DQ 6 7/10/17
Hi all,
For DQ 6 please read "The Waste Land" and accompanying Notes on The Waste Land in Selected Poems, as well as "Ash Wednesday" and "The Hollow Men," as well as "Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" selection in the Course Library. This will complete our reading of Eliot. We just have one more Modernist poet to cover next week- Louis Zukofsky, on whom we'll have DQs due on Tuesday, see you may read the selections from "A" in the Course Library also if you'd like to read ahead. There will be an accompanying criticism piece in the course library soon to help us discuss this difficult work.
Also, please remember that the Annotated Bibliography is due Wednesday- please see the Blackboard announcements for instructions on this, and the Sample Annotated Bibliography in the Course Library. Thanks and have a great weekend.
For DQ 6 please read "The Waste Land" and accompanying Notes on The Waste Land in Selected Poems, as well as "Ash Wednesday" and "The Hollow Men," as well as "Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" selection in the Course Library. This will complete our reading of Eliot. We just have one more Modernist poet to cover next week- Louis Zukofsky, on whom we'll have DQs due on Tuesday, see you may read the selections from "A" in the Course Library also if you'd like to read ahead. There will be an accompanying criticism piece in the course library soon to help us discuss this difficult work.
Also, please remember that the Annotated Bibliography is due Wednesday- please see the Blackboard announcements for instructions on this, and the Sample Annotated Bibliography in the Course Library. Thanks and have a great weekend.
Isaac Bendus
ReplyDelete7/7/17
In reading “The Wasteland” by T.S. Elliot it left me with two question. Why is the first section: “The Burial of the Dead” written from four different people’s perspectives? Elliot also does this in the second section but between two different economic classes of people. Did Elliot do this for a reason? Or is it something else?
The second question is about the structure of “The Wasteland”. In my opinion the poem is not very cohesive at all. Was that just Elliot’s style of writing poetry? was he trying to achieve something in the work? Or is it something else?
Lauren Fiorito
ReplyDeleteJuly 8, 2017
In “The Wasteland,” the second part, “A Game of Chess,” has a lot of fast-paced wording and repetition that doesn’t seem to all make sense and flow together. What is the real meaning behind him writing these and what do they mean? Each part has a different story to go with it, so what is happening altogether?
In “The Hollow Men,” T.S. Eliot says, “This is the dead land/ This is the cactus land” and “The eyes are not here/ There are no eyes here,” is there a particular place he is talking about in reference to “here?” Where is he and who is he talking about?
My two questions are on "the wasteland"
ReplyDelete1) what do you believe the overall theme of these poems are? I was able to follow the individual themes of the poems fairly well but I can't seem to put them together very well.
2) the notes say that Tiresias is the most important figure in the poems, why is this?
In “ Walter Benjamin - The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, “ Benjamin says “ In the case of the art object, a most sensitive nucleus - namely, its authenticity - is interfered with whereas no natural object is vulnerable on that score. “ He’s suggesting that the most important part of a piece of art is its authenticity ( comparing it to a nucleus, the most important part of a cell. ) Do you agree with the author that authenticity is the most important factor to consider in a piece, or should you consider other factors like detail and origin?
ReplyDeleteIn the same article, Benjamin writes “ It is not surprising that it should be a dramatist such as Pirandello who, in characterizing the film, inadvertently touches on every crisis in which we see in theater. “ Benjamin uses some negative diction when describing Pirandello, using words like “ dramatist “ and “ crisis. “ Do you think Benjamin was trying to make Pirandello seem as though he’s an antagonist, or that’s just who Pirandello is as a person?
Ethan Vaughan 7-9
ReplyDeleteIn part one of "The Wasteland", Eliot is looking at the people crossing the London Bridge and remarks “I had not thought death had undone so many,” When he says this he is obviously referring to the negative mental effect World War I had on most of its participants. How is able to comment on this just based on their physical appearance?
What does the fact that Tiresias is and old man with breasts symbolize? Could it symbolize increased pacifist features in men after the war, features that due to the specific gender norms of the time were normally reserved for women? Is it something else?
Kylie Rodriguez
ReplyDeleteJuly 8, 2017
This may be an obvious answer but I'm not really sure. In the first part of "The Waste Land", they talk about a dead corpse that was buried. Was that a real corpse or a symbolic meaning? What was the reason for it and who's body was it? Is it unknown for a reason?
The second question I have is what was the point of putting 4 sections of different ideas into one poem? If it were me, I wouldn't have put them all together because I feel like there's no continuous or obvious theme in all 4 parts.
Keagan Giblin
ReplyDeleteJuly 9, 2017
In T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men the poem describes men in a hell-like state. What do you think Eliot means by the closing line, “This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang but a whimper”?
In T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land—Death By Water the poem is depicting a scene in which someone is dead underwater. Eliot does not describe how this person came to meet their fate, but leaves the reader with the line that he “was as handsome and tall as you”. Is this a warning to the readers? And if so what is Eliot trying to warn the readers of?
Kevin Clifford
ReplyDeleteJuly 9th, 2017
My first question is on "The Waste land" and it is about the part of death by water where T.S Elliot says that "He passed the stages of his age and youth Entering the whirlpool" and I am wondering if this specific line is mentioning the person dying? Or is she just talking about the ascendance into adulthood?
My Second question is just the way she is writing in the story and how it is broken up into different parts. It seems to be a weird organization of how they are written, and I was wondering if she did this to emphasize certain parts of the poem more than others?
Julia Weisberg
ReplyDeleteJuly 9, 2017
After reading “A Waste Land” my first question was if the poem showed any sympathy for the women in the pub? Can this character still redeem herself or was Eliot trying to prove a point that this is what our society has become?
The second question I have is what exactly is a waste land that Eliot describes? Also how does the wasteland add the the message that he is trying to get across in this poem?
Brieanna Graves
ReplyDeleteJuly 9, 2017
My first question relates to the technique Eliot uses when he wrote this poem. At the end of most of the sentences at the beginning of the poem Eliot chooses to add word such as breeding, covering, etc. Why does Eliot use this writing technique of enjambment?
My second question is the meaning on the line “Winter kept us warm, covering”. Winter is normally described as being the coldest months of the year; What exactly did Eliot mean by this line?
In the poem, "The Hollow Men" the people are described as stuffed, no form, no color. He says they have dry voices and their headpieces filled with straw. Do you think T.S. Eliot is referring to the men as scarecrows?
ReplyDeleteThe second question that I came about was that in the second section of "The Hollow Men," one of the hollow men are referring to "death's dream kingdom." Do you think he is describing hell or heaven? It is all so hard to understand what they are referring to exactly.
Sean Butler
ReplyDelete7/9/17
Eliot starts out "The Waste Land" by having a very gloomy and skeptical tone by using certain diction such as "cruellest" and "dull" for example. Is Eliot setting the correct mood for the title of this work? Or is he setting up a tone shift?
Also, Eliot references a lot of German things, such as the language and even a specific lake. By doing this, is he trying to express to the ready that this is the the "wasteland" he is talking about? Or possibly he could've had a negative experience there, and because of that now expresses it at his "wasteland".
my first question after this weekends reading is for you professor. I was just curious as to your reasoning for assigning the reading on Walter Benjamin, I found the reading to be very interesting I am just curious as to why you chose it for us because it seems to be an extremely specific peace of literature.
ReplyDeletemy second question is in regards to '' the Waste Lands'' by T.S Elliot, why in the beginning of the poem does he say that April is the cruelest month and then go on to say winter is the warmest? I feel like if anything it should be the other way around. Does he say this for a reason, if so what is the reason?
Isabeau Cordes
ReplyDelete7/9/17
1.What is being said with the title of the poem? There are several settings but the only one that seems like a physical wasteland is the desert place, the “arid plain”. Could the wasteland also be a mental setting?
2.What purpose does all the weather imagery serve? There is reference to ”spring rain” and then there are several mentions of thunder. What effect does this have on the mood of the poem?
After reading "The Waste Land" by T.S. Elliot, I have come up with two questions. The first being why T.S. Elliot chose to group these poems together? I feel they all have a different message, and cannot understand if there is a larger message that I am missing.
ReplyDeleteMy second question arises from the sudden shift of speakers in the poems. Why did Elliot chose to write these in such a manner? I found myself reading the individual poems more than once before I moved onto the next one, still having questions about speaker and purpose.
July 9th, 2017
ReplyDeleteAfter reading “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot, I have a question about the first part, “The Burial of the Dead” when Madame Sosostris is laying out the cards. I don’t understand what the point of this is and wonder how important the cards are that she is laying out? Is there a meaning behind them? Also I don’t understand what T.S. Eliot is trying to suggest when he talks about the image of the dead crossing the London Bridge.
In T.S. Eliot’s poem, “Ash Wednesday”, I noticed how he repeats the first word at the beginning of sections one, four, five and six. In sections two and three though he doesn’t. Is there a reason why he didn’t start these two sections off the same as the rest of the poem?
Daniella Alamo
ReplyDeleteIn T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land", many aspects of the poem have a sad and dreary tone to them but Eliot still chooses to discuss positive aspects of Hinduism towards the end. Why does he bring up giving and compassion right at the end of the poem? What was the purpose?
In "The Hallow Men" by T.S. Eliot these men are living a very barren life with no eyes waiting at the edge of the river Styx. The reason they are here is because they are too scared and timid to pass over into Heaven or Hell. My question is if these men ever find salvation or are they committed to an endless life of waiting by the river? Is there any hope for these men?
Karina Amalbert
ReplyDelete“The Waste Land” by T.S Eliot, has a multitude of symbolism ranging from Greek mythology to the play of French/German language. I understood the whole trip this poem takes you on as you wander through each part but I was not following along with the connection of the title being “The Waste Land” and the mentioning of a dry setting, especially when it came to section IV, “Death by Water” where the speaker sees a man dying in the sea. How does water connect to the overall theme of death in this extended poem?
Speaking on death, it was extremely obvious Eliot’s point of view towards women in this poem. Each section took you on a ride to different places where the speaker seemed to view everything as dead and without life, especially seen in the first section with the description of April. How could Eliot’s point of view on women tie back into the theme of death and lifeless matter?
Tyler Crane
ReplyDeleteJuly 9th, 2017
In Eliot`s poem, "Ash Wednesday", the first section opens up with "Because I do not hope to turn again/Because I do not hope/Because I do not hope to turn. In the final section, he writes the exact same three lines, but replaces "because" with "although". Why does he start with because and end with although?
Also, i learned that Ash Wednesday was the first poem Eliot wrote after converting to Anglicanism (Church of England). Is Eliot describing his own move toward faith in this poem?
When reading "Ash Wednesday" by T.S. Eliot, I had some questions about the poem. He separates the poem up into six different sections. They all relate to the main topic of the poem, so why not keep them all in one section of the poem?
ReplyDeleteMy other question relates to the first part of the poem. He starts off saying, “Because I do not hope to turn again” and then follows with “Desiring this man's gift and that man's scope, I no longer strive to strive towards such things.” Is he trying to say that he has done something and that he wants to start over?
Anthony Duarte
ReplyDeleteJuly 9, 2017
I had a question after reading “The Waste Land” since it consisted of different individual poems and I found it difficult to find the common message. Was there a common theme that connected each of the poems? If not, what was Elliot’s reasoning in grouping them together?
“The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot seems very gloomy and dark throughout the entire poem. I’m not sure if its true but from what I interpreted, I believe that the poem shows the journey of the “hollow men” to either heaven or hell in which he calls them deaths dream kingdom and death’s twilight kingdom. Is this what the poem is referring to?
Were the hollow men actual people during this time or was T.S Eliot referring to future generations of people? In the poem Ash Wednesday T.S Eliot used a lot of allusions. To me most of the allusions were spiritual. Ash Wednesday is typically observed by Christians, in section 2 of the poem his bones were cleansed by a virgin is he referring to Virgin Mary?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "The Hollow Men," several things struck my attention. The first thing was about who he was referring to or what he meant by when he repeatedly said "We are the hollow men, We are the stuffed men." What did these two lines stand for? And who are the hollowed me?
ReplyDeleteMy second question also pertains to "The Hollow Men," the way he ends it seemed kind of strange. He ends it with this stanza, "This is the way the world ends, This is the way the world ends, This is the way the world ends, Not with a bang but a whimper." What does Eliot mean by this... "Not with a bang but a wimper." It seems very symbolic or metaphoric like, but what is it referring to?
7/09/17
ReplyDelete1. Some of T.S. Eliots poems seem to recount events (such as The Wasteland), and use very specific details. I think The only reason one would include these details is if they experienced these events themselves. So, are these poems true stories that have happened to Elliot?
2. T.S. Eliot appears to like to include a lot of dark imagery in his poetry, along with nature imagery, sometimes even dark nature imagery. Is this because the actual subject matter of his poetry is dark, or is this just a symbol for something else entirely?
In Part 1 of "The Waste Land" Eliot titles it the Burial of The Dead, but really he is talking about his life experiences as when he was younger, but he uses a negative connotation throughout the beginning of the poem talking about the dead land and dead trees giving no shelter. Do you think he's reflecting on his own childhood when talking in this negative tone, or is he maybe looking back at it negatively as an adult and has bias towards his past experiences now?
ReplyDeleteIn Part 3 of "The Waste Land" Eliot then moves onto talking about old men, how the time has come and the meal was over with. Do you think this has to do with Eliot transitioning into how he views his adult life after part 1 of him telling about his childhood?
Why in "The Waste land" does T.S. Eliot reference so many works in as many languages as he does, this really restricts how much any reader can truly understand understand. even though it can be somewhat understood without knowing all the references, this makes a true reading of "The Waste Land" impossible except to those who have read all these works and understand the true context behind these quotes?
ReplyDeleteAre the Hollow men supposed to be the people who are left behind after a rapture like event not being let into heaven or hell but rather stuck on a desolate earth, or is it more of a purgatory where there dead but still not in heaven or hell?
Evan Smyser
ReplyDeleteThe imagery in the second movement of "Wasteland" caught my attention, the setting was well described and I was put right into the shoes of the characters. The character was in 'rats alley' and kept on hearing strange noises, this setting reminded me of 'uncanny.' Does this setting spark the same connection to you?
Also, the character had to assure himself multiple times that there was nothing around him to be scared of. DO you think he was actually hearing noises, or was his imagination getting the best of reality to create this uncanny situation?