T. S. Eliot, Hugh Kenner, and Star Trek

                       
                       human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

        T.S. Eliot    "Burnt Norton"  Four Quartets

Reading Eric's story about his miraculous find of Four Quartets, (comments of the last entry - read for yourselves, Eric tells it better) recalled a time when T.S. Eliot and especially "Burnt Norton" were the center of discovery for me.  1963, UC Santa Barbara, graduate course in Eliot with Hugh Kenner, leading Eliot scholar.  He loved Eliot's "Burnt Norton" and he handed this poem to us as the gift it was - one that always surprises me with yet more to give.

"Burnt Norton" diddles the mind: time past and time future are always in time present.  But, to be conscious is not to be in time, because time constantly flows and consciousness implies a fixed center around which time must move.  Fool around with that idea for awhile and you become a writer for Star Trek, a quantum physicist, or at the very least - appreciative of a poem written in 1943 by a poet known for his astute aesthetic, not scientific, understanding. 

"Burnt Norton" arose from a war-torn England, from a poet questioning the place of religion - God's presence among the burning buldings and the dying.  If he turned to the abstraction of indefinable time as evasion, or as hope, or merely for survival, we understand, and are grateful.  What we learn is how  prevailing the reach of poetry.  How persistent. It brings new ideas forth in the worst of times, and these ideas can transform us many, many years later when there is no longer any connection to the times that precipitated them. 

Is this what Hugh Kenner taught me about T.S. Eliot?  Yes, one tiny aspect, perhaps.  Because of his teaching, reading Eliot is part of my life.   "Ash Wednesday" is a reading I place above ritual each Lent.  I seem to pick up "Prufrock" at the end of summer, before the new term begins.  I read Eliot.

As I grow older, certain poets become more meaningful to me; I am grateful for their continued presence.  Interesting that they may have written those poems I now love when they were in their twenties.  How could they have been so wise?

Bucket Lists and Other Thoughts

A friend sent me this:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
                     T.S. Eliot “Little Gidding” Four Quartets.

T.S. Eliot has long been a favorite poet of mine - I find much truth in his poetry and essays - made my students struggle through some of it for their own sakes. Remember "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"?
Eliot's "Little Gidding" passage is a profound statement about the meaning of life and how it ought to develop: more powerful than most concepts such as the bucket list. Of course, it would depend if that bucket list changes as we change.

I know this - very few items I had on my forty-year-old's list remain there today. Most of them were still there at sixty, but in my heart I knew I might possibly be fooling myself  to think I still wanted to learn Mandarin,  climb Mt Fuji, or marry again.

Wanting to achieve my PhD, and see my collection of poetry published, and my novel - oh, and my memoir as well, why not?, still lurk on my list while a scoffer I choose not to confront sits on my shoulder and laughs loudly, "What, are you - nuts?"

What's on your lists? The concept seems to vary with language. Spanish speakers call the bucket list either Ahora o Nunca, or Antes de Partir, that is "now or never" or "before leaving." Germans say Das Beste Kommt zum Schluss - "the best comes at the end."  The French concept appeals to me most - San plus attendre - "without further waiting." Because I didn't heed that imperative, items had to be dropped off. Incidentally - my list is mental, always has been. If you've written yours down - maybe you'll do better with it - actually checking off items.

Written or not, everyone needs a list. It helps you prioritize the events in your life even thinking about it. 

Awake!

To Awaken an Old Lady
                   William Carlos Williams


Old age is
a flight of small birds
skimming bare trees
above a snow glaze.
Gaining and failing
they are buffeted
by a dark wind –
But what?
On harsh weedstalks
the flock has rested,
the snow
is covered with broken
seedhusks
and the wind tempered
by a shrill
piping of plenty.


If I should ever be asked to name my favorite poet it would be William Carlos Williams.  Certainly, no one will ever name me, and I finally accept that although I have loved poetry all my life - but only latently written it. What did I expect?  I accept the rich rewards of loving poetry without standing on the stage with those poets who enriched my life.  Actually, I am there, all of us who love poetry are there. Millions of us.  Blessed by poetry, but invisible.


Life is poetry (poetry is life), and its layered priorities might make us invisible.  I never thought about being an old person when I was young. I could die young, of course, or just go on being young in spirit forever.  Fortunately, I could choose the latter.


And it worked fine well into my seventies.   But lately I've noticed I seem to be deconstructing into invisibility in the grand scheme of things: at my job (yes, still working, loving it), in church, in family. Nope - invisibility is not gonna be for me.  I'm not going gently into that dark night.


This blog is about piping the plenty we have, no matter how "old" we might be!  I would welcome any comments, examples, suggestions.