In This Wasteland Where I'm Livin' There is a Crack in the Door Filled With Light

     T.S. Eliot is one of my favorite poets, D.H. Lawrence being number one, so the reading for these past two week has been very enjoyable. There is a warm, slightly nostalgic feeling associated with these poets, simply because they are my favorite, which may make what I'm about to say sound weird. Reading The Waste Land made me feel like I was wrapped up in an old, handmade quilt sitting by a fire, listening to someone tell me about the struggles they have gone through. Even with the bleak and seemingly hopeless language used I can't help but feel like there is light peeking through the cracks. I got this feeling doubly whilst reading "I. The Burial of the Dead." Yes, I do realize that the poem starts off with how horrible spring is as it is just a reminder of better days past but if you look at the second stanza, just after my favorite lines in the entire poem (lines 28-30 for anyone who cares), Eliot drops hints of hope for those who are looking. The hyacinth is a symbol for rebirth and, even if the few lines following this reference do not end well for the speaker, the fact that this flower is available even in this time is hopeful. In the last stanza the speaker is in an unreal city where the wounded, shell-shocked, return home with downward gaze and eery quiet. This stanza brings a heavy, defeated feeling to the reader yet there is still hope! The fact that there are indeed people returning means that there will be a city to rebuild, for there is no city where there are no people. This poem may seem hopeless at first glance but looking at the references and how each section progresses it is clear that there is a feeling of coming renewal and rebirth out of this horrid time.

(Title from this song.)