“The Waste Land” is a case study of great art by flawed artists
On its centenary, the challenge is to reconcile T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece with his prejudice
Babies like “The Waste Land”. Try it on one if you’re sceptical. They appreciate the assonance, the rhythms and the intermittent rhymes. They cock an ear at the hair that “Glowed into words”, the “rattle of the bones” and the mystical sign-off: “Shantih shantih shantih”. True, they may not get all the allusions. But then hardly any adults do either.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Fear in a handful of dust”
Culture September 17th 2022
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