T.S. Eliot - Preludes

Advantages: This is poetry that sings. TS Eliot was a master of the language.
Disadvantages: Eliot was often purposely obscure, showing off his education

...Background to this Essay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK, I'm cheating a little. I wrote this a couple of years ago, and is partly in homage to my father. My father was both a poetry reader and a writer. One of his favourite poets was TS Eliot. I wrote this after my dad died for the university degree I recently finished, and hope I did him proud. This is dedicated to him. I wasn't sure whether to put this in as a book/poem review - but then I found this essay category, so thought that here would be the best place. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darkness and Despair - Preludes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If one can judge a man by his poetry, TS Eliot was a man obsessed with desolation, decay and despair(1). Many of his works had themes of hopelessness and aridity, culminating in The Waste Land. His poetry...

mattygroves 04.09.2002 · Read review
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Review of Essays

Eliot is a master of peotry

Advantages: Excellent to study, brilliant to read
Disadvantages: Snobbery, too many allusions?

...I have to admit, I LOVE T.S. Eliot. He manages to create something magical with words, taking something very ordinary and twisting it in such a way that is perplexing and charming. The Waste Land is a bit of a mammoth of a poem, but takes you on a journey through despondency, hope and suffering, and is a must-read, taking up the Holy Grail Legend in a new light. His characters throughout are often depressed souls, whose lives have little purpose, and he tries to show you how spirituality can be your salvation from average, routine, mundane life. At times, however, Eliot loses us with his allusions to texts from all walks of history and cultures, which take some time to pick through; a result of his thorough education and snobbery....

tidapop 28.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Waste Land and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot

HERE KITTY KITTY!

Advantages: The book that the musical 'Cats' was based upon.
Disadvantages: None.

...Persian and Siamese cats because it was a Persian who took his ear. This is quite a funny poem with good use of the nonsense verse here. I can't write about every single poem but I will pick out a few of my favourites and let you make your own mind up about T.S Eliots 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'. I love this one I think it is the sense of the ridiculous that captures my imagination here. 'Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer' were a pair of infamous cat burglars, who stole pearl necklaces, trinkets and valuables. They had a particular talent for the 'Smash and Grab'; they were trained 'tightrope walkers and acrobats, quick change comedians and knockabout clowns' and they also had the 'Gift of the gab'. Conning their way into homes they would somersault, backflip, climb and whiz their way through the house like a whirlwind, pocketing...

Morning_Becomes_Electra 18.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

Eliot's best work in one volume

Advantages: Essential Eliot poems, collected into one volume
Disadvantages: If you don't like Eliot, you'll hate this

...I bought this book because it includes The Waste Land and The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, two of my favourite Eliot poems. I would say that if you like Eliot's more experimental poetry, this is a must. If, however, you are a diehard fan of Old Possum's, you might want to steer clear of this. Some find these particular poems quite pretentious, due to their length and language. I would agree with this in part, but I also think that anyone who reads these poems will come away with something different from them. The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock should be read by everyone, particularly students of English, or just anyone interested in poetry. It was a groundbreaking poem at the time, thanks to its mostly free verse structure, and its satirical tone. All in all, I would recommend this book for readers who appreciate Eliot already, as...

blue_orchid_0 13.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Waste Land and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot

One of those books you have to do at school . . .

Advantages: Great poetry.
Disadvantages: Elitist, snobbish and racist.

...of this. Right from the start "April is the cruellest month" - this echoes the beginning of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - the poem's epic pretensions are demonstrated. The Waste Land has been called the longest poem in the English language because of its constant allusions to other works. The author is saying that, unless you are clever enough to understand all my references, you are not good enough for this poem. Elitist or what?! Eliot abandons any pretence at a single authoritative voice. We do not know where the voices are coming from. There are no links, we have to hop across white line breaks to another voice and time. The act of reading it out loud presents us with a drama - different voices which are not necessarily connected with the author. It is almost a stream of consciousness effect. The First World War is a big influence...

drewish 28.02.2007 (12.06.2008) · Read review
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Review of The Waste Land and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot

The naming of cats

Advantages: delightful poems, excellent for children
Disadvantages: none at all

...Warning: If you expose your children to this book then you are going to end up with some cats with very strange names! Bear in mind that at midnight, you aren't going to relish standing out in your back garden calling for "Rumpleteazer" or "Skimbleshanks." If you want to introduce your children to poetry, T.S Eliot might not be your first tought - those of us who have studied literature have undoubteld encountered his very dry literary criticism and his downright oscure piece "The Wasteland." Not really kids stuff at all. How the man responsible for th above could also have written this absolute gem I will never know - it only goes to prove what strange creatures we humans are. T.S Eliot is a man who has clearly lived with cats - he understands their foibbles, their habits and their innate strangeness. While we sleep, cats stalk...

Bryn_Pearson 04.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

Macavity Morgan Mistoffelees and More

Advantages: An Easily Accessible Collection Of Poetry For All Ages.
Disadvantages: None

...A collection of poetry that is instantly accessible to every age has to be T.S. Eliots ?Old Possums Book of Practical Cats?. It is a delightful read at any age and will appeal to all. ?Practical Cats? (as I will refer to it from now on), is most famously known for it being the inspiration behind Andrew Lloyd Webbers extravagant musical ?Cats?. Although this is an interesting insight and may encourage people to read ?Practical Cats? I feel that ?Practical Cats? does not depend upon this to make it a wonderful collection. ?Practical Cats? was first published in 1939. Since then it has been an enduring collection. It?s most famous release is accompanied by drawings by ?Edward Gorey? . The current hardback version of ?Practical Cats? retails at £8.99. (ISBN0-571-11971-9). Now onto the collection itself. I think the best way forward...

charis18uk 31.07.2001 (20.09.2004) · Read review
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Review of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

The Waste Land is not a Waste of time

Advantages: Beautiful, really beautiful
Disadvantages: I suppose I have to admit that its ever so slightly snobbish

...No really it isn't, even if you're sitting there thinking someone said that about Ulyssess and you got three pages in before throwing at the wall, or that the last modern poetry you read was just random sentences, please please try this. It's one of the starting points of modern literature and it is accessible (well ... it's not as bad as the Canto's or Ulyssess) and it is some of the most beautiful poetry your ever likely to read. Now selections of Eliot's poetry vary from publisher to publisher editor to editor, which means that mine isn't likely to have the same stuff in it as one published more recently. However, the big three poems (ignoring the Four Quartets - although breathtaking a lot of collections leave them out because of length, and because they are of a leter period than the mythic Wasteland) are generally all included...

Telute 30.09.2003 · Read review
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Review of The Waste Land and Other Poems - T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot - Prufrock

Advantages: one of the best poet of our century
Disadvantages: -----

...Ok...first of all..I'm not English, but I love this language, so I apologize for all the mistakes I'm going to make in this opinion..SORRY! I hope you don't mind...:) Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St.Louis in 1882. He studied at Harvard till 1910, when he moved to the Sobborne in Paris. Afterwards he decided to come back to his home country, where he began a teaching career before becoming a clerk in a bank. He got married in 1915 with Vivian Haigh Wood, a woman characterized by a fragile mental stabilty, that will condition the whole writer's life. In 1917 Eliot published his first work: Prufrock and other Observations. In these poems he started to express a deep pessimistic ideal of life, showing how it was a result of the emptiness of our world. His wife got seriously ill, and they moved to Switzerland, in a sanatory, where...

fabrizio 21.05.2002 (22.05.2002) · Read review
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Review of Everything that starts with E ...

Ibanez Tubescreamer TS9 tone!

Advantages: Great Tone!! Great sounding Solo's and Lead work!
Disadvantages: None!

...The Ibanez Tube Screamer TS9 is little box of pure tone! If your looking for an overdrive pedal that will instantly beef your sound and make you cut through the music when you take a solo then this is for you. All the great players from SRV, Clapton, ZZ Top all own tubesreamers and they are all known for the tone and sound of there guitars. I personally play in a rock/blues band and i have gigged the TS9 all over London, the build quality is good as with most things to do with Ibanez and this thing has taken a few knocks and its still solid and working great!! With the TS9 you can get a light blues overdrive to hard driven rock! Go and buy one!!...

Dollery1980 09.09.2008 · Read review
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