PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG BOY
Tom is 9
going on 10
& pens
" a few little verses
about the sadness
of having to
start school
again
every Monday morning."
Already young
Master Eliot
can see
THE WASTELAND
spreading out
before him.
"Monday is the cruellest day
breeding Mathematics
out of the deadened brain!"
"Damn...damn it...damn ya!"
"Language Thomas...language!"
"Shhhhh ...Tom...shushhhh!"
I comfort him.
"Shanti...shanti...shanti."
Jan 21, 2016
Jan 21, 2016 at 5:06 PM UTC
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG BOY
Tom is 9
going on 10
& pens
" a few little verses
about the sadness
of having to
start school
again
every Monday morning."
Already young
Master Eliot
can see
THE WASTELAND
spreading out
before him.
"Monday is the cruellest day
breeding Mathematics
out of the deadened brain!"
"Damn...damn it...damn ya!"
"Language Thomas...language!"
"Shhhhh ...Tom...shushhhh!"
I comfort him.
"Shanti...shanti...shanti."
Valerie Eliot tells this tale of Tom when asked when he started writing and if there was anything left of such early efforts. This little bric-a-brac of emotion from Eliot's early early youth showed that the child was indeed the father of the man!
Reading INVENTIONS OF THE MAD HARE...showing Eliot's early work in its raw notebook state was a real delight for an Eliotian like me! Valerie's little reflection on Tom's early efforts always amused me and I could imagine him then being of the same demeanour as the Tom of the Waste Land. The poem is a way of giving the little fella a hug 'cos I felt the same way myself about schools and Monday morning.
