You all already know how much I love the poster for this year's National Poetry Month. But that's because I'm an inveterate Eliot fan. I just can't help it; the way he uses language, the way he evokes images even when I have no idea what he's talking about because he's just too much smarter than I am... so, since National Poetry Month happens to be in April, and I just happen to love Eliot, here's a famous bit about April from one of my favorite Eliot poems, The Waste Land:APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us...
If you have a spare hour or two (because it's fairly epic in scope), read the rest of The Waste Land here...
Like most months, this April has been both cruel and kind...but there's certainly been kindness in the wealth of poetry links and events. Go check out more at Carol's Corner, the host of today's Poetry Friday, and don't miss her original poem!
6 comments:
April is the cruelest month because everyone in my family (including the dog!) turns another year older. I guess that's fun, too.
I don't mind poetry that I don't completely understand as long as I feel my heart shift or my skin crawl or my head come off or some physical reaction. Elliot can do that.
Every time I see that poster, I think, "Heck YEAH I dare."
Mixing memory and desire...
Great line.
Dull roots with spring rain doesn't sound so cruel to me - it's just what I've been wiating for!!
FYI when I clicked the link in Carol's roundup the address was missing the first "h" in http. I had to add it. Don't know if that will cause a problem to a lot of your potential visitors.
Oops! Thanks! Will fix.
We used to read this to our son, when he was an infant, so that he might sleep.
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