Marcia Karp wrote: > I don't see how I can add to the discussion (others might find a way) > without considering Eliot's relation to the poem. You brought up that > relation in the context of Pound's work on it, so it seemed to me you, > too, thought it part of the discussion. As for the details: I don't > believe there is a cut-and-dry reason why Eliot wrote the poem, nor am I > convinced of his "being done" with it. My disagreement is not meant as a > bother, nor is it irrelevant to the question. Absolutely not. But I feel that the first part of my post was more subjective than the second part and that the second part (about the common themes of the unpublished poems) could be addressed seperately. This was in response to Tim's question: Would the poem have seemed any less fragmented and collage-like if passages such as Song, Dirge, Exequy, Death of the Duchess and even the sea voyage passage had stayed in the poem? > I can understand if you are frustrated by my difficulty in seeing > the connections you are making. I'm frustrated with my inability to be able to get point across. I blame my writing. While I suppose I could do better I don't see enough interest by others to feel that it is worth my time to try. Regards, Rick Parker