A Beat of His Own

The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, published in 1922, is certainly one of the best-known poems in the English language. Even people who have never read it, often have at least heard of it. Though by many regarded as too melancholic, not a real poem (because of its form and/or length), or simply heavily confusing, the Waste Land may well be called an instant classic and a most important component of 20th century poetry. After all, Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 -...
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The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, published in 1922, is certainly one of the best-known poems in the English language. Even people who have never read it, often have at least heard of it. Though by many regarded as too melancholic, not a real poem (because of its form and/or length), or simply heavily confusing, the Waste Land may well be called an instant classic and a most important component of 20th century poetry. After all, Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 - though not for The Waste Land alone, certainly also for The Waste Land as part of his work, which was on the whole considered an "outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry". Eliot himself is still referred to as "one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry" on the website of the Nobel prize. Typography, punctuation and rhythm (as achieved through typography and punctuation) in The Waste Land may be deemed greatly important since the author himself said prior to the first publication of his poem: "I only hope the printers are not allowed to bitch the punctuation and the spacing, as that is very important for the sense" When an author speaks about details of his own work as Eliot did, it is not hard for any critic to realise, special attention should be paid not merely to what is written, but to how it is written. As a consequence, it might be possible to detect further, until then unseen, meaning, once the How has been analyzed. During proofreading his text, Eliot even happened to overlook one or another spelling mistake, which shows how important punctuation and spacing were to him, since that was on which he was really focusing.It is almost invigorating to find The Waste Land bursting with the importance of punctuation and form. The length of the lines set rhythms that coincide with the content of the lines; the absence of quotation marks where there is obviously a dialogue held and the abundance of quotation marks in other places where they seem almost confusing to the reader, give way to thoughts on conversation; and the various indentations of lines verge on experimental layout design. All these examples and many more, emphasised by the fact that Eliot cared about typography and punctuation in his poem more than about possible spelling mistakes, speak of an importance in The Waste Land that goes beyond letters. Here we do not have to read between the lines - we have to read the lines.