my mind is to puny to properly comprehend all that is going on in these poems, yet it was fun to try. i will definitely read these again, and it will probably take me years before i actually begin to unpack anything within these masterful works of art. in the mean time, i give you perhaps the only quote i understood from these poems:

"Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison"

i can only hope to one day be given the brain space to properly understand a fraction of these poems. ( )

This collection opens with "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", which is one of my favourite poems, and one I've read quite a few times over the years. "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons" remains one of my favourite lines ever committed to the page.

I don't think I'm well-read enough, nor intellectually inclined enough, to grasp "The Waste Land", at least not after one reading, so I'm going to go read a bit about it, and come back to the poem later. (I think most/all poems need to be read several times, anyway). But I enjoy the rhythm of Eliot's work, and his word choices, and that's all I've got. ( )

This was just a first, cursory read of many future ones, I'm sure. The version of Landscapes in this edition didn't have the last two sections in it (#5 being Cape Ann), so I'm interested to hunt that new one down. ( )

I have reviewed The Waste Land alone HERE

I have read the other poems in the past and will re-read and review each of them at some point. Digesting just The Waste Land is enough for right now.

( )

Reading Stephen Spender's biography and critical introduction to the work of T. S. Eliot did not do anything to change my opinion about these poems. Reading them may be interesting but I do not care much for this intellectualism.

Just as in my student days, I still only really like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock" but I did not like any of the other poems. ( )