Some people can’t stand TS Eliot. Some find him obtuse and elitist — and this is an argument that still surrounds poetry today, and I don’t mean just about Eliot. Read the latest tempest in a teacup here. But despite all that, I have always loved Eliot. The first poem that I ever took to heart was his Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. But my favourite has always been The Waste Land. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, it relies on all sorts of allusions that we may not immediately grasp. But the language! The sentiment! The Waste Land is a difficult poem, but it is a difficult poem which refuses to push you away. It draws you in line after line and makes you feel as if you are a better and certainly more accomplished person for having stayed with it. So imagine my excitement this week when I discovered that Faber will soon be bringing out a Waste Land Ipad App! The text will be there, I believe, but so will Eliot himself in readings that had been buried in Faber’s archives. And one of my favourite actresses, Fiona Shaw, will be there too, reminding us of the amazing rendition she did of the poem several years ago here in London. She created a one-woman dramatization of it which was phenomenal. I was lucky enough to see it, and now I’ll be able to relive parts of it on my Ipad.
I know I’m going crazy with the superlatives, but I am truly excited about this. Not only will it bring this masterpiece to life for a new audience, but it will also use it to create a new sort of a book. The app is a fascinating way to link the written word with video and audio and interaction. If this is part of the future of publishing, then I’m not quite so scared. You can learn about it and see the promotional video here.
I love Eliot too. The Hollow Men, for me, and The Four Quartets. But also Prufrock, and the Wasteland, and the Magi, and… this sounds like a fabulous plan. Still doesn’t make me want an iPad, though.
Word verification: mettefor – just made me laugh out loud!
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I don’t understand the fear. These kinds of wonderful apps show all the wonderful ways writing can be appreciated.
Oh, Eliot. Sue you and I have a lot in common. Oh dear you think.
‘I grow old, I grow old etc etc.’
‘Till human voices wake us and we drown.’
Prufrock we studied in 6th From and I absolutely loved it. It was just for the adolescent and I’ve obviously never grown up.
I was reading The Waste Land the other week and just lines like ‘I read much of the night and go south in the winter…’ just do things for me.
I think he is incredible.
My teacher at school wouldn’t play us recordings that Eliot had made as Eliot read so badly, so boring. A few years ago my wife bough me the British Library cd of various poets reading their poems with Eliot reading Prufrock. I just thought it was amazing. Makes me want to buy an ipad Sue!