Sr B, T S Eliot's The Waste Land, G

we think of Tennyson's lady you show up don't we another text that we've lectured on where we're kind of all by ourselves even though we're around lots of people and the key we're always searching for the key to get out of the room what's the key like where's the key if only I could find that key I can find my way out of this many have argued maybe the key here is what we've been searching for from the very beginning when we read the lines April is the cruelest month notice it's though we think of the key we're back to the hollow man and the opening lines of the Hollow Men We Are The Hollow and weirdest of them finally as we finish the poem there's all kinds of things going on at the end of this thing Elliot is in full force here the sea was calm is the actually with one exception of the word you know this is the opening lines of Matthew Arnold's dover beach and again the sea is calm tonight that is to say the sea of faith was once two of the full a thing I think Elliot's bringing a lot of things to its fruition here notice the shall I at least set my lands in order that's back to that notion of if what am I going to do what should I do and then with this notion of the swallow right Oh swallow swallow you got all kinds of interesting things going on here as well in regards to the word swallow can be both to swallow but it can also be the name of a bird and were immediately back to Thommo and our Nightingale he says it many have said that the very final lines here are the most important lines of the poem especially this line these fragments I have shored against my ruins this has been a poem was put in our notes this has been a poem of fragments this has been a poem of voices that were in fragments and we could make the argument that TS Eliot himself is trying to somehow shore up against the ruling really enough of society in other words twenties we call it society well this is again this notion that there's not much good news of modernity for Eliot it's all pretty much bad we finish of course with the word Shanti peace that passeth understanding is the way it's usually translated peace rippln recited three times Shanti Shanti Shanti does this mean that there's some hope that maybe there's some reason to have some expectation of a future let's finish up to a notice light can't grow without water you got to have water what is the thing what is the water of your life the spiritual water if you're like the values of your life what is it that makes your life complete full happy is it possible you could write a 36 a perfect score in the AC team that you could make a billion dollars later in your life and still be happy and if that's possible well then what's missing water TSL music what kind of life you got to find out right let's keep going life of course must be about three things giving sympathizing compassion and finally some kind of sense of discipline we're reminded aren't me of those final lines of Longfellow song of life right let us then be up and doing with a heart for any fate still achieving still pursuing learn to labor in a way that to be well again we've got all kinds of interesting stuff happening in life three forty four and three sixty seven that whole thing of clatter and shatters the genius right of those repetitions all of that happening at three a well relating to other texts obviously the Upanishads the perennial philosophy is what Houston Smith calls it I would write this title if you're unfamiliar with the with some of these religious traditions religions of the world I mentioned this in other lectures as well where Justin Smith will just introduce you to some of the ideas that have been introduced in this poem finally a three-beam question as we finish this one how do you find peace in this crazy screwed-up world how did you do it where do you find your peace where does it come from what about your values what about you find that you can consider the most importance of course we finish this inevitably asking is it possible that you could be a little bit more generous could you be a little bit more sympathetic a bit more compassionate could you be a little bit more disciplined well there you go an introduction to TS Eliot's waistline at home that you can grow from this study and find occasions now to as well enjoy the poem look for in the future lectures over for quartets which is the other set of poems that TS Eliot published before he died which many believe are really his most hope-filled poems o men should be explored well thank you very much I appreciate you hanging with me for this lecture I hope that it helped you understand this bone thank you

Channel: tim mcgee

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Length: 5min 13sec (313 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 08 2018