T.S. Eliot Makeup
BJ Haffeman
I found it interesting that Eliot saw the Modernist movement and decided to incorporate it into poetry. The video said he tried to drag the English language into the mainstream of modern art. He made the decision to break against the traditional boundaries and styles and form an entirely new concept of art. He wanted "The Waste Land" to be much more in depth and possibly longer, so he included the notes. His excuse for this inclusion was not just to help the readers understand what he was talking about, but also because as the poem stood, it was too short to be a book.
Many believe Eliot was speaking to the Modern era itself, but he may have been speaking to his wife who came closer and closer to insanity. He nearly had a nervous breakdown right before he wrote "The Waste Land." Instead of having all this negativity bring him down, he used it and placed it all within his poem. Because of this, he expresses his problems into the most influential poem of Modernism. Eliot's problems and how he dealt with them may have become a part of the movement he helped grow.
Laura Barnes' response:
I also find interesting the fusion of the old with the new in "The Waste Land." This poem, as the movie seemed to imply, shocked many people because it was such a drastic departing from traditional poetry, and yet, it captured so well the modernist spirit. Eliot created this radically and revolutionarily different art by incorporating other literary voices within his own; he modified tradition to conform to his innovative ideas. This surprises me since I would think that if someone wanted to form a new art, that person would seek to sever all references and ties to the old art forms of the past. However, Eliot’s method of modifying the literary works he brings into his poem so that they fit his artistic vision succeeds in crafting something new without leaving tradition in the dust.
Joy Curtis' response
Building on the above thoughts, I think it is interesting Eliot allowed Pound so much license with his work of art. I would actually recommend reading Jesse McBride's response to the video because it touches on a point adjacent to yours; he questions how much of this was Eliot's creation of art and how much was it was a piece-meal project this is. The idea is especially evident in Eliot's own inability to recognize the work as a whole (let alone as art) after Pound was done with it, though he published it anyway. Furthermore, if he wanted it to be a book (as evidenced by his admission of purpose for the footnotes), why did he let Pound cut so much of the original poem?
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