num_pages: 272
description: "The Waste Land" is T.S. Eliot's 1922 masterpiece, &amp; isn't only one of the key works of modernism but also one of the greatest poetic achievements of the 20th century. A richly allusive pilgrimage of psycho-spiritual torment &amp; redemption, his poem exerted a revolutionary influence on his contemporaries, summoning forth a rich new poetic language, breaking decisively with Romantic &amp; Victorian poetic traditions. Kenneth Rexroth wasn't alone in calling Eliot "the representative poet of the time, for the same reason that Shakespeare &amp; Pope were of theirs. He articulated the mind of an epoch in words that seemed its most natural expression." As influential as his verse, his criticism also exerted a transformative effect on 20th-century letters. This new edition of The Waste Land &amp; Other Writings includes a selection of his most important essays. In her Introduction, Mary Karr dispels some of the myths of the poem's inaccessibility &amp; sheds light on the ways in which "The Waste Land" illuminates contemporary experience.
language: English
title: The Waste Land and Other Writings
titlecomplete: The Waste Land and Other Writings
genres: Fiction, Poetry, Essays, The United States Of America, British Literature, Literature, American, Classics, 20th Century, College
ratings_count: 3580
publisher: Modern Library (NY)