Complete Poems and Plays,: 1909-1950

“I will show you fear in a handful of dust,” T.S. Eliot proclaims in his most quotable poem The Waste Lands. Each line groans under the sheer weight of mortality, despair in the face of the inevitable. But rather than propagate that despair, Eliot’s beauty is in his ability to spawn introspection with the dark plight of the subjects in his poems, to evoke abandon as a counter the inescapable.

As a complete volume, Eliot’s most famous are collected - The Waste Lands and The Love Sond of J. Alfred Prufrock - along with some of his lesser known works. Among those lesser known are Four Quartets, free form tone poems that are equally as evocative as anything he ever wrote.

From Burnt Norton:
“Time present and time past
Are both show more perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.”

A look at almost any literary journal or publication will provide evidence that Eliot was perhaps the most influential modernist poet, establishing a voice that has survived through multiple generations and still inspires replication. Few poets, or writers of any kind, can create the same sense of urgency in life with their work. Reading Eliot is like glimpsing fate in a mirror’s darkened reflection; it demands attention and quickens the heart to action.

Also collected in the volume is Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Adapted after his death into the Broadway mega-hit Cats, the original work has been all but lost in the bright lights. The fourteen short poems, each deconstructing a different feline personality, are wonders of word play. Short of some of the master fantasy writers, Eliot is unrivaled in his ability to create words and phrases to capture feeling. And the lyrical, whimsical cheekiness of the works display a far different aspect of the writer’s personality; the light to the darker work.

Though Eliot’s plays are also collected here, I read the volume for the poetry only, leaving the plays for a different time. The poetry alone is a lifetime study.

Bottom Line: A complete collection of Eliot’s poetry, the famous and not-so-famous; all provocative and surprising with each reading.

5 bones!!!!! show less

The scholars of THE NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE judge that T.S. Eliot's "interest in the great middle ground of human experience (as distinct from the extremes of saint and sinner) [was] deficient," while also recognizing Eliot's "poetic cunning, his fine craftsmanship, his original accent, his historical and representative importance as THE poet of the modern Symbolist-Metaphysical tradition".

T.S. Eliot's conversion from Unitarianism to high-church, Catholic Anglicanism discomfited many of the secular literati. Although Eliot expresses a Christian sentiment in much of his writings and rightfully casts fascist totalitarianism as antithetic to the spirit of Christianity, Eliot's work is marred by a few unmistakable, show more anti-Semitic statements, displaying the effects of the spiritual darkness of the pre-WWII period leading up to Hitler's attempted, global eradication of the Jewish people.

Despite Eliot's apparent antisemitism, Paul Dean concludes that "however much Eliot may have been compromised as a person, as we all are in our several ways, his greatness as a poet remains." show less

Yes, it was fun to run across many of those oft-quoted pieces in context. However, a good share of this went over my head and I was content with letting it be obscure or unclear rather than searching out scholarly assistance. There is something a tad preachy about Eliot that tends put me off. That said, I highlighted some truly beautiful (to me) gems:
There is certainly no purpose in remaining in the dark except long enough to clear from the mind the illusion of having ever been in the light. - From The Cocktail Party
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire is the wisdom of humility; humility is endless. - From East Coker
I only just begin to apprehend the truth about things too late to mend; and that is to be old. Nevertheless, I am glad show more if I can come to know them. - From The Family Reunion
I get that... show less

Rated: B+
The New Lifetime Reading Plan: Number 116

I love T. S. Elliot. You have to understand British culture and London life of the 1900's to appreciate some of his works. But his words, his twist of a phrase are memorable.

I re-read this book almost 24 years after my first reading. All the old favorites still rang true but I enjoy his plays more this time. His classic poems (Prufrock, The Wasteland, The Hollow Men) have great lines and imagery. I was drawn to "Choruses from 'The Rock'" now more than before.

Perhaps his most fun work, made famous by Andrew Lloyd Webber, are his collection of poems "Old Possum's Book fo Practical Cats" on which the musical "Cats" was based.

Superlative. It's easy to forget today that Eliot's poetry was innovative in both technique and subject matter when originally written. I can do no better than to quote "Tradition and the Individual Talent", an essay from the poet himself: "What happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art that preceded it." Such is the relationship of Eliot's poetry to the canon.

3.5 stars. Yes, there are some brilliant works in this book, but there's also legit doggerrel. I was surprised by that.

I'm afraid for me Eliot's greatest works are Murder in the Cathedral and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The Wasteland leaves me cold; I respect Four Quartets