April, “the cruellest month”, is also National Poetry Month! – Rare Book and Manuscript Library – U of I Library (2024)
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“April is the cruellest month.” Thus begins one of the most important pieces of modern poetry ever written: T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land. Characteristic of Eliot’s work, this poem invites readers to question their own knowledge by putting forth information in multiple languages.The Waste Land’s epigraph, written in Greek, details the fable of Apollo’s gift of eternal life to the Sybil and her mistake in forgetting to also ask for eternal youth. The Sybil’s careless choice of words exemplifies T.S. Eliot’s and the modernist literary movement’s belief that every word within a text holds its own importance.
Published in 1923, The Waste Land was written during a time of great trouble in Eliot’s life. His marriage was failing, he was suffering from a nervous disorder and his disillusionment with the post-war world was increasing. Critics of Eliot have sometimes commented on the poem’s seeming obscurity.
During a trip to Europe, Eliot and his wife stayed with author Ezra Pound in Paris, France. Having been advised to seek treatment for his nervous disorder in Lausanne, Switzerland, Eliot spent his time there writing. Upon his return to Paris, he presented his 19-page manuscript to Pound, who made significant and detailed comments and cuts. Eliot would later dedicate this poem to Pound.
The poem was originally published in the United Kingdom in the first issue of The Criterion, a literary magazine founded and edited by Eliot, in October of 1922. Its first appearance in the United States came one month later in November of 1922 in The Dial magazine, followed by a volume including the author’s notes by Boni and Liveright, in December of 1922. In September of 1923, Leonard and Virginia Woolf’s Hogarth Press, published the first UK book edition of the poem in a run of 450 copies handset by Virginia Woolf.
Eliot’s most famous work went through several different titles in its many different manuscript forms. The poem’s original title was He do the Police in Different Voices, a reference to Charles Dickens’s novel Our Mutual Friend, in which Betty Higden says of her son Sloppy, “You mightn’t think it, but Sloppy is a beautiful reader of a newspaper. He do the Police in different voices.” Eliot’s final title may also allude to other published works: Jessie L. Weston’s From Ritual to Romance which outlines the Grail legend, the wounding of the Fisher King and the following sterility of his lands, or possibly Madison Cawein’s Waste Land, another poem similar in theme and language, published in 1913.
“April is the cruellest month” because winter has ended and yet the first signs of spring have not yet broken through the mud and sludge. However, April also represents the beginning of a new growing season. T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is a perfect topic for our final blog post of April, as we conclude this year’s National Poetry Month and our campus finally shows signs that spring has arrived! -NC
Eliot's poem “The Waste Land,” whose starting line reads, “April is the cruelest month…” Eliot asserts that April is cruel because it starts the cycle over again — the cycle of hurt, failure and sadness. Although it is the start of spring and new beginnings, these new beginnings are meaningless.
April is the cruellest 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.
POET TS Eliot's masterpiece The Wasteland evokes the misery of human depression. Its opening line 'April is the cruellest month' is a literary reminder that suicide and depression rates are highest in the spring.
Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.
Eliot in “The Wasteland” January, not April, is the cruelest month. The holidays and their celebrations, the food and lights, are over and spring is still far in the future.
There are many different poems that might take the title of the “saddest poem ever.” One of these is Gerard Manley Hopkins' piece 'Spring and Fall' and another is 'Sorrow' by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
For many poets and writers, April symbolizes renewal and rebirth. Lombardi, Esther. "Quotes About the Month of April From Great Writers." ThoughtCo, Sep. 2, 2021, thoughtco.com/writer-quotes-month-of-april-737869.
Eliot and thought the poet had called April the cruelest month not because it killed flowers and buds on the trees, but because sometimes it didn't. How difficult it was for those who didn't bloom when all about was new life and hope. The Cruelest Month is the third book in Louise Penny's popular Gamache series.
Eliot once wrote, “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” April can be a cruel month. But also a great one. It can bring happiness and sadness, celebration or crushed hopes for sports fans.
Eliot has frequently been criticized for his misogynistic treatment of women in his poetry. Few, however, have considered the role his portrayal of women plays in supporting his poetic themes.
Introduction: My name is Dr. Pierre Goyette, I am a enchanting, powerful, jolly, rich, graceful, colorful, zany person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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