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G. Douglas Atkins here offers an original consideration of T. S. Eliot s essay as a form of embodied thinking. A combination of literature and philosophy, the genre of the essay holds within itself a great tension that between truth and creative prose. And, as Atkins explains, these conflicting forces of truth and creativity exist not only within the literary format itself but also within the writers and their relationships with the genre, making essay writing a wonderfully enriching impure art.

Exploring the similarities between Eliot s prose and poetry with the art of essay writing, Atkins discovers remarkably similar patterns of Incarnational thinking that emerge in each. In so doing, he establishes for the first time the essayistic nature of the great poem Four Quartets and provides an eloquent reflection on how the essay in all its impurity functions as Incarnational art, an embodiment of truth. ... Read more

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This collection was designed for optimal navigation on Kindle and other electronic devices. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography.

Customer Reviews (2)

Works of T. S. Eliot (mobi)
Works of T. S. Eliot. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Gerontion, The Waste Land, Portrait of a Ladyand more (mobi)

This ebook is the definitive collection of T.S. Eliot's work. It includes an amazing selection of his poems, such as "Prufrock" with its vigour, irony and sheer cleverness. I always loved the tremendous amount of aggression in the early Eliot poems, very often directed at the speaker himself. Once you've come to like the young Mr Eliot, you might give the later stuff a try as well. His poetry doesn't just have a fascinating musical structure, but also embodies a view of life and history. Eliot's mastery of the complicated form and intense imagery of modernist poetry is without comparison. His complexity of allusion and intertextuality, his irreverence in moments of drama, his quirky and sometimes self-deprecating humour amidst the brightness and freshness of his own particular brand of the modernist form is starkly and completely unique.

Great ebook!
Works of T. S. Eliot. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Gerontion, The Waste Land, Portrait of a Ladyand more (mobi)

Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his power. All arguments for and against Mr. Eliot can be countered easily and each have in them flaws that are substantial. T. S. Eliot cannot be read like most poets. Like the eastern scriptures he so loved, Eliot will take a lifetime for the reader to digest. Read and re-read. Question and re-read again. I became familiar with his works years ago. I have yet to tire of them. Eliot will grow with you, for his poems are the story of a man always growing and always searching. Discount the fighting that academics have over him. Read him for yourself. Immerse yourself in the spiral of darkness and light that is his poetry and judge for yourself. In the end, no matter what you think, you will not be able to deny his effect. ... Read more

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Eliot's correspondence from his childhood in St. Louis until he had settled in England and published The Waste Land. Edited and with an Introduction by Valerie Eliot; Index; photographs.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a poet in his prose
No biography of Eliot could better capture the thoughts and personality of the young poet than these letters.Eliot had a lively correspondence with so many, including family, friends, editors, and partners in verse.Eventhe short letters -- like the ones in which Eliot simply announces to hiscorrespondent that he's exhausted and doesn't want to write anything --give a glimpse of how Old Possum acted.

Eliot's poetry is so cerebral andallusive that when reading it, one can feel at his mercy.In his lettershe is far less in control, and the contrast is fascinating. ... Read more

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T. S. Eliot is not only one of the most important poets of the twentieth century; as literary critic and commentator on culture and society, his writing continues to be profoundly influential. Every student of English must engage with his writing to understand the course of modern literature. This book provides the perfect introduction to key aspects of Eliot's life and work, as well as to the wider contexts of modernism in which he wrote. John Xiros Cooper explains how Eliot was influenced by the intellectual climate of both twentieth-century Britain and America, and how he became a key cultural figure on both sides of the Atlantic. The continuing controversies surrounding his writing and his thought are also addressed. With a useful guide to further reading, this is the most informative and accessible introduction to T. S. Eliot. ... Read more

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EliotÂ’s famous collection of nonsense verse about cats-the inspiration for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats. This edition features pen-and-ink drolleries by Edward Gorey throughout. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (68)

Fullfilled expectation
Book was in good condition and arrived on time. Would buy from this seller again.

Not so practical at all
After taking My six year old Daughter to the musical Cats for Her first time,
I got Her thisbook, as She was so taken with it, thinking She might have this as
a keepsake...She was upset to find that there was a inventory tracking sticker of some
sort smack dab in the middle of the cover...You know the kind right, made out of white
paper, with a quart of glue, rendering it impossible to peel off.I know it is only a dust
cover, but really??????????????My Daughter, who don't forget is six, feels slighted in some
way, and pointed out that She is not allowed to put stickers on books, and would really like
to know Amazon, why You wrecked Her book by covering the artwork on the cover, by another of
Her favorites, Illustrator Edward Gorey.

If You all insist on putting stickers on things like books, maybe consider shrink wrapping it
first at Your Own cost.

Perfect for Children
This really is T.S. Eliot at his best.And it's written for children!While I'd never take a four-year-old to watch the musical, I'd most definitely read this to one.It's engaging and brilliantly written.

Classic comes alive
This is a classic work, exactly as I expected. I also wanted to read it to small children, but some of the poems are beyond their understanding.

Ryming Poetry Rules!
T.S. Eliot proves with Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats that the rhyming poem is just as valid as free verse. Why some people continue to regard the rhyming poem as the lower form of poetic expression, or as something strictly for the little ones, is beyond me (perhaps it's due in part to the fact that TV advertisers abuse this art form on a regular basis, cheapening it with their cringe-inducing jingles). But whatever the case, these detractors have either never read, or (hard as it is to believe) forgot the magnificent rhyming poetry contained in T.S. Eliot's slim yet thoroughly satisfying masterpiece. The illustrations included in this edition are by Ed Gorey, and they complement Eliot's poetry beautifully. This is a great book. Highly recommended!

I also recommend Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland, which like Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, is a collection of brilliant rhyming poetry. As the title suggests, this book contains 'the lost rhymes' of Wonderland, 19 full-length poems that replicate the style of Lewis Carroll so cannily you'd almost swear the legend of the lost rhymes is true. This one may be the most serious contribution to rhyming poetry since Eliot penned his classic ode to cats.
... Read more

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This exploration of T. S. Eliot's last major poem, Four Quartets, examines the poem's potential to transform readers' faith journeys. Kramer shows that the power of Four Quartets is its ability to create a dynamic interaction between the poem and the reader that promotes a genuine connection with the natural world, with others, and with the Divine. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Redeeming Time
So far I just haven't gotten into the book.The poem is like 40 pages and the book explaining "Four Quartets" is 400?But I'm ignorant.I expect in a few years I'll wrestle with both books and see jewels under the puzzling lines of Eliot

Opinions and intellectualizing
The Quartets are great poetry, but this overweening PhD thesis is the opposite of poetry. Wish the whole thing was cut to a quarter, and all of the windy theorization culled. Some good facts are here, but better to read the Bhagavad Gita in the original than suffer the author's hands-off opinions about its relation to the Quartets. I recommend Satchidananda's Bhagavad Gita (Yogaville, VA).

Redeeming the Unredeemable
The fifth line of the first Quartet states that time is unredeemable.Kramer's book is a very long argument to the contrary, and in the end he doesn't persuade me. It seems to me that Eliot himself had troubles with his use of paradox to explicate Ecclesiastes, and so does Kramer.Glad I bought the book, it's great poetry, if unconvincing as a combination of philosophy and mysticism, and I'm happy someone as sensitive to the poetry as Kramer has spent what must be most of a lifetime pondering the riches of the text.

Read This Book- Now!
Four Quartets captured me in its spell when I first encountered it in November '05. I have been trying to understand it, and its magnetic pull, ever since. Redeeming Time is brilliant in lifting the veil on Four Quartets and revealing the timeless truths so evoked there- and so hidden 'here'. If you are even vaguely interested in the contemplative / mystical life, or in touching 'sacramental existence' in the ordinary, feed your soul here- in Kramer's enabling strucutre- and let Four Quartets flow with even more power. Kenneth Kramer: what a gift. Thanks!

An excellent guide to Four Quartets
T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets is one of the most difficult and obscure poems ever written. Kenneth Paul Kramer's Redeeming Time is an excellent guide to understanding the poem's hidden meanings. The author has devoted more than thirty-five years to Eliot's masterpiece: he wrote his Ph D. thesis on Four Quartets, made numerous research trips to all four locations of the titles to each poem, taught courses on it at university, and continued his study of the poems while writing numerous books. Redeeming Time is well-written,clearly organized, and includes one hundred pages of Notes in the back of the book, plus a bibliography of the works cited and an index. This is truly a scholarly work. Best of all, Kramer's analysis unlocks many of the difficulties for the reader. I found this book to be the most helpful and useful analysis on Four Quartets written thus far.I highly recommend it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An abstruse essay that sheds some light on an abstruse subject matter
Eliot begins by conceding that the subject of his study "involves the risk of error at every moment" and is "so difficult that I am not sure I grasp it myself except in flashes, or that I comprehend all its implications." He defines culture as "not merely the sum of several activities, but a way of life" of people living together in one place. It is "made visible in their arts, in their social system, in their habits and customs, in their religion." He warns the reader about the danger of committing two errors: "that of regarding religion and culture as separate things between which there is a relation, and that of identifying [equating] religion and culture." Culture and religion are separate and distinct, but they are intricately interwoven.

Eliot breaks culture down into three classes: the individual, the group, and whole society. The culture of the individual is "dependent upon the culture of a group or class, and that the culture of the group or class is dependent upon the culture of the whole society to which that group or class belongs." He begins his study with culture at the whole society level, setting out to avoid

The material organization of a nation is inextricably linked with its spiritual life. In the context of Europe, if the spiritual organization dies, "then what you will organize will not be Europe, but merely a mass of human beings speaking several different languages." "In the most primitive societies no clear distinction is visible between religious and non-religious activities; and that as we proceed to examine the more developed societies, we perceive a greater distinction, and finally contrast and opposition, between these activities."

The culture of the West has been formed through common conceptions that have been handed down from the ancient civilizations of Greece, Rome and Israel. These legacies have given way to common conceptions of private and public morality, a conception of Roman law, and common standards of art and literature. It is the duty of men of letters throughout Europe to pass on this culture, unadulterated by political motives, to future generations by producing "those excellent works which mark a superior civilization."
... Read more

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Provocative, pithy analysis of THE WASTE LAND for snack-sized, enjoyable reading.From the author's introduction:

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) could not have dreamt that you and I would be reading The Waste Land. He was writing for his age – not for us. The ideal reader of The Waste Land will be a man who has had a classical education and been on the Grand Tour, then lived through the First World War. The four-language dedication to Ezra Pound (called “the better craftsman” – though Eliot says it in fourteenth century Italian) sets the intellectual tone. This is a difficult poem, and deliberately so. Allusions to European literature of all periods abound, jostling with classical mythology, Bible references and a keen observation of the minutiae of London life in the post-war years. The seventeen-page poem was published with its own seven pages of “explanatory” notes from Eliot. The notes are frequently not helpful; indeed many are more obscure than the matters they claim to elucidate. Eliot makes no concessions whatsoever to his readers. If you are not male, classically educated and part of the inter-war generation – well, tough! ... Read more

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Barry Spurr's eagerly-awaited, definitive study of T.S. Eliot's Anglo-Catholic belief and practice shows how the poet's religion shaped his life and work for almost forty years, until his death in 1965. The author examines Eliot's formal adoption of Anglo-Catholicism, in 1927, as the culmination of his intellectual, cultural, artistic, spiritual and personal development to that point. This book presents the first detailed analysis of the unique influence that Anglo-Catholicism's doctrinal and devotional principles, and its social teaching, had on Eliot's poetry, plays, prose and personal life. An informed presentation and discussion of Anglo-Catholicism at the time of Eliot's conversion and through the subsequent decades of his Christian faith and practice. Significant new material from correspondence and diaries which sheds light on Eliot's thought, poetry and prose. This book is essential reading for all scholars and readers of T.S. Eliot and his circle; for students and devotees of Anglo-Catholicism, and scholars of the interaction between literature and theology, especially in the twentieth century. It will also be of use to senior and Honours-level undergraduates and postgraduate research students working in the fields of Modernism and its principles and belief systems, and for students of religion, especially Western Christianity and Anglicanism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An astonishing book.
Anglo-Catholic in Religion: T.S. Eliot and Christianity is one of the most remarkable book I have ever read. It brims with respect and love of Christianity and a wonderful admiration of T.S. Eliot.
I am now consuming the poems and essays of Eliot with a deep level of understanding and joy.

Anglo-Catholicism and T.S. Eliot
New look at the influences on Eliot's work. His faith was the single greatest influence on his later work and others have just mentioned it in passing or gotten it completely wrong. Good job.

An Indispensable work
Barry Spurr's new book is the most significant work to appear on Eliot in recent years, and the most significant on Anglo-Catholicism since Colin Stephenson's 'Merrily on High'. Spurr has succeeded in showing that the subjects of T.S. Eliot and twentieth-century Anglo-Catholicism can not properly be understood without reference to one another. This is a major achievement. Eliot scholarship will never be the same, since all future work on Eliot must now refer back to the issues treated in this book, focusing as it does on the most profound forces that shaped and were shaped by Eliot's adult life and imagination. It is difficult to understand, after reading it, how any scholar or teacher of Eliot's poetry was able, in the past, to treat the subject of Eliot's faith without recourse to such a luminous guide. Spurr has filled the last major 'gap' in Eliot scholarship. Of decisive importance is Spurr's treatment of the reasons - cultural rather than strictly religious - why Eliot, who believed in the cause of reunion with Rome, did not himself become a Roman Catholic.

Enormous Contribution to Eliot Scholarship
I opened this book the day it arrived and did practically nothing but read it until I came to the last page.Barry Spurr has written exactly the book I hunted to no avail for years to help me understand Eliot's particular expression of the Christian faith and his involvement with the people, organizations, and informal groupings that comprised the Anglo-Catholic movement during his lifetime.

Research libraries are well supplied with volumes bearing titles that promise some explication of the theological, ethical, and artistic implications of Eliot's reception into the Anglican Church in 1927 but which in fact probe the poet's psychology or refer even his mature faith to the interest that Indian philosophy held for him as a graduate student or, even, question the authenticity of his Anglican avowal.

As Spurr asserts with gracious restraint, even works by otherwise accomplished and insightful scholars that mention Eliot's religion tend to reveal a disappointing lack of familiarity with the distinctive features of the Anglican faith and, within it, the Anglo-Catholic expression to which Eliot was committed.Here, finally, is a book that addresses Eliot's faith commitment directly and in accurate and illuminating detail.

Spurr has created a seamless narrative that pulls together the widely scattered traces of Eliot's life in the church and places those biographical details within the historical context of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England. We understand, at last, why among all the churches in London it was St. Stephens, Gloucester Road, that attracted Eliot.We understand Eliot's motivations for commenting on ecclesiastical matters in, for example, "Thoughts after Lambeth," and "Reunion by Destruction."In the access Spurr provides to the unpublished letters of Mary Trevelyan, we come to understand Eliot as a person with a stake in matters of theology and liturgy.

Spurr has firmly established why we need to understand Eliot's religion if we care about his poetry at all.And he has provided Eliot scholarship with the means to gain that understanding, a map of Eliot's life in the church by which relationships between his formation as a Christian and his intellectual and creative development may be discerned.

More than worth the wait -- deserves ten stars
Even in this not-exactly-poetic age, the poetry of T. S. Eliot is quoted in many contexts and continues to work in surprising ways.In my parish alone, there are several of us (myself included) who never thought we'd find ourselves in a church in a million years -- but here we are, and although Eliot's poetry is certainly not the only influence which got us there, we have all admitted that it was definitely a factor.Yet even the best of Eliot's biographers (Lyndall Gordon included), while definitely capable of covering his complex range of relationships, seem to be out of their comfort zone when it comes to covering his religion.Professor Barry Spurr has proven himself more than able to do so in this extraordinary book.It covers Eliot's Unitarian upbringing, his philosophical studies at Harvard and Oxford, and his controversial first marriage -- but mostly it concentrates with great depth of understanding and richness of detail on the history of Anglo-Catholicism, Eliot's gradual conversion and religious practices, and the effect of all this on his work.Perhaps the only slightly off-note comes at the end, when the author quotes historian Michael Yelton as stating that most Anglo-Catholic parishes now only preserve "some externals of Catholic worship with a wishy-washy theology overlaid with glutinous sentimentality".Spurr continues: "In other words, they have become like most contemporary post-Conciliar Roman Catholic parishes in theology and liturgy."It is one thing to mourn the loss of the traditional Anglican and Roman liturgies, as Spurr does so eloquently in his earlier book (The Word in the Desert).Time does not stop, and Eliot's Anglo-Catholicism (and, for that matter, Evelyn Waugh's Roman Catholicism) is no more, that is true.Yet those of us who drive many miles to parishes which do NOT fit the above description would have preferred at least some emphasis on the continuity of the Church against all odds.But this is a minor quibble with a book which provides such timeless and essential insight into the greatest poet of the 20th century and his religious milieu -- a stunning achievement. ... Read more

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The text of Eliot's 1922 masterpiece is accompanied by thorough explanatory annotations as well as by Eliot's own knotty notes, some of which require annotation themselves. For ease of reading, this Norton Critical Edition presents The Waste Landas it first appeared in the American edition (Boni & Liveright), with Eliot's notes at the end. Contexts provides readers with invaluable materials on The Waste Land's sources, composition, and publication history. Criticism traces the poem's reception with twenty-five reviews and essays, from first reactions through the end of the twentieth century. Included are reviews published in the Times Literary Supplement, along with selections by Virginia Woolf, Gilbert Seldes, Edmund Wilson, Elinor Wylie, Conrad Aiken, Charles Powell, Gorham Munson, Malcolm Cowley, Ralph Ellison, John Crowe Ransom, I. A. Richards, F. R. Leavis, Cleanth Brooks, Delmore Schwartz, Denis Donoghue, Robert Langbaum, Marianne Thormählen, A. D. Moody, Ronald Bush, Maud Ellman, Christine Froula, and Tim Armstrong. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Thank You, Norton Critical Edition!
I study and write poetry for a living. I confess that I used to hate T.S. Eliot, because my inner conservative didn't like what I alleged as his rewriting the rules for poetic structure. Don't worry; I woke up, but I know many have not. This edition is wonderful--I've used Norton annotated version of this poem before in my teaching, but the background analysis and literary criticism is the crowning jewel of this text. The Wasteland is a poem that requires work; one cannot simply read it and understand--it is crucial to seek out the countless references within the text. And even with that in mind, the reader can only begin with what Eliot intended; the poem surpasses author's intention, and takes on a life of it's own.

I am particularly grateful to the material on the Grail. The metaphor of King Arthur's pain begins with war, but is linked to the land--the myth allows for Arthur to heal, but Eliot does not hold out the same hope. This is another reason it is a post-modern masterpiece: it acknowledges the great poetry and mythology within history while creating another voice for our world.

I also want to commend the editors for leaving out as much of the Derridian/Deconstruction/Lacanian criticism that mars any critique of this poem. On one hand, The Wasteland is perfect for the Derrida followers who claim that there is no text, as The Wasteland plays with traditional forms of textuality. But that is as far as it goes. I am exceedingly grateful that this volume included critics who put literature first and recognize that a poem can go to many extremes in form and theme, but still remain a poem. Yes, Virginia, there is a text, just as there is a sign and a signifier. But let's not forget that language serves the written word and the artistic vision, not the other way around.

Weak
Very difficult to approach with a clear setup or even as a fair reader. One, I don't generally read poetry, and I enjoy it even less. Two, Eliot's work is really too famous to engage with, and has been alluded to or quoted in part so often that it's difficult to factor through the connections to the actual writing. I was always going to be a hard sell on this particular text. And, unsurprisingly, I can't count myself highly moved, enlightened or entertained. There are good elements in here, with the obvious control over language on display, and some striking imagery. On the whole, however, I found it dull, awkward, overly dense to follow and not delivering appreciable insights when parsed. In part this issue comes round to Eliot's distasteful politics and simplistic religious endorsement that I find displeasing, and which it's hard to disentangle my view. In either case, though, ther seems to be a fundamental limitation in the vision of what to say with the poems and how to say it, a type of writing that at points seems to purposely distance itself from ready access.

Above all what struck me was how upper bound it was, how insistent Eliot's poems were in citing earlier classics as the ground for becoming classics themselves. It's overwhelmingly elitist, increadibly focused on an education available to few and which was accessed by even fewer in Eliot's time. That makes for a fitting, is aesthetically deflating, pattern in the fame and widespread literary allusion to which the poems, and especially the Wasteland, have been subject. Reading it felt often like a closed book, it was so heavily bound up in referring to previous literary classics, and had been so often alluded to in a similar fashion, that all the nicely craften literary quality seemed self-contained. It's a well formed exercise, and one can easily see how it gives generations of scholars work in parsing and interpreting. Beyond that, though, it seems to be self-contained and purposefully detached from possible application for the world in a manner that I do not see with most literature.

Worse than: Purgatorio by Dante Alighieri
Better than: Effi Briest by Theodor Fontane

The Waste Land & the grail myth(by Jim Spinosa)
There are only a few aspects of The Waste Land that critics have failed to address. Perhaps,the significance of Eliot's references to Dante's Inferno is that Eliot considers the Inferno to be an updated version of the grail myth. It is a version of the grail myth appropriate for a society advanced enough to have a complex system of trading routes. For such a society,a drought would not be a terribly devastating experience. On the other hand,social unrest,which disrupted the political system,causing the complex trading system to fail would be devastating. So the grail myth changes to become a compendium that assesses the various characteristics of human nature. To maintain political stability,the king may decide to outlaw destabilizing behaviors-gambling for instance-the king could find indirect justification for such a law by citing the Inferno. He could claim gambling and lies go hand in hand, and liars are consigned to hell in the Inferno.
If the Inferno is a updated version of the grail myth,appropriate for its time,
The Waste Land itself can function as an updated version of the grail myth, appropriate for ITS time. In Eliot's time,society needed individuals who were more vibrant than those he depicted in his poem. To produce more vibrant individuals, society has to reassess its aesthetic values. For instance, instead of society(academia)recognizing only ONE interpretation of classic works such as the Inferno there should be many interpretations.

Norton Critical Editions are excellent!
Norton publishes college textbooks that I used in college literature courses, and their work is nothing less than exceptional. This book has excellent notes and references. I recommend it to anyone seeking to understand this classic poem.

Brilliant edition
I am writing about the edition, not about the poem. Writing about the poem, as this edition shows in a brilliant way, is incredibly complex, and, after reading the book - one is left with little to say.

I am not a literary professional, but reading the Norton Critical Edition enriched my understanding about opinions, tolerance, positions, perspectives and like in a 10, 100, 1000 fold way.

It is not about if the poem is good or bad. The questions are much deeper and more complex. While trying to answer questions about the poem, one ends up answering an incredible amount of questions about oneself.

This experience is so rich and enriching, that, at the end, the poem takes a back seat and what counts is the result, the total effect it and its critics have had on oneself. ... Read more

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In this series, a contemporary poet advocates a poet of the past or present whom they have particularly admired. By their selection of verses and by the personal and critical reactions they express, the selectors offer intriguing insight into their own work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Spacing problems ruin the rhythm
I bought the $4 kindle edition instead of the 99 cent one, thinking it would have corrected the spacing problems of the earlier version.I also assumed, incorrectly, that the book would contain a selection of poems and a table of contents.I was sorely disappointed to find only two poems, with the lines run together.I'm a kindle fan, but in this case, I recommend a paper version.

accident?
Perhaps there's something wrong with my kindle because all I see is a table of contents followed by a larger print of the table of contents...

Find a better edition
If you are looking for the title poem, or just some poems by Eliot, avoid this edition. There are 28 pages of print and ten completely blank pages beyond that, an obvious attempt to pad an already slim edition. Besides the blank pages ... the dimensions (height, width) are oversized, leaving way too much blank space in the pages with print. This is simply discraceful. Find these same poems in an edition by a responsible publisher.

Please fix the spacing
I don't get it: why can't Kindle editions maintain the original line structure and spacing? Running everything together and sort of randomly spacing here and there ruins the cadence and readability of the poem.

I can't believe no one's reviewed this...
I hope that no one's reviewed this because they just didn't think to, and not because they've never read it, because that would make me sad.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is an ode to being on the outside, looking in, and not being sure about what you see there.Prufrock (the narrator of the poem) thinks himself a fool, a prince, a messenger, he contemplates an overwhelming question, he dares to eat a peach, and part his hair from behind, and even when he grows old (and wears the ends of his trousers rolled), he does this all alone.

though the poem opens with an invitation, there is little else in the piece that leads the reader to believe that Prufrock is happy for our company, or even aware of it at all. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of the original edition including imperfections. Included with the purchase of this book is free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can read more than a million books for free, including many of the greatest books of all time like: * The complete works of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain * Swift's Gulliver's Travels * Defoe's Robinson Crusoe * Thackeray's Vanity Fair * Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice * Sigmund Freud's Interpretation of Dreams * Albert Einstein's Relativity * F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby * George Orwell's 1984 * Milton's Paradise Lost * Smith's Wealth of Nations * Darwin's Origin of Species * Aristotle's Ethics * Plato's Dialogues * Thos. à Kempis' Imitation of Christ * Hume's History of England * Carlyle's French Revolution * Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire * . . .and more than a million more books These books have been a source of inspiration, joy and enlightenment to millions through the ages. Now they can all be yours. ... Read more

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This all-new Signet Classic contains many of T.S. Eliot's mostimportant early peoms, leading to perhaps his greatest masterpiece,The Waste Land, which has long been regarded as one of thefundamental texts of modernism. By combining poetic elements from manydiverse sources with bits of popular culture and common speech linkedin a fragmented narrative, Eliot recreated the chaos anddisillusionment of Europe in the aftermath of WWI.
* The WasteLand is a modernist literary masterpiece.
* Contains a number ofearly poems, including Spleen, The Death of St. Narcissus, The LoveSong of J. Prufrock, Preludes, Gerontion, The Hippopotmaus, andSweeny Among the Nightingales.
* T.S Eliot is the winner ofthe 1948 Nobel Prize for Literature, and is one of America's greatestpoets.
* Edited and with an Introduction by Helen Vendler, aforemost scholar of moderism at Harvard University who writesregularly for the New Yorker and The New Republic.
*Vendler is also the author of books on other essential poets,including W.B. Yeats, Wallace Stevens, John Keats, George Herbert, andthe forthcoming The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnete.Amazon.com Review
After sitting through T.S. Eliot's reading of "The WasteLand," listeners may be inclined to hang up the earphones for aspell. There are no flaws to Eliot's steady-toned interpretation; infact, his delivery is quite remarkable in its ability to match thepoem's constant, somber mood. It's just that 25-plus minutes ofEliot's desolate landscapes--rendered even more real by the author'sincessant tones--can wear on the emotions.

In addition to thefull-length version of "The Waste Land," this recording includesEliot's stirring narration of "The Hollow Men," "Sweeney Among theNightingales," and "Macavity the Mystery Cat." Listen to Eliot readfrom "TheWaste Land." Visit our audio helppage for more information. (Running time: 47 minutes, 1 cassette)--Rob McDonald ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Great Collection, Incredible Value
Probably no twentieth century poet has had a more profound or lasting influence than T. S. Eliot. Poets like Ezra Pound began moving away from Victorian formalism before, but works like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land" changed the very idea of what poetry could be so dramatically and thoroughly that the medium has never since been the same. Eliot definitively proved that none of the poetic devices that had dominated English poetry for centuries - rhyme, regular meter, etc. - were necessary. He could deploy them at least as well as any poet of his age but was more famous and influential for boldly dropping them in favor of a truly modern style masterfully reflecting twentieth century uneasiness and uncertainty. Eliot steered poetry away from its historical tendency to focus on relatively light subjects suited for lyricism - nature, love, etc. - toward philosophical and other complex issues, proving that it could be as substantial a medium for such things as any other. He also had a vast influence in other ways, not least in making poetry - and, indeed, literature - more densely allusive than ever and thus less accessible. The incredible popularity of nineteenth century English poets like Lord Byron and Alfred Tennyson could never really happen again, as he pioneered what became known as high art. Under his influence, poetry - and, to a large extent, literature itself - became ever more obscure and challenging and, for better or worse, read by fewer and fewer people. It is no exaggeration to say that every poet who has written in English since - as well as many other languages - has had to deal with Eliot in various ways, especially The Waste Land. He has been imitated numerous times but never equaled and also lead many to deliberately write in an anti-Eliot manner. As all this suggests, Eliot remains controversial. To many, he is the twentieth century's greatest poet without question and one of the greatest ever, responsible for a much-needed turn from overly formal and intellectually shallow Victorian poetry. To perhaps at least as many, he is overblown and overrated, pretentious and portentous, responsible for ruining all that was great about pre-Modern poetry. He evokes few indifferent reactions; almost everyone either takes to him immediately, finding him prophetic and indisputably great, or is simply puzzled and overwhelmed. Anyone even remotely interested in poetry thus must read him and decide.

There are untold numbers of Eliot collections, but no other has such incredible value. It has a generous selection - twenty-five poems -, from his first (1917) collection, his 1920 book, and The Waste Land. This includes most of his best-known work:"Prufrock," "The Waste Land," "Sweeney among the Nightingales," "Gerontion," "Portrait of a Lady," etc. Essentially, all the major poems are here except the Four Quartets. These exact poems - or fewer - are available in numerous more expensive editions, but one can get them here for practically nothing. To have so many poems, especially such important ones, in a single edition for such a small price is almost beyond belief.

That said, as one would expect from the price, it is bare bones. Like most Dover Thrift Editions, it has no supplementary material other than a short biographical note. We also get Eliot's own notes to The Waste Land, here printed after the poem. This will not be a problem to those who want just the poetry, but Eliot's references are so many and often so obscure that a good number of readers, perhaps the majority, will want some kind of explanatory footnotes. Another significant drawback for most is that the few non-English poems are not translated, essentially cutting down on available poems. Some will thus require more expensive editions, and dedicated readers and critics certainly will. However, this is perfect for everyone else and the ideal place to start for neophytes. It may be difficult for first-time readers, but they will be able to tell almost immediately if Eliot is for them. If so, the door will be open to further reading; if not, they will have spent very little.

Review of Kindle Edition of The Waste Land and Other Poems
I'm very pleased with this edition.

I'm reading The Waste Land for a class and am happy to report that the stanza formatting has been retained, the Table of Contents is linked to the individual poems, and the superscripts link to the actual notes.

I loaded my T.S. Eliot Reads The Waste Land onto my Kindle, and it's really neat following along with his reading.

The Introduction, Suggestions for Further Reading, and Brief Chronology are also greatly appreciated.

VERY well spent $2.50!!

Just the poem - ripoff
I don't know what the description of the book is referring to or what the other reviewers are talking about.This is just the text of The Waste Land, with no notes, no translations of the parts that aren't in English and no other poems.It isn't even formatted correctly - there are a handful of notes that have been left in the text of the poem.This is a poem with a lot of layers to it and some explanation is standard.This edition has none.Do yourself a favor and don't buy it.

I only spent 49 cents on this but I still feel ripped off.

The Waste Land -- Audio CD-- www.bnpublishing.com
The Waste Land

From the listing this item appears to be a recording of The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot, read by the poet himself; but it's not, it's a performance by another reader, and therefore it had (to me) no interest; it was not what I wanted or needed.I suggest that the product description should be made clearer, so that other customers do not make the same mistake.

a good edition of Eliot for the casual reader
I found this edition by Penguin to be very useful for a casual reading.The notes on the poems, in particular "the Waste Land," are detailed enough to give the reader a perception of Eliot's vast literary knowledge and its effect on his poems.However, the notes are inadequate if your purpose is to deeply understand the background of Eliot's complex and difficult poetry.So if you are looking for deep insights, I would recommend the Norton Critical Edition.For the normal reader, this is satisfying and straightforward. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics eBook contains 27 poems and other works by T.S. Eliot, including 'The Waste Land' and 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.'Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.

Contents:

The Waste Land
Gerontion
Burbank with a Baedeker: Bleistein with a Cigar
Sweeney Erect
A Cooking Egg
Le Directeur
Mélange adultère de tout
Lune de Miel
The Hippopotamus
Dans le Restaurant
Whispers of Immortality
Mr. Eliot's Sunday Morning Service
Sweeney Among the Nightingales
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Portrait of a Lady
Preludes
Rhapsody on a Windy Night
Morning at the Window
The Boston Evening Transcript
Aunt Helen
Cousin Nancy
Mr. Apollinax
Hysteria
Conversation Galante
La Figlia Che Piange

Eeldrop and Appleplex
Ezra Pound: His Metric and Poetry
... Read more

Product Description
Selected Works includes four distinct productions from the famous American poet and literary critic T.S. Eliot: Prufrock and Other Observations, Poems, The Waste Land, and The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism, providing an outstanding overview of Eliot's early career. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Poetry, Random other Languages
It's cheap and contains a lot of great TS Elliot works. However, it seems to contain a great deal of poems in French and even Latin, it's great that TS was so varied but they don't do me any good. There doesn't appear to be a direct translation either. So if you speak french, english AND latin, this could be the book for you.

Most of it is of course English and reads just fine, a pretty great collection altogether, just loses a star for the random stuff you can't possibly use. ... Read more