The T.S Eliot Revelation

For years I’ve heard people talking about this amazing poet and writer and smiled and nodded when people talked about him and said that I would prioritise reading his work so that I could share the joy of loving him. Recently I decided it was time to actually read some of his work. I’ve just finished reading ‘The Waste Land and other poems’ and I can honestly say I’m shocked by how much I like his work. It was entirely different to what I expected and strangely easy to read and relate to which is completely unlike most of the poetry I’ve read. The obscure subject matters and references in his work make it fun and interesting to read. It’s the kind of poetry that you can imagine being read aloud as you read it, and I’ve found that taking the advice of my sister and reading his work aloud actually makes even better.

The thing I love most about T.S Eliot is the totally random things that come in to his poems, a prime example being my new favourite quote “For I have known them all already, known them all – have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life in coffee spoons” you have to admit it’s brilliant. Is it bad that I kind of want to try and measure my life in coffee spoons now? I’m not even entirely sure how you’d go about doing that but I’m sure I could challenge myself to find a way, what do you think? Is it worth it? It reminds me of a line from the song Seasons of Love from the musical ‘Rent’, “how do you measure, measure a year, in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee.” This idea of measuring things in coffee seems to be a running theme. Maybe it’s a hint. Maybe I should give up on normality and begin measuring my life in coffee. I think it’s a challenge worthy of my attention. You see what happens when you read T.S Eliot? This is the kind of strange thoughts he inspires and if for no other reason this is why his work is genius.