I’ve been receiving emails and queries about my last post title: April Is The Cruelest Month…and have been told that it’s a little over dramatic and off putting. So I thought I would share with you exactly what I meant when I wrote this as a heading.
The Waste Land is a very well know poem by TS Eliot and “April is the cruelest month’ is the famous first line of this poem. When I used this title, I was using it tongue in cheek.
Working with computers definitely feels to me like a waste land all of my own. I found cross referencing this poem a welcome respite from the hours of wrangling and attempting to get work out of my hated machine (my ‘computer’). As a child in school in Europe, I was forced to memorize m-a-n-y poems…and sometimes certain lines strike you during moments in life.
As for my hate / hate relationship with my computer…things are on the mend… I am moving into the ‘breeding lilacs out of the dead land’ part now.
from Wikipedia ;
The Waste Land[A] is a 434 line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century."[1]
APRIL is the cruelest 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.
On another note:
It's a week to go until AQC. I will be there every day, hoping you meet some of you. Please do come up and say hello. I am especially looking forward to catching up with those of you making the Civil War Bride Quilt... (err, I'm still in the beginning stages...)
it's nice to see something culturally literate once in a while. i think a few missed the reference. :o)
ReplyDeleteI see nothing dramatic or off putting re your previous post. I love your blog, there is always something interesting and cultural to read. See you at the AQC, we are doing white glove at the same time.
ReplyDeleteJenni - Jacaranda
I'm so sorry that you have to deal with readers that are "a little over dramatic" (pun intended!) thanks for the poem as well as for your wonderful blog. Don't pay attention to any nasty comments, people who do that don't even deserve an answer or explanation
ReplyDeleteAury
May you enjoy the sweet aroma of the lilacs :)
ReplyDeleteAs an Eng Lit graduate, and an English teacher in a former life I know exactly what you mean about the way lines of poetry lodge themselves in your head. One for May: May with its light behaving/ Stirs vessel, eye and limb WH Auden!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it strange that people who get to read blogs, for free I might add, feel they have the right to criticize the writer? I guess these same people think that you and I should just be happy, happy all of the time. I think your post stated how you felt, just perfectly.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad when you have to explain it....read people, read! Dianntha
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments Crystal, Jenni, Aury, Carol, Sandra, Gary & Dianntha:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you all. It's just that I didnt want to give the impression that I actually believed a computer glitch could be the 'worse' thing that could happen. It isnt. Not even remotely, but it is annoying. And, when did people stop reading poetry?? that's what I'd like to know!