Here’s my first poetry feature for National Poetry Month! Somehow I made it through high school without reading T.S. Eliot’s famous work The Waste Land. In fact, I didn’t read it until my senior year of college in a modern poetry class. At first I dreaded it; my friends who went to other high schools who read it always complained about how difficult and dense it is.

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.”

 

That whole section spoke to me so much. In life, we all experience moments of surrender when we realize or embrace something or someone new. Those moments may require us to give up certain things or to step out of our comfort zones and face an unfamiliar situation. Moments like…moving in with a romantic partner. Saying “yes” to a new job and having to relocate. Realizing that an old relationship wasn’t safe and that maybe it’s affected you more than you thought. Facing your fear head on. Going skydiving. Riding a rollercoaster.
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.

Want to read the whole Waste Land poem? Check it out here. Be warned, though – it is long!