Transcript for:
Lecture on T.S. Eliot

greetings and welcome we are in senior English speech and we now are going to turn to the writer that many will call the greatest writer poet of the 20th century we're going to begin with a date for your notes and I know that you've already looked at the biography information there for you on 11:54 11:55 but now I'm going to start with an important date that day is 1922 you want to write that date down and that is for us a very very important thing the year 1922 seized the publishing of two classic works of the 20th century the first is the novel Ulysses by James Joyce don't confuse this title by the way with Tennyson's classic poem Ulysses this is the novel by James Joyce Ulysses I'll have more to say about James Joyce here in a few days the second is the poem by the great poet TS Eliot now Eliot is an interesting poet in your senior year you work with a green lit textbook that is senior items in your junior year last year you'll remember a yellow textbook that was all American writers in your junior year you studied a writer named TS Eliot in an American Lit textbook and now in your senior year you're studying a British writer named TS Eliot in a British lip book this is the only writer that we're going to say has this somewhat strange and dubious distinction well what is he is he an American author that's why we read it as a junior or is he a British author and that's why we're studying in our senior year and the answer to that is yes that's right the answer to that is yes Arsen henesys absolutely yes yes now how do you explain that fact well this biography is fascinating he's born in st. Louis dude you can't get any more Midwestern American than that he is a young prodigy very very bright he ends up at Harvard where if he wants to read Italian poetry he teaches himself and tell you if he wants to read the Vedic scriptures like the Bhagavad Gita he teaches himself Sanskrit you kind of getting the picture brilliant brilliant young man right as a student through a series of interesting twists I'll not get into TS Eliot ends up leaving the United States and now you're taking close notes leaving the United States and coming to London to live in England there is already a group of American expatriates who are writers and artists living in London the most important for our story is a writer named Ezra Pound Pio und pound is an American Pope and he is working to celebrate new and upcoming writers he receives a manuscript of a poem from an unknown poet named Thomas burns le those lines run something like this may be familiar to you from your junior year the love song of joy alfred Prufrock let us go then you and I when the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table let us go through certain half-deserted streets the muttering retreats of restless nights and when night chief hotels and sawdust restaurants with the oysters shows streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent to lead you to an overwhelming question oh do not ask what is it let us go and make our visit in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo later in the poem people say I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas anybody can say I wish I'd been born a crab at the bottom of the ocean that's a crappie my life is it takes a real poet to say I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas when pound receives this poem anthologized last year in your junior literature book as the love song of jeopardy proof wrote he said two things about it one he didn't have a clue what it meant and two he was pretty sure it was genius from that point on Eliot's work becomes quite populist and his project culminates in 1922 with the publishing of the great poem wasteland that is a title you want to write death 1922 TS Eliot publishes wasteland and it immediately becomes a radical debated text now if we have time we're gonna spend a little bit of time just listening to wasteland it is not a title that ever ends up in a high school anthology but because I know so many of you are college bound I want you to at least maybe to be exposed to this classic poem it is considered the single most important poem of the 20th century very difficult very obscure even in its day in 1922 lots of debate about what it actually quote-unquote means I'll have more to say about wasteland later before he dies in 1965 Eliot will have written as well the poems four of them called Four Quartets and these collected four poems also are going to be a very important final statement in his life Eliot not only known for his poetry but also for his literary criticism he will write very famous essays he also wrote a book of poems about cats which ultimately ends up being turned into a Broadway show that ran in New York City for a long time under the title of cats Eliot was a great lover of the feline and he said that when he was around cats for those of you are cat lovers he'll maybe appreciate this he swore that cats was not animals like any other animal that in fact they had some strange level of intelligence that made them seem as if they could really think he said when I can is looking at you it's almost as if that cat has real human thoughts and a possible ability of a language to go with it and so he translated all of these different ideas about cats into these poems that ultimately became this really popular show on Broadway in fact a few years ago I saw a listing by US News & World Report I believe that said that if Elliott were alive in the in the later part of the 20th century he would have been the wealthiest of all of the artists by virtue of royalties by virtue of this you know this project cats etcetera etc now let's talk about Eliot's modernism this is a term that you see on 1154 and it is a term that we're going to have to have some comfort with modernism what do I need to I use that term go ahead and jot down what you think what you think it means given the term right there on 11:54 modernism you'll want to know this for the exam it's coming these questions on modernism and modernity coming notice the three bullet points a new objectivity for impersonality and poetry in which a work is built from images and illusions rather than from direct statements of thoughts feelings to rejection of realistic descriptions of life in favor of the uses of images for artistic effect three critical attention to social conditions and the spiritual troubles of modern life often accompanied by a sense of this is important displacement and despair I'm going to use the term alienation if you feel alienated what does that mean yeah you feel isolated like you're not a part of something correct Eliot is the great critic of modernity you all say that again it's important for your notes Eliot is the great critic of modernity he will following Matthew Arnold's Dover beach do you remember it when we talk matthew arnold silver beach the sea of faithless once to at the full and rounder and surely like the foals of a bright bright girl furrow but now i only hear in some alley called along with drawing or remember that the sea of faith the capacity to believe in something called religion following that leave Elliott will have a very critical view of the human condition ok he will look at modern life as being somewhat empty the word I want you to write down is bleak if you are looking for happiness and joy Elliott is not the place to go especially in his early poems by the publishing of Four Quartets he's a little bit different poet let's turn to 1156 and let's just pay attention now to the preludes the first thing i want to point out about this poem is that it is in sections do you see it you will want to write down at level one that you recognize that this is a poem similarly to keep sailing to Byzantium of parts do you see it so you'll want to write now put those Roman numerals and then skip a few lines so that you're ready to jot down what is being focused on in each one of those different parts alright ok let's now just take a listen to this poem and will jot down what are all of the different things that you can see or smell or taste that is to say were related to the five senses in this poem go ahead and read it with me now the winter evening settles down with smell of stakes in passage six o'clock the burned-out ends and now a gusty shower wraps the grimy scraps of withered leaves about her feet and newspapers from vacant lots the showers beat on broken lines of chimney-pots and at the corner of the street a lonely cab-horse steams and stamps and that the lighting of the laps to the morning comes to consciousness of things Dale's smells of beer from the sawdust trampled Street with all its muddy feet that pressed to early coffee stands with the other masquerades that time resumes one thinks of all the hands that are raising dingy shades in a thousand furnished rooms three you tossed a blanket from the bed you lay on your back and waited your dough is done watched the night revealing the thousand sordid images of which her soul was constant they flickered against the ceiling and when all the world came back and the light crept up between the shutters and you heard the sparrows in the gutters you had such a vision of the street as the street hardly understands sitting along the bed's edge where you curled the papers from your hair or clasp the yellow soles of feet in the palms of both sort of hands for his soles stretched tight across the skies that fade behind the city block were trampled by insistent feet at four and five and six o'clock and short square fingers stuffing pipes and evening newspapers and eyes assured of certain certainties the conscience of a blackened Street impatient to assume the world I am moved by fancies that are curled around these images and claim the notion of some infinitely gentle infinitely suffering thing wipe your hands across your mouth and laugh the worlds revolve like ancient women gathering fuel in vacant lots let's start with the word Prelude and jot down a working definition for yourself what does that mean what is the prelude of anything that good that which comes before let's write that down that which comes before in other words if there is such a thing as a prelude there is only something that must follow now let's ask some it gets dark at night obvious questions is this a happy or a sad poem is it a poem of joy or a poem of despair it is is it a poem of Hope or a poem of bleakness now see it's fairly self-evident huh let's reduce this poem to a single line this poem is a series of images describing what can you write it down what is it it's describing quite literally what yeah yeah the day views of the city by someone who probably isn't very wealthy and sees his or her life as how can we say it that way right in other words there's not a lot of good things to report but let's point out something Eliot is always about as well maybe looking towards the next step it's possible that this poem is the prelude before a possible spiritual awakening which might occur going forward maybe one never knows notice the final lines of this poem I am moved by fancies that are curled around these images and claim the notion of some infinitely gentle infinitely suffering thing in other words maybe it will get better but what's the other side of that coin maybe what maybe it was maybe it won't a picture of Modern Life Elliott will see it as what modern writers often enjoying this notion of despair write that word down and then let's get a definition real quickly despair what do we mean when we talk about despair sorrow good keep going sorry hopelessness that's the key isn't it despair hopelessness things are never going to get any better oh no this begs a really intriguing question two three B let's ask it do you think people who live in the city who live in urban environments you obviously do not do you think the people who live in the city suffered with greater feelings of despair and hopelessness and if you say yes jot down why you think that's the case again we're working at three B this is just your own opinion what is it about the city that you believe would make people have greater feelings of despair and hopelessness by the way I should report people who often live in large cities torn apart if there's anything that we'd be miss fair it would be living in a town of 5,000 people I mean come on just poke pencils in my eyes and get it over with why in heaven's name would anyone want to live in a town of 5,000 people like the town you live in right in other words this what kind of relative why do you think maybe cities there can be greater despair why come what leads you to think that way what do you think miss Johnson why didn't you think maybe living in a big city lots of people around knows dirtyness possible crime I'm sorry insecurity you maybe don't feel very safe what else do you think leads to it change loneliness what else are we taking all of your all of your arguments the way Johnson says these are all my words of course let's point out this is just one view of the city yes there is of course the opposite view of city that says it's beautiful all the chaos all the noise all the violets all the nastiness and the dirty and everything else it's a beautiful place and people who live in it love it do you think people who live in the cities and the large cities live there because they want to or because they have to you see it is more of a requirement like economics maybe in other words they would like to live in a place where there's clean air and not a lot of people and you can go to bed at night not worried somebody's gonna break into your house and you know shoot you take your stuff they'd like to live in a place like that but they kind of forced to again this is a discussion that goes back and forth by the way point out for your nose when Elliot writes preludes the large cities are then just becoming the really dominant large cities of the world of course Elliot will celebrate all of those major cities at his time the greatest cities of course New York London Paris right these are the large the really large cities right then of course do have some negative elements to them let's now turn to the next poem of TS Eliot and by the way I should point out we're really building towards our comments on the hollow man that will be the poem that we'll pay most attention to in our time with Eliot but let's go ahead and look at journey of the Magi for just a moment now this one you're going to have to start on 11:58 you're going to have to start with a little bit of background information so let's get ready you should have your annotations ready to go go ahead and read that background information real quickly and jot down at least two things you're going to pay attention to and your reading of this poem to the things you're going to pay attention to in this poem now first of all what are the Mashhad we sometimes see them at Christmas time don't we what are the magic those are those three wise men who came to do one visit who the infant Jesus Christ we sometimes see these displays don't mean around Christmastime correct right Elliott is going to write a poem where he's going to we're working level to be right a dramatic monologue oh this one shot Consuela we hear these dramatic monologues regularly don't leave in the dramatic monologue one of the wise men will be the speaker so it for example sailing to Byzantium you have an old fart speaking that is no country more open here you're going to have one of the Magi speaking okay of course here though we're going to put a couple of things into me he's not going to use old-fashioned language he's going to use modern language to describe his journey coming to visit the infant Christ okay also this is going to be a poem about spiritual agony suffering of a man who lived long ago let's now read the poem together and then we'll talk about it I'm again on page 11 58 a cold coming we had just the worst time of the year for a journey in such a long journey the ways deep and the weather shark the very dead of winter and the camels gulps or footed refractories lying down in the melting snow there were times we regretted the summer palaces on slopes the terraces and the silken girls bringing server then the cattle men cursing and grumbling and running away and wanting their liquor and women and the night fires going out and the lack of shelters and the city's hostile in the town's unfriendly and the villages dirty and charging high prices a hard time we had of it at the end we prefer to travel all night sleeping in snatches with the voices singing in our ear saying that this was all falling then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley wet below the snowline smelling a vegetation with a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness and three trees on the low sky and an old white horse galloped away in the meadow then we came to a tavern with vine leaves over the lentil six hands and an open door dicing four pieces of silver and feet kicking the empty wine skins and there was no information and so we continued and arrived at evening not a moment too soon finding the place it was you may say satisfactory all this was a long time ago I remember and I would do it again but sat down this set down this where we led all that way for birth there dad there was a birth certainly we had evidence and no doubt I had seen birth and death but it sought they were different this birth was hard and bitter agony for us like death our death we returned to our places these kingdoms but no longer at ease here in the old dispensation with an alien people clutching their gods I should be glad of another death now in some way students have reported this is a fairly easy poem but in other ways it seems to be a bit more complex let's start with easy shall we let's just jot down a couple of things at level one that are fairly self-evident about this poem this poem tells the story of lot yeah it's right there in the title isn't it tell us the story in the journey what kind of journey can you describe it in a couple of adjectives what would you say about this from the first stanza what does he say about the journey took forever to get there long what else all kinds of problems along the way can you jot down a couple of the problems along the way that they have they're traveling in caravan with camels the people who are in charge of the camels like to do what they like this think away go have fun gamble go have a time with the women or whatever note the irony of that we normally think of the journey of the Magi is related to celebrating what right birth of Christ notice our poet here concentrates on the fact that it wasn't such a spiritual or holy journey at all it was a pain in the rear journey right notice at the end top of page 11:59 we prefer to travel at night how come why at night could be safer right could be safer could be a situation where you know we're trying to get there fast right see we read the story of the Magi traveling to see the infant Christ from the perspective of knowing who they're coming to see this poet we'll take the perspective of if you're going on a long journey you got no idea what you're going to see when you finally get there and then when you do finally get there guess what you see guess all you see is what you go on this long long journey let's say from here all the way to New York City and you walk or ride the whole way takes you eight a long time to get there we're not talking about our car or how about our wretched animal called a camel and by the time you finally get there you get all the way there and what is it that you get to see an infant an infant a newborn infant see now you see it from the perspective of the Christmas story well of course it's the baby Jesus cries bah bah bah bah bah this tone of this poem is though we did all of that all of that journey we got all the way there baby an infant that's why we did this journey and in fact what's the tone of the poem what's the mood and the tone of the poem the speaker says is a long time ago I remember he says I do it again but set down this set down this colon where we led all that way for birth or death this is an interesting question why does he ask that question along the way and then on the way back they could have easily one dot clearly dead they were going to see what what were they going on the way to see a birth his question is so which was it there was a birth certainly we had evidences and no doubt I had seen birth and death in other words nothing new this is not like you don't see a baby born every day but I thought they were different this birth was hard and bitter agony for us like death our death we returned to our places these kingdoms but no longer at these here in the old dispensation with an alien people clutching their gods I should be glad of another death how do you understand the ending of this poem it's not so easy he says what about the ending of the poem yeah we went we did the journey we almost died going and when we arrived a baby that's what we did this journey for a baby then we had to go back but by the time we made it back he says we were blood in some fundamental way we were why right the journey had changed us in some way huh we were not just saying let's jump to 3b do you think it's true that life is kind of like a journey do you think it's true that the four years of high school for you have been like a long journey what kind of journey can you give an adjective or two has it been long see now this is an interesting question some senior sort of part it seems so long if I were to ask you right now can you walk to the locker that you had that very first day that's a freshman can you walk right now to that locker can you even remember it see some of you will say do not can walk right to it obvious if you will say can't even remember that which seems to suggest it was a long time ago for those of you who can remember it you will maybe say wow you know it's funny now that you say it the way I remember it is by who I was next to in a rail I don't remember a locker I remember a community of people around the locker where it was in the same way I will ask you can you remember your very first classroom that you walked into on your very first day as a freshman or if you transfer it in of course whether you spent your first freshman day wherever that was that was four years of a journey ago question where have you been traveling to where have you been going to bring you to this moment now of course funny thing about journeys it almost always seems to be about the destination until you get there do you think it's at all possible that on the day of graduation you will remember this question where was I traveling to and now that I'm here is it a berth or is it a debt is graduation a berth or a depth of course the correct answer is what yes that's right yes it is a death in what way is it a death graduation it is the end it is the end when they call your name and you're standing out there in front of all those people praying that you don't trip and fall as you walk two words that person will hand you some piece of paper and a handshake you will be able to say it's over it did it it's done twelve years of schooling and some of you will say yay of course I I will point out to you on that day that's what you're saying now it will be a strange moment when you realize it is a death but it's also a birth which means what right you got to keep going in other words if there's a journey to Bethlehem guess what there's the trip back the only thing is that's the thing about trips and journeys you're always a little bit different can you jot down what's the best trip or journey you ever twelve can be a literal journey right to be about a physical journey a journey in the mind for some of you reading a great book or watching a good movie or I had a student once it's said played every single stage of the king made all the way to the end not too many people could and I did it that's a journey isn't it to which I would say what would you say shave is that a journey you make it all the way to you bet it's a journey it's a very difficult one that a number of people won't give up can you agree with me don't give up before they get there is it true to say about your journey you just wrote down that you were different at the end of it in some way you're not the same anymore going back is not the same as coming the journey for you different on the return and final question would you do it all over again notice our speaker and Magi says yeah I would but come back tomorrow we'll do some RTS Elliot thank you