Then I read it, guided by one of the best professors I ever had in college, and oh my goodness, y’all. My eyes were opened.
Sure, parts of it were really dense and difficult. But there were sections that I absolutely loved and still read every now and then. One such section comes in part V, “What the Thunder Said.”
But, as Eliot says a line later, we are defined by these moments, and I believe we are even further defined by how we respond to them and carry ourselves going forward. Only you can decide how such moments affect your life.
I could say so much more about this passage, but I will leave it there and for y’all to interpret, too. The Waste Land is truly one of the most beautiful and captivating pieces of literature in our cannon and I can’t believe it took me until I was 21 to read it.