What the Thunder Said

Viac o knihe

On the 100th anniversary of T. S. Eliot's modernist masterpiece, this cultural history explores the creation, impact, and lasting influence of The Waste Land. Published in 1922, the poem catapulted its 34-year-old author to global fame and a Nobel Prize. As Jed Rasula notes, The Waste Land signifies a transformative event in literature, marking a clear divide between the past and modern poetry. It boldly proclaimed that poetry had entered a new era. Rasula examines how The Waste Land revolutionized poetry and heralded a modernist upheaval across the arts, influencing visual art and music. With its iconic opening line, "April is the cruellest month," and its closing Sanskrit mantra, "Shantih shantih shantih," the poem melds striking imagery, innovative techniques, and rich allusions, adhering to Ezra Pound's call to "make it new." The narrative delves into the poem's origins in Wagnerism and French Symbolism, its reception, and its captivating musicality that continues to resonate. It also highlights Eliot's influential circle, including figures like Wyndham Lewis and Virginia Woolf, as well as contemporaries such as Mina Loy and Marianne Moore, whose contributions are as significant as those of the "men of 1914." Filled with fresh insights, this work revives the explosive power of the twentieth century's most impactful poem.