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Comment 3 of 3, added on May 10th, 2007 at 9:34 AM.
this is a poem about a tired and old character living in a materialistic
world that is restrained by conventions. or is it... ha ha..
jahosephat from Canada
Comment 2 of 3, added on October 18th, 2005 at 10:04 AM.
I think we like 'Rhapsody' because it presents itself in a more accessible
form than some of Eliot's other work, as does 'Hollow Men.' But I've grown
old and as such have come to love Eliot purely for the 'sound' of his
language rather than the weight of his ideas. It doesn't take a hundred
lines to tells us that a universe without transcendent meaning is a cruel
and, in fact, uninhabitable space. We make an existential leap and go on
living anyway (but having learned that we are leaping live our lives
resigned to futility).
Memory!
You have the key,
The little lamp spreads a ring on the stair.
Mount.
The bed is open; the tooth-brush hangs on the wall,
Put your shoes at the door, sleep, prepare for life.”
The last twist of the knife.
Eliot succeeds in asking big questions in big ways, ways that wouldn't
offend those who were so willing to discard the Christian meta-myth or most
other means to make sense of the fragmentation all around us.
Transcendence puts humankind in a lower position, as does the lack of
transcendence (note his equating the cat and the child).
But I digress. Read it, love it for the sound of its language, the beauty
of the sound. You decide why we ascribe value to beautiful things or if
value exists without transcendence. Or are the cat and the child really the
same?
reverseangle from United States
Comment 1 of 3, added on September 20th, 2004 at 2:11 PM.
its very kewl! and quite straightforwad
sophie from United Kingdom
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this is a poem about a tired and old character living in a materialistic
world that is restrained by conventions. or is it... ha ha..
jahosephat from Canada