Selected Poems

by T. S Eliot

Paperback, 1961

Status

Available

Call number

821

Genres

All Topics

Fiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Harcourt, Brace & World (1961), Paperback, 127 pages

Description

Chosen by Eliot himself, the poems in this volume represent the poet’s most important work before Four Quartets. Included here is some of the most celebrated verse in modern literature-”The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “Gerontion,” “The Waste Land,” “The Hollow Men,” and “Ash Wednesday”-as well as many other fine selections from Eliot’s early work.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jlelliott

For some reason most poetry does not really resonate with me. One of the only poets I can stand is T.S. Eliot. His poetry is absurd and lyrical, providing just the barest glimpses at the underlying meaning. But the images stay with me.

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LibraryThing member sometimeunderwater

Could be worth 5 stars for Prufrock alone, and what with Waste Land, Hollow Men, etc. it's got the best of Eliot - perhaps the best poet of the period. Pretty light collection.

LibraryThing member MsNikki

I don't like poetry, but I liked this. I read it for sixth form, and Eliot's spiritual journey echoed mine. I recognised the words from the music of Cats, at the time I had no clue who inspired who.

LibraryThing member page.fault

In general, my reading tastes are pulp-press-simple. I can neither appreciate, nor enjoy, nor, I admit, even understand, poetry. But Eliot is different, and I don't know why. I have very little understanding of what is going on in the poems themselves, but the lines that are so seeped in meaning

and imagery and are so tangible that I can taste them as I read.

I remember having to analyse the first part of "The Waste Land" in high school, and, for once, hating the ponderous application of reason and logic and inference and analysis to something that, to me, stands outside and in some ways beyond meaning.
So I don't really analyse the poems. I just read them for those evocative lines.

A few of my favourites:

~~~~~~~ "The Hollow Men" ~~~~~~~
(Probably my favorite poem, incidentally, possibly because it is both haunting and interpretable.)

'This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.'

'Remember us--if at all--not as lost
violent souls, but only
as the hollow men'

'Shape without form, shade without colour
Paralysed force, gesture without motion'

'Eyes I dare not meet in dreams'

'in that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom'

'The supplication of a dead man's hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star'

'Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone'

'In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley'

'The hope only
Of empty men'

'Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the shadow'

~~~~~~~ "The Waste Land" ~~~~~~~

'A heap of broken images, where the sun beats'

'I will show you fear in a handful of dust.'

'Looking into the heart of light, the silence.'

'Those are pearls that were his eyes.'

'Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn'

'And still she cried, and still the world pursues.'

'The river's tent is broken; the last fingers of leaf
Clutch and sink into the wet bank.'

'Where the dead men lost their bones'

'Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.'

'Throbbing between two lives'

'A current under sea
Pickled his bones in whispers.'

'Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison'

~~~~~~~The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock~~~~~~

'The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes'

'There will be a time to murder and create'

'I have measured my life with coffee spoons'

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LibraryThing member TerriS

Poetry is just not my thing. I don't think I understood any of it. But that's just me. I really need to take a class to study T.S.Eliot's works, because I know he is a famous poet. I am just too ignorant to appreciate it ;)

LibraryThing member Figgles

I first read TS Eliot at Uni nearly forty years ago and this is my Faber and Faber paperback study copy, complete with notes. It was interesting to revisit one of the great poets of the twentieth century and initially I was struck by the misanthropy (and anti semitism) of the early poems, however

the later poems hauled me in with the beauty of the images and words and I mellowed towards the poet. There was still a certain disenchantment with humanity but also more sympathy with what it means to be a fallible human being.

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LibraryThing member PollyMoore3

My favourite Eliot poem, apart from "Four Quartets" : “Do not suddenly break the branch…” from “Landscapes III: Usk”, is not in here, but I traced it online.

LibraryThing member IonaS

I imagine practically everyone literate knows or knows of T.S. Eliot and his erudite poems.

He has a distinctive style, and there is a distinctive rhythm to his poems, so one always recognizes his authorship.

I like his quotes in various languages, which I mostly understand, except the ones in

Greek.

I can’t say I understand what the poems mean, however; in fact, I would have appreciated the inclusion of an explanation/interpretation of them – absolutely.

I remember studying Murder in the Cathedral years ago, at school, or university. That was comprehensible, as I recall, if I recall correctly,

I don’t know Eliot’s work well enough to suggest the inclusion of other of his poems or extracts thereof.

Here is an extract from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

“Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, ---
Let us go and make our visit. ---

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo. ---

I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.”

From The Hollow Men:

“We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass ---

Those who have crossed
---- to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us – if at all – not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men. ---

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.”

Extracts from The Waste Land and choruses from The Rock are also included in this selection.

This was an enjoyable read, though somewhat cryptic.

Now I will look into Eliot’s Four Quartets, The Family Reunion and The Cocktail Party.

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LibraryThing member mykl-s

A classic. A little bit of Eliot goes a long way. Reading Elliot is like trying to read Derrida, trying to understand all the multiple contexts, references, and allusions.

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