Three days ago, I decided it had been decades since memorizing any poetry, and it was time to rectify that. What to memorize? I’d been studying The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot and its part four, Death by Water, seemed easy enough. But I’m finding difficulty with three parts of it:
IV. DEATH BY WATER
Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
And the profit and loss.
A current under sea
Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
He passed the stages of his age and youth
Entering the whirlpool.
Gentile or Jew
O you who turn the wheel and look to windward
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
For the LIFE of me, when considering Phlebas the precise words of the watery phrases escape me. They don’t stick. “the deep sea swell” “A current under sea”. I got “Entering the whirlpool” reliably but this is SO short and simple, it’s bothering me.
Wait. After typing this out, I got it now. Let me close my eyes and try reciting it again.
Good. Just did it two times in a row. Needed hand gestures, but got it.
See, internet? You CAN be remedial!
1 comment
The woman drew her long black hair out tight,
And fiddled whisper music on those strings.
And bats with baby faces in the violet light,
Whistled and beat their wings.
That's all I have memorized from The Wasteland. Good for you–impressive!!!! Very impressive!