CR> Well, that is beside the point
(Sorry that Evans name got "autocorrected" to
Evens in my post)
The point is that, by botching the title, Mr. Evans shows a sloppiness that is
abundantly evident throughout the article you called our attention to.
Here's
what TSE has to say about the title in a postscript to a 1928 letter to a
Spanish translator, Angel Flores (from "Letters, vol 4"):
=========================== To Angel Flores
22 February 1928 [London]
. . . . . . main letter . . .
Yours very truly,
[T. S. Eliot]
P.S. The title, by the way, is not 'The Wasteland' but 'The Waste Land'.
The only exact translation of the title is one which my French translator, Jean
de Menasce, discovered, although alas! too late to use in his version - 'La
Gaste Lande'. This is absolutely the exact equivalent as it alludes to the same
mediaeval fiction.
===========================
Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2013 17:18:06 -0700
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Poem-A-Day: Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character by Rebecca Wolff
To: [log in to unmask]
Well, that is beside the point.CR
From: Tom Colket <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: Poem-A-Day: Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character by
Rebecca Wolff
"The Wasteland"? Mr. Evens doesn't even know the damn title of the poem.
--- Original Message ---
From: "Chokh Raj" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: August 7, 2013 6:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Poem-A-Day: Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character by Rebecca Wolff
Incidentally,
The Blank Card: Meaning and Transcendence in T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland
Joshua Evans, Yale University
an excerpt
What is meaning and how do we find it? This question is a thematic thread that pervades the fragmentary lines of T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, a diagnosis
of humanity in our crumbling, modern civilization. The poem is disjunctive in many ways: it is written in five parts, all with diverse subjects; a multitude of voices confuses regular distinctions of character and perspective; the poem spans the entire range
of poetic styles, from lyrical to narrative; and the variety within each of these elements appears so chaotic and inexplicable that we are left to assume a complete dearth of unified themes or meaning in the poem as a whole. Nevertheless, it is precisely through
this apparent disjunction and disconnection that Eliot means to convey his ideas on humanity and modern civilization. Through various images and episodes, Eliot explores the different ways we seek meaning in the world, in our lives, and in others, and how
these usual ways all ultimately fail: ironically, only through recognizing the limits on our ability to discover meaning do we find any at all.
http://www.agorajournal.org/2011/Evans.pdf
CR
Depends on how one takes it, Schlanger.
Modes of apprehension, maybe.
A raid on the inarticulate, as Eliot said.
CR
From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: Poem-A-Day: Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character by Rebecca Wolff
That, CR, does not inure to Eliot's credit.
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 7, 2013, at 8:44 AM, Chokh Raj <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Now wasn't Eliot's poetry the provenance of these experiments?
CR
From: Poets.org <[log in to unmask]>;
To: <[log in to unmask]>;
Subject: Poem-A-Day: Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character by Rebecca Wolff
Sent: Wed, Aug 7, 2013 10:39:30 AM
Experiment in Divination: Voice and Character
by
Rebecca Wolff
There is a curiosity that knows
I know
deathless ceiling of unknowing
I know
Querent,
Who I ask
is changing
all the time
changing
now changed.
How else is one to know
How is one to know how to proceed
the course of action
a non-reflective surface
a playing card on a wooden picnic table
a knot of knowing on a node of playing
How is one to know
How else is one to know how to proceed
How is one to make the motion against
And there's forever
and that's a mighty long time.
Copyright © 2013 by Rebecca Wolff. Used with permission of the author.
About This Poem
"This is one of a group or series of 'Experiments in Voice and Character'; it is either the first or the last, I haven't decided, but so far it is the only one that announces its thematic material in its title. The divinatory practice it concerns
itself with is the reading of cards; it concerns itself with longing for an answer when we cannot have an answer, the intense longing that provokes a certainty that there is a way of knowing if only we had it. And then we do."
--Rebecca Wolff
Most Recent Book by Wolff
The
King
(W. W. Norton, 2010)
August 7, 2013
Rebecca Wolff's third collection of poems is The King (W. W. Norton, 2010). Wolff is the founder and editor of the journal
Fence. She lives in Athens, New York.
Related Poems
Museum
Guard
by David Hernandez
Often
I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow
by Robert Duncan
in
the meadow magenta
by Cynthia Hogue
Poem-A-Day
Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-A-Day features new and previously unpublished poems
by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on
weekends. Browse the
Poem-A-
Day Archive.
Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit
Poets.org.
Forward
this email
This email was sent to
[log in to unmask] by
[log in to unmask] |
Update Profile/Email Address
| Instant removal with
SafeUnsubscribe™ |
Privacy Policy.
Academy of American Poets |
75 Maiden Lane | Suite 901 | New York |
NY | 10038
