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/lit/ - Literature

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5062574 No.5062574[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Why is T.S.Eliot so fucking good?

>> No.5062576

Because you don't really understand him

>> No.5063033

>>5062574

Because church and state.

Everyone with godBoner reads him. And finds some bonerPorn where none exists.

Brb /lit/ left my fedora running

>> No.5063066

>>5062574

Because his name is an anagram of toilets. Also Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats >>>>>>>> The Waste Land

>> No.5063095

>Why is T.S. Eliot so fucking good?
He's not.

>inb4 Provide some Proofrock

>> No.5063111

>>5062574
Because he had the strength, after tea and cakes and ices to force the moment to it's crisis.

>> No.5063112

>>5062574
He taught me the key to writing good poetry is to make it so dense with references it will take people literally decades to catch everything

>> No.5063115

>>5063112
Calm down there, Joyce Jr.

>> No.5063117

>>5063112
this more or less

>> No.5063139

>>5063095
dat edge

>> No.5063232

>>5062574
what should I read before him, so I can get all if the references he makes?

>> No.5063268

>>5063232


>start with the greeks
>dont forget the bible to get the allusions :^)

>> No.5063288

>>5063268
but that's exactly what he should do.
fucking plebs who haven't read the bible probably don't understand 90% of western literature.

>> No.5063294

>>5063112

But that's not why he's good. People want to understand as much as they can about his poems because he is a great poet. There are plenty of references in texts, particularly if you include unintended influences, which have not been worked out. Generally speaking (since some writers get overlooked), the greats will get swarms of people dedicating years to analysis, and in that time they fill out knowledge of the text and its influences.

>> No.5063297

>>5063139
Sharp enough to cut David out of marble.

>> No.5063309

He isn't.

>> No.5063315

>>5063288


i know, thats what i said. its an event of syncronicity that archetypical /lit/memes cohere pretty much exactly to what he needed.

>> No.5063317

>>5063294
Actually, writing a "difficult" poem is what Modernism was all about. Modernists believed that the reader should have to work to get the full meaning of a poem or a piece of art.
I'm not really big on Modernism for this reason. It's interesting yes, and it gives English Literature students a lot to write a research paper about, but I much prefer Victorian or Pre-Raphaelite poetry because it wasn't artificially difficult.

>> No.5063319

>>5063066
THIS IS THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR CATS THE SHITSHOW?
HE SET MUSICAL THEATRE BACK 100 YEARS

>> No.5063320

>>5063232

If you want to cover a lot of ground, go to the major works in the canon. The Bible has massive influence, as do writers like Shakespeare and Milton to lesser extents.

However, if you want to understand references in a specific work, it's best to just get an annotated edition and study up on that work to see what prior texts you should read up on.

If you bust through Paradise Lost so you can cross it off a list and catch references to it, you'll catch a lot of really explicit references; however, more subtle references will slip by you unless you are more intimately familiar with the texts and prominent interpretations. So look to scholars who have already done that work and read from there.

>> No.5063322

>>5063319
>THIS IS THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR CATS THE SHITSHOW?

No, that would be Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Also, musical theatre is the absolute lowest. You can't really "set it back".

>> No.5063324

>>5063319
Hey back off man, I thought Cats was alright. Magical Mr. Mestofeles and all that.

>> No.5063328

>>5063320
>If you bust through Paradise Lost
Hahaha... oh man that's rich.ndleeue photographic

>> No.5063338

>>5063317

I am not debating the fact that his poetry was highly referential in an attempt to be difficult and incite prolonged study. What I am saying is, that's not what makes him good. Marianne Moore is another Modernist poet, but you don't see anywhere near as much material dedicated to working out her quotes and implicit references.

The person I replied to said:
>He taught me the key to writing good poetry is to make it so dense with references

But that's not the key. It was good poetry that also happened to be highly referential for the above explained reason. People appreciated the poetry and dedicated chunks of their lives to studying it.

>> No.5063343

>>5063328

I'm not sure what you're implying. It's not really difficult to go through Paradise Lost quickly. There are basic summaries right in the text if you get lost. Of course, if you read on, I was advocating against that. Busting through such a text is a waste of time.

>> No.5063351

>>5062574

he abandoned ameerica.

>> No.5063400

>>5063319
Quite wrong, he saved musical theatre from the tired old Rodgers and Hammerstein model.

>> No.5063584

>>5063139
eliot's pretty god damn edgy himself

>> No.5063599

ezra pound was his mentor and editor and eliot and joyce stole shit from each other like the rest of the expatriates in paris/london

>yfw im the only one answering OPs question

>> No.5063623

>>5063351
Yeah but we got Auden so I think that makes up for it.