tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
4.0
‘A damn good poem.’
I first read ‘The Waste Land’ in the final quarter of last century. I studied it at school, and became a little obsessed with the imagery, with trying to understand Eliot’s meaning. I read parts aloud, trying to get the rhythm that best fitted. Sometimes I thought I had succeeded, but mostly the imagery took me on differing (and often bleak) journeys. When a friend drew my attention to this book, I knew I had to read it.
This book takes us from Thomas Stearns Eliot’s (26/9/1888 – 4/1/1965) arrival in London in 1915 through to the publication of The Waste Land in 1922. Eliot spent six days a week working at the offices of Lloyd’s bank, which left him little time for writing poetry. But, as Mr Hollis points out, Eliot was not working in isolation: both Eliot’s wife Vivien and fellow poet Ezra Pound enabled him. And yet, Eliot’s marriage to Vivien was not happy and his relationship with Pound was complex.
Mr Hollis takes us through Eliot’s friendships and challenges during these years, showing us developments and revisions, as well as some of the health issues faced by both Vivien and Eliot himself. We are reminded that both Eliot and Pound were flawed: both were antisemites and Pound was a fascist. Great poets, with great flaws.
A dense, detailed, and interesting read.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
maeclegg's review
It was a gift. Not really the sort of book I would pick up but wanted to give it a go
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