For my notable quote this week, I will continue the Eliot motif and highlight a passage from his most famous and influential poem, "The Wasteland." This passage was so distinct I used to have it memorized. Unfortunately my memory is not what it once was.
| What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow | |
| Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, | 20 |
| You cannot say, or guess, for you know only | |
| A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, | |
| And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, | |
| And the dry stone no sound of water. Only | |
| There is shadow under this red rock, | 25 |
| (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), | |
| And I will show you something different from either | |
| Your shadow at morning striding behind you | |
| Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; | |
| I will show you fear in a handful of dust. |
Lots of memorable phrases in that passage, but the the phrase that sticks out for me is "you know only/A heap of broken images." God is omniscient; man only sees limited and fragmented impressions. That's one of the keys to understanding a lot of Eliot's work. You can read the entire poem here.
