Mrs. Dalloway

Mrs. Dalloway is definitely a book that I have never read and is one of a kind. The way the story jumps from person to person and in and out of one's thoughts is a tough to keep up with. However, after reading further and getting more use to the way this book is written, I find myself enjoying the story. Although the story seems like a simple story about Mrs. Dalloway getting ready for her party, there is plenty to take from the story. One particular part of the story that really stuck out to me was Peter and his pocketknife. While Peter is talking with Clarissa he is constantly opening and closing his pocketknife. One possible explanation for this may be that Peter is confused or unsure about things not even that but maybe that he isn't able to make decisions. Therefore, opening and closing the pocketknife, not able to decide whether to keep the knife open or closed could connect with his unsureness. I also find Clarissa Dalloway to be a very interesting story. Clarissa seems to struggle to find herself, her identity and I feel as though the whole point of the party or any other parties that she puts together is a way of trying to find herself and wanting to fit in with this type of lifestyle. Mrs. Dalloway is a character that I think a lot of people are able to relate to because many people throughout their life at some point struggle with their identity and figuring out their place in life.

Tradition and the Individual Talent

Throughout this essay Eliot goes over many interesting ideas regarding poetry and poets. Eliot discusses how in the English tradition that art progresses through change or "separation" from traditional ways. However, Eliot believes that works of art are only recognized when they conform to the traditional ways. I found this idea of Eliot's to be very interesting and i definitely agree with what he is saying. We constantly are comparing readings, poems, essays, books, etc. to the "traditional way" or to the great writers. If the piece of work doesn't compare or show similarities to the way we see as being the right or "great" way, we might very well look past this work. Take for example The Waste Land, I know that I had never read anything in relation to this poem, and I definitely did some comparing of my own to other poems that I prefer, or "traditional" poems. However, just because The Waste Land isn't something I have read before and can't be compared to the traditional ways but that doesn't mean that I should look past it and consider it not to not be a good piece of writing. After looking more closely into this poem, I was able to find interesting and unique parts of the poem that to me made this a stand out poem from others, creating its new "tradition" and as we all know, becoming a well-known piece of poetry.

The Waste Land

After reading through the poem The Waste Land, like everybody else I'm sure, I was so confused. I couldn't understand what the heck this poem was talking about. It just seemed to bounce from one thing to the other with no real meaning behind it. Even though I was able to pick out certain things about the poem such as in the Burial of Dead section when the speaker refers to seasons, and claims they are German and not Russian, I still was not able to find the meaning behind all of it. The poem seems to jump from this speaker being German and not Russian to a wealthy, a man who died by drowning all the way to Jerusalem. However, even with my state of confusion throughout the entire poem one section I think I was able to make a little sense out of. In the "A Game of Chess" section in the first part i was able to pick out that the speaker is referring to the high society and the lower classes. It is portraying a very wealthy high maintenance women surrounded by nice furnishings. The women is waiting for her "lover" and begins having frantic thoughts and even cries. After all of this, the women plans for a day of playing "a game of chess" In the second part of this section, it skips over to London where two women sit talking about a third women. In between the "HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME", referring to the fact that the bar is closing, another women Lil, tells another women how her husband is in the army. The women continues to tell Lil that she needs to improve her appearance before her husband leaves her. Lil then tells the women, her husband would never leave her. Although i was able to break down these parts of the section, I am still left confused on the purpose and meaning of all of this and how it ties together with the rest of the poem. After reading through this poem, I am left in absolute confusion but also am anxiously wanting to know what T.S. Eliot was thinking about when he wrote this and what he was trying to accomplish through writing this poem?