Who said there's no money to be made writing poetry???

Poststructural Pub
1

Ok. So he’s been dead for a while. And he’s rated as one of the top 3 poets of the 20th century. But this just goes to show that if you put your mind to it, that some day, with a lot of talent, you could hit it big writing verse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050920/en_nm/arts_eliot_auction_dc

Or, there’s always LOTTO. :smiley:

Will O’Ban

2

I think there are a lot more people who get rich off of the lotto than off of poetry. :slight_smile:

3

I dunno. What about Rod McKuen?

Oh, that’s right. We’re talking about poetry. Nevermind.

Will O’Ban

4

:laughing: :laughing:

5

Does your dog know you use his liver as a screen name?

6

Ha! After all these years I finally get to use this emoticon: :really:

…Actually, it’s just that I bathe him a lot.

7

Apart from his modernist poems, he published “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” a children’s work on which Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical “Cats” is based.

Oh, dear.

I must be nearly illiterate. I had no idea T.S. Eliot was associated with the musical Cats. This is the most unsettling information I’ve encountered in a very long time.

Best wishes,
Jerry

8

Scary ain’t it? :laughing:

9

I have been reading T.S. Elliott for 30 years. I have recently allowed myself to begin to commence to start considering, possibly, the possibility that he might possibly be over-rated.

I BLASPHEME!

Of course, there’s no pride to be taken in the fact that it’s taken me 30 years to start considering it.

Dale

10

:slight_smile:

Sometimes though, He’s just right.

Slan,
D. :wink:

11

I’m with you, D.; I think it stands the test of time.

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.

12

I’ll grant you that a lot of writers are over-rated, and each of us is entitled to our opinion, but I can’t fathom how T. S. Elliott’s work could ever be considered “over-rated.” There were/are a lot of good poets, but this kind of writing does not even come along once in a lifetime. After 30+ years of reading it, the imagery still makes me shiver:

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar


Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;


Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us – if at all – not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.

From: The Hollow Men (1925)



Will O’Ban

13

Okay, I love you guys and everything, but someone needs to mention that it’s Eliot. T.S. Eliot. Not Elliot. (Where’s Lambchop when I need her?)

Thanks. Now back to the pomes. :wink:

14

Point well taken. As a former lit professor, I suppose my error is the most egregious of all. But these days I’m lucky when I remember who wrote what, instead of if their name has one “l” or two “t’s”. But you are correct of course. In the future, I shall try to be more mindful of what I am doing. :blush:

Will O’Ban (slinking away into the “dunce” corner)

15

Will, you just slink right back out here! I’ve posted more dumbass errors than anyone around here. Spelling matters…but heart matters more. Get out here and post some more Eliot. Or whatever floats your boat. :wink:

16

To live a tragic life is one thing, but to live a pathetic life is quite another. As bad as the former is, I shudder when I think it is slowly becoming the latter. Thanks for the encouragement, Scottie. I shall return tomorrow following a much needed rest.

Goodnite to one and all. :sleep:

Will O’Ban