There are some incredible passages in "The Waste Land" that make it a poem everyone should read. The first few lines beginning with "April is the cruelest month..." (which is one reason the book club chose it for April's book) and on to the excellently rendered Game of Chess (section 2) throw off fantastic images juxtaposed with dead-on conversation snippits that pop up in your mind after you've put the text down.

Our group had an interesting discussion about references to other works we've read ("Paradise Lost," "The Odyssey," etc.). There was some controversy about whether Eliot truly believed in hope through resurrection (I came out on the "no" side due to the first few lines and the following:

He who was living is now dead
We who were living are now dying
With a little patience

Daffodils! Tulips! Fluffy little chicks! That's more Wordsworth's speed, no? "The Waste Land" presents a bleak, post World-War-1, post Spanish Influenza melange. Of course, T.S. was in the middle of a nervous breakdown and trouble with wifey (the latter an inspiration for section 3) on top of external factors. It's hard to believe the author also the author of "Old Possums Book of Practical Cats," the inspiration for the long-running musical, "Cats."

I do think that the deluge of literary references only a handful of people in the world could understand detract from what is certainly a work of art. The Norton critical edition is recommended for those who want to delve further behind the curtain: it is chock-full of both source material and criticism (positive and negative) that fleshes out the poem for the great unwashed.

april is the cruellest month indeed

My 1st edition of the wasteland is one of my most cherished possessions

Taking a class in this presently. I shall reserve my rating until I've pulled it apart as much as possible in a 6 week class.

i read this some years ago and i’m still thinking about it enough that i re-read it recently.

“April is the cruelest month…”

“Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves / Waited for rain, while the black clouds / Gathered far distant, over Himavant. / The jungle crouched, humped in silence. / Then spoke the thunder / DA / Datta: what have we given?”

“I will show you fear in a handful of dust.”

t.s eliot is a genius. this poem got me into the poetry literary canon because it’s simply incredible. no other poet has written in quite the same evocative way. im currently making art based on this poem!

T.S. Eliot is my favorite poet, and one of the greatest poets of all times. I often find snatches of his poems in my head. The Waste Land, the Love Songs of J. Alfred Prufrock, Ash Wednesday - all masterpieces. Eliot changed poetry but his works still resonate today.

Well I have read and reread The Waste Land again. There is always something new but this time there was a feeling that any overall meaning had slipped through my fingers again. I get more of a feeling that the poem is protean, changing its meaning from line to line and reading to reading.
To the next reading.

It really was something new. It doesn't have to be coherent. The connections between his time and experience and the many classical references are sometimes random, but they work. I really loved parts 1, 4, and 5. I will have to come back to 2 and 3 to see if I can go deeper. If you ever read it, don't read his notes as you go - read them after as it is interesting how different your interpretation can be. Also, the author may not be completely reliable on his influences.