ABOUT 

THE WASTE LAND, first published in 1922, is a 434-line poem by T.S. Eliot, known to us now as a modernist classic. Some say it changed poetry forever. It’s a series of fragments, Eliot’s own Inferno, a smashed epic, a machinic and incantatory take on modern life, and a plague poem, among other things. The poem is divided into five discreet but interconnected sections and teems with references and allusions to scripture, literature, and tarot as well as direct quotes from other texts, rapid shifts of voice, location, and decorum. Trippy and strange, it begins with the famous line April is the cruellest month and from there, spins into a polyphonic poem-scape, dense, airy, and unwieldy. The Waste Land will hold us for the month of April 2023, which has five Saturdays – one for each section of Eliot’s poem. Each of the sections can be said to correspond to a different element, beginning with earth. The fifth section is the immaterial fifth element, spirit. Eliot’s poem has many doors and portals — and in reading it together, we’ll think about wastelands, ways into and out of wastelands and how Eliot’s poem evokes our own modern madnesses and beauties. It begins and ends with spring.

FORMAT

-introduction/lecture from me on the section we’re reading that week and areas of focus

-group readings of the poem in a few different voices followed by discussion

-writing time with prompts [about 25 minutes per class]

OTHER RELEVANT INFO

-you can come to this class with a writing project in mind or not. the writing prompts each week will build on each other, so that you will finish the month of April having completed a long poem of your own under the influence of The Waste Land. however, all prompts are optional and you’re obviously free to use the writing time however you wish.

-anyone open to Eliot and The Waste Land is invited to attend! you need not like him or have any experience with his writing or this poem, as we’ll be reading the text and considering its present day reverberations together during the cruelest month

-full text of the poem is available online in many places. but I’ll also email you a PDF prior to the first class, along with the zoom link.

SCHEDULE AND DATES

We meet via zoom (link will be emailed to you the day before class) once a week during the month of April. Classes are 2 hours and begin at 11am ET/8am PT:

CLASS 1

I.               THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD (EARTH)

CLASS 2

II.             A GAME OF CHESS (AIR)

CLASS 3

III.            THE FIRE SERMON (FIRE)

CLASS 4

IV.           DEATH BY WATER (WATER)

CLASS 5

V.             WHAT THE THUNDER SAID (SPIRIT)