T.S Eliot | The Waste Land Analysis (part 1) - April Is The Cruellest Month

An in-depth analysis of TS Eliot's iconic poem The Waste Land, starting with part 1: The Burial Of The Dead. A poem that encapsulated the feel an entire culture in the wake of the first world war; waking up to an existence that suddenly felt meaningless, and having to grapple in search of truth that felt redundant in the face of horror. The expansive poetry captured both this cultural struggle and, eventually, offered meaning through Eliot's own resolution.
My Little Thought Tree is my channel for drawing out the deeper meaning and emotion in film, TV, and the world at large through relaxed, analytical video essays. I am a professional counsellor and often draw on my psychology and therapy background to better understand characters, themes, and emotion in fiction. I upload every Saturday and occasionally on Tuesdays, if I'm feeling productive.
The Waste Land analysis full playlist - • The Waste Land Analyis
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Music: Kevin MacLeod - Virtues Instrumenti
Reading by Alec Guinness
Thankyou to all my Small Thought Tree Patrons: CapoxProductions, JP N, mopple-the-whale, Rodney Owen, Grace Chan, Dani Bragaglia, Max Campbell, Caroline Doan, Matthew Jacobs, Nathaniel Joseph Strandquist Jr., Alexa Rives, Elena-Daria, Gaponya, and Eugene.
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#thewasteland #tseliot #analysis

[@mylittlethoughttree]

Hey, another re-upload of an old video without the copyright music and better audio quality. The second episode of this series will also be re-uploaded next Tuesday in the run up to the release of episode 3 sometime this month (depending on when it’s done). I know these literature videos aren’t for everyone but hope you enjoy it, all the same. Patreon link - www.patreon.com/mylittlethoughttree

[@williamisenhower7967]

Only found your videos a few weeks back but im certainly glad I did. I'm looking forward to your continued breakdown of Good Will Hunting. Love the content. Cheers.

[@jollyyeholiver1578]

Could you review the Ballard of reading Gaol, by Oscar Wilde?

[@alexandracomus755]

What is the music in the background?

[@nickolasroy4801]

i guess Im kinda randomly asking but do anyone know a good site to watch newly released series online ?

[@benraphael3310]

@Nickolas Roy flixportal :P

[@Cyssane]

Truthfully, growing up in Canada, whenever I read this poem, I could relate to April being a cruel month. April brings warmer weather, yes, but it also brought sudden unexpected frosts, thus killing a lot of buds that had just begun to open. April sometimes also brings hail and freezing rain. Sometimes those buds don't come back, either, and then you've lost that year's fruit or flowers. April can be a cruel month for teasing you with promises of warmth and delight, only to snatch those hopes away again the very next day. So it never seemed to be an overly harsh reading to me -- just brutally realistic.

[@page__kevon7038]

Winter in Canada's a bitch

[@BornForever009]

MY BALLZ ARE THE CRUELEST MONTH

[@mountainsmakemehorny]

Funny how reading it in India, I had the same sentiment: a brutal rendering of a common truth, April, being summer, sees soaring temperatures as dust settles on everything on the road and the trees, and the streams dry up and on the road side were dogs, cats and vultures, poor men dying for want of a drop of water. It was cruel for just a month later, the rain storms break into the nation replenishing the rivers and lakes and tanks and the dust is washed out as peacocks and parrots creen and sing as the world appears to be born anew. In April, Yama stalks the earth and long-forgotten Pushan roams the highways to point our souls to the dark South, where the Earth opens to Rasatala.

[@kueashraf1746]

This is great. The analysis, the background music, and the way you feel every word you say! Thank you for sharing it with us.💐

[@josephmiddleton3181]

This is my favourite piece of literature. I love listening to discussions about it. The horror and dread it works through to a point where the ‘Wasteland’ is behind us in the final lines is beyond sublime. I look forward to your next post.

[@tolerantxgaming4530]

2024. Thank you this was the best interpretation I've ever heard of this poem. Well done

[@manoftheleaf]

I'm don't think I have ever finished reading T.S. Elliot's poem The Waste Land and if I had, then I have forgotten much of it, but 12:05 is unforgettable. I have always read it as a declaration of death not in the past or future but in the present. That our fascination with the fears and problems of the past and the anxieties of the future are nothing compared to the horrors of the present. When I think of a "red rock" my mind often drifts to the planet Mars and the deity it is named for." Under the shadow of war" is how I read it. I know there's no wrong way to read poetry but I am probably reading too much into it. Good work. I'm looking forward to Part 2.

[@josephmiddleton3181]

If you can back up your personal reading with a cogent argument you are never reading “too much” into a line of verse.

[@RJ_Ehlert]

I had never known how to interpret a poem like this, thank you.

[@lizandraissi]

This is just perfection! Every single part, I just love it. Congratulations! I always come back to this video to appreciate it again, the voice, the music, the rythme, the analysis... Everything

[@jsmarty1]

Wait that’s Alec Guinness (ie Obi Wan) reading through poem

[@writethepath8354]

You should definitely go on with the next part.

[@nourbakri7846]

The way you explained the poem is truely incredible . Blessed efforts❤️

[@manmohansahu184]

excellent sir plz keep it on so........... intresting often painful but what pain Eliot got while we felt after reading only a few lind but he has penned down it he sufferes so.... from India A Never Writer but An Ever Reader..... Thanks a ton

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Good to know that poetry crosses all frontiers. !

[@adamcope777]

aw hell yeah new video... I’m gonna go support you on Patreon now ngl

[@mylittlethoughttree]

Well then thankyou! That shows a belief in my channel and in me that's always very touching. You can message me there if you like 😊

[@lauraespondaaguilar8145]

Thank you very much for your help to understand the enormous depth of this poem. I am from Mexico and english is certainly not my first language. I read this poem in a translation to spanish without knowing anything of the poet or the context and I couldn't find the sense of the metaphores. Your video is helping me much to appreciate it. I feel it deeply in my heart. Thank you.

[@ronain]

I've just been studying this poem for uni. I'm grateful for your well timed analysis lol

[@mylittlethoughttree]

I too had to study it as an undergrad. It's a wonderful albeit very daunting poem

[@ronain]

@@mylittlethoughttree you've got that right. But it's a rich puzzle worth unravelling.

[@hermanirishman4525]

This was so enjoyable. Please do the rest of this poem.

[@mylittlethoughttree]

Oh wow, thanks for the support! I did always intend to do more of these. I think I wrote notes somewhere, I really should find them again

[@Biriadan]

Couple notes I haven't seen other people bring up: the Marie mentioned is an actual person, Countess Marie Larisch, that Eliot had spoken with who was the niece of the Austrian Empress. Likewise, the line starting with "son of man", is stated by Eliot to be a reference to Ezekiel 2 and has a context of evangelization. In this context, the speaker is God. Similarly, Eliot states that the sentence about the dead tree and the cricket are references to Ecclesiastes 12, where it mostly speaks about impending death and decay. This ties in with an interpretation of the shadow at evening rising to meet you being an allegory for death getting ever closer at the evening of one's life. It's also a shame you didn't cover the preface! It really sets the mood for the rest of the poem.

[@Grogeous_Maximus]

Absolutely gorgeous upload. Please never stop making videos like this one.

[@georgeavant314]

PLEASE go on. This is much needed

[@anabeebop]

Please go on! Id love to hear the next part and your analysis

[@davidberry9257]

Please do continue with this; it could take a long time as it's such a complex and long poem, but it's well worth it.

[@hermanirishman4525]

Thanks

[@happylindsay4475]

Please keep going - this was beautifully done

[@theanimaltherapychannel]

This is one of my very favorite poems: cannot wait to see the rest of these!

[@efoxkitsune9493]

I'm studying for my BA exam in British and American literature (which is in a week ;-;) and I'm loving these analyses. It's such a shame you haven't done the rest of the poem! I get it though, I suppose it wasn't for everyone, haha. Still, thanks for these! You helped me make new connections and find new meanings in the poem. It's a really scary one to tackle, especially for people who aren't used to poetry (and particularly modernist poetry), it's great how approachable you're making it. Take care!

[@alexpotzel8853]

I feel like a fool. First time i read this poem my head told me it was wrongly translated. Didnt expect so much meaning behind each and every word.🔥 Sure opened up a new world to mee

[@ivanadeam8194]

Thank you, very insightful- I look forward to the other ones.

[@sgrey9052]

Thank you for this video. I'm struggling in first year uni with a literary assignment and your interpretations really help.

[@FAHPlays]

I really love your videos man! Looking forward to see what you do next

[@Consciousmansclub]

still come back to this even after finishing my degree. thank you sir

[@TM-zj1xt]

Great work here, makes poem come alive. Well done!

[@millamilla10]

Thank you for this!

[@williamisenhower7967]

The last time I was this early my mom almost had me in the back of a car.

[@cactussyrup5384]

This is beautiful.

[@No_onewillknow8]

I tried reading this poem when I was 13, Only got to the second part. Glad a video like this can help me understand some excerpts from it.

[@mylittlethoughttree]

Reading it at 13 sounds incredibly ambitious to me. I don't think I'd have bothered at that age 😅

[@edbowles5497]

thanks for such a brilliant analysis. Aside from part 2, are there are any other videos for the rest of the poem?? thanks!

[@solargi7l]

This was great, I hope you continue

[@annahliadou7899]

Thanks for analysis!

[@geekexmachina]

Very nice interpretation, April is of course the springtime of youth and is a nod to all the very young boys who died part of the cruelty is seen from how naive they are about war think its glorious to find they were wrong. an interpretation of the shift in the eighth line is actually reminiscence that this section is talking about last summer before the war, this is backed by framing with the Arch Dukes (reference to Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand). shifting back to the present as roots grow out and around the bodies and collapsed trenches. Reference to the Dry land the land of the dead, the shadow moving passing of time towards death, the red can also represent the dried blood of the bodies. My favourite war poem was "Dulce Decorum Est" thats also an interesting one to do.

[@mylittlethoughttree]

I think that's a cracking point, thankyou!

[@Consciousmansclub]

true

[@Creedinger]

Spot on. Superb analysis again. The german gives away the Gender before introducing the Name Marie since „keine russin“ is already gendered.

[@TheWhitehiker]

having the words on screen is good--as opposed to pointless images, as in some online Eliot.

[@zetetick395]

If you like T.S. Elliot's The Wasteland You might try one of Elliot's favourite 20th Century poets / poems: _Anabasis_ by St John Perse 👍

[@cleonapatterson6112]

Thank you.

[@33_Pebbles]

please make more videos about this poem

[@futurelink1359]

New subscriber. Love this video.

[@jenniferglover9905]

Have you seen the movie precious?

[@marghe2210]

Just started supporting you on patreon (as promised)! I would suggest an analysis on Fight Club, if you haven't done it yet, I'd like to hear your take on it :)

[@mylittlethoughttree]

You would be Margherita, I'm guessing? Thankyou! Your support is very kind and, funnily enough, I did write some vague notes for a fight club video. I'll have to go and watch the film again though

[@marghe2210]

@@mylittlethoughttree yeah that's me :) looking forward to that video then, have a good day

[@MiataBRG]

'Bin gar keine Russin', is not idle chatter, it's a discussion of ethnic German nationalism, the Volkische movement, that became Nazism. It was developing around this time.

[@bookcat123]

I really wish my high school English teacher had gone through this poem like this. Instead, we had it assigned as outside reading, with no translations and all the foot notes in French. I begin to feel this was an even bigger mistake than I thought at the time, as I...enjoyed? appreciated the opening of the poem as analyzed here. I always thought it was just a pretentious bad poem.

[@brian5154]

The speaker is Sir Alec Guiness........

[@mennasobhy7840]

all i can remmber is palestine right now and realise how this peom is timeless essence

[@Oneffunes]

TS Eliot the wasteland. April is the cruelest month, bringing lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory, and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. The corn. April ( April is the month that life begins to spring out of death ) is the cruelest month, ( is the cruelest month, because when life springs out of death there comes the trial in which one must face and tribulation of identifying once self through the threshold of suffering ) bringing lilacs ( bringing lilacs, that is to say, bringing new visualizing substance of life, out of consciousness ) out of the dead ( out of the dead, as to say, the dark and empty space of once eternal existence ) land, ( land. The eternal sea of glass of one’s spiritual nature ) mixing memory, and desire, ( mixing memory, and desire, as to say, allowing! the left hand to know what the right hand is doing, out of the imagination of one’s heart life ) stirring dull roots ( stirring, dull roots, as to say, starring up interconnecting links in the mind of the spirit, of two forgotten pasts, the emotional and memory ) with spring rain. ( with spring rain, as to say, a new way of consciousness in one’s thinking of a new outlook on life )

[@Phlebas99]

Funnily enough, my name relates to this

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Steps

[@sirprizemuthafakka7025]

... why... my birthday is april WHY?!!!

[@roachsulk]

The music is too much, would otherwise be interested to hear the analysis.

[@mennasobhy7840]

free palestine

[@joeoak8181]

Wtf?

[@joeoak8181]

Pedestrian.

[@versey2]

Had to go. Background music a total turnoff.