New TS Eliot

[greenstorm]

I hadn't read this before. It a piece from Murder in the Cathedral which I think I need to seek out now. Living and partly living.

Chorus:
We do not wish anything to happen.
Seven years we have lived quietly,
Succeeded in avoiding notice,
Living and partly living.
There have been oppression and luxury,
There have been poverty and license,
There has been minor injustice.
Yet we have gone on living,
Living and partly living.
Sometimes the corn has failed us,
Sometimes the harvest is good,
One year is a year of rain,
Another a year of dryness,
One year the apples are abundant,
Another year the plums are lacking.
Yet we have gone on living,
Living and partly living.
We have kept the feasts, heard the masses,
We have brewed beer and cyder,
Gathered wood against the winter,
Talked at the corner of the fire,
Talked at the corners of the streets,
Talked not always in whispers,
Living and partly living.
We have seen births, deaths and marriages,
We have had various scandals,
We have been afflicted with taxes,
We have had laughter and gossip,
Several girls have disappeared
Unaccountably, and some not able to.
We have all had our private terrors,
Our particular shadows, our secret fears.
But now a great fear is upon us, a fear not of one but of many,
A fear like birth and death, when we see birth and death alone
In a void apart. We
Are afraid in a fear which we cannot know, which we cannot face, which none understands,
And our hearts are torn from us, our brains unskinned like the layers of an onion, our selves are lost lost
In a final fear which none understands.

Comments

[whimsicalzephyr.livejournal.com]

That's some good poetry. I actually completely understand this one. It's possible I may understand because I'm putting my own meaning into it, and missing what Elliot meant to portray, but that's OK. Because it has relevance for me. Holy cow, I might just like poetry after all!

The main reason I don't like most poems is because it's only clear to English majors what the heck the poets are saying, and half the time it's only because their profs are telling them what the poets are saying.

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I only like poems that I find some meaning for; what I love about TS Eliot is that his poems always have meaning for me, and always the meaning evolves as I do.

[whimsicalzephyr.livejournal.com]

I might post some of my own. How do you do lj cuts?

[greenstorm.livejournal.com]

I look at the faq every time. There should be a link to it somewhere.