The Wasteland can't be explained. you can say all you want about it, but there is nothing really that can be explained." Yet this, supposedly, is one of the greatest poems of all time. Does that bother anyone else? It bothers me. Anyways, it makes sense that Elliot's personal turmoil would surface in his poetry. I agree with you when you say he turns his personal grief into literature, onto other characters, and therefore into his own culture and time. That's why people are attracted to art-- it makes the "personal" the "universal."

TS Eliot Makeup