The Daily Glance
John Beer's The Waste Land and Other Poems is an exceptionally good book. Upon reading the title, I didn't know whether or not the book would be a spoof based on T.S. Eliot, but it is not. This book deals with significant ideas and references and updates Eliot's work (on a broader scale than just The Waste Land) and even includes notes. In fact, Beer's poem titled "The Waste Land" is based loosely on Eliot's poem, but it is a contemporary take on the poet, or just a person, in the contemporary city. It is broken in sections like Eliot's piece and picks up Eliot's tonal changes (not an easy thing to do in a serious manner). It places the person in the contemporary city with all of the associated problems (global capitalism, lack of concern for poetry, etc. . . ). My favorite section in the poem is section V, which is dedicated to Orpheus.
we set foot
in a world ash-sick, a bad dream world
no longer the mirror, no longer the poem
the birdless night grew colder
The rest of the book is just as interesting, and I look forward to going back to give this book a more in-depth reading.
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