Ed. note: This morning, I am republishing an edited version of this musing which I initially published in July 2019 as a reminder of the rich gifts of reading — the way books can serve as both fire escape and safe harbor.
I spent a lot of time with T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland” both in my undergraduate and graduate days. It is a poem about the dissolution of culture in the aftermath of the first world war, when jingoistic illusions about the “Old World Order” gave way to sober outlooks on the world. The form of the poem, like most modernist texts, reflects this existential uncertainty in its shapelessness. We find jarringly trimmed lines amidst sprawling stanzas: the silhouettes of resistance, shapes that defy containment and order.
There are many interpretations of the final stanzas of “The Wasteland,” and most of them require an encyclopedic understanding of Western and non-Western literary traditions, so far-flung are its allusions. Some read its final, highly intertextual stanza as a fatalistic descent into chaos: literary traditions jangling discordantly against one another, voices angling impotently at meaning:
I sat upon the shore
Fishing, with the arid plain behind me
Shall I at least set my lands in order?
London Bridge is falling down falling down falling down
Poi s’ascose nel foco che gli affina
Quando fiam uti chelidon—O swallow swallow
Le Prince d’Aquitaine à la tour abolie
These fragments I have shored against my ruins
Why then Ile fit you. Hieronymo’s mad againe.
Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.
Shantih shantih shantih
Amidst this pastiche, we find a jewel of optimism:
These fragments I have shored against my ruins.
This is a line of startling promise. It is, both in what it says and how it says it, delivered crisply after a whiplash of allusions, a literary life-raft.
When I read that line, I see a serviceman shouldering his weight against a crumbling edifice. He is shoveling sand and grit and detritus against imminent collapse. Only the flotsam and jetsam he uses are pieces of poetry, excerpts from books, bits of cultural phenomena gathered across the expanse of dozens of canons.
There are many reasons to read, but one of them is to make meaning out of the emotional overload of living. Here, T.S. Eliot is showing us that the discursive fragments he has collected over his life can be used to “shore up” against the ruinousness of life.
I think of this verse often when I encounter a line that reframes things for me, as this one did when I realized I had forgotten to be grateful for the normalcies of daily life amidst the footslog of caring for two small children. It made me pause and think about the other fragments I have shored against my own collapse, and wondered — what might yours be? What are the excerpts, quotes, lines, lyrics that steer you through life? (Please share in the comments!)
A few I carry with me:
“Time will do the talking
Years will do the walking
I’ll just find a comfy spot and wait it out.”
– Patty Griffin (more on these lyrics here)
*****
“It’s like a schoolhouse
of little words,
thousands of words.
First you figure out what each one means by itself,
the jingle, the periwinkle, the scallop
full of moonlight.
Then you begin, slowly, to read the whole story.”
–Mary Oliver, “Breakage” (more on this poem here)
*****
“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”
-J.D. Salinger (more on this quote here)
*****
“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.“
-Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese” (more on this poem here)
*****
“Sometimes a little tenderness
Was the best that I could do“
-John Prine, “I Remember Everything” (more on this song here)
Shopping Break.
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+If you loved the toddler New Balances I bought for my son but not the price tag – you are in luck. Found a trove of the 574 velcros on sale for $30 here!
+I keep coming back to this Doen dress. She’s perfect. Imagine beneath a chunky cardigan, or paired with suede boots…or worn now with leather sandals…
+LOVE the material these sweatshirts are made out of — like a brushed, silky, plush material! 10% off with code SHOOPXSPANX. Pair with your favorite leggings and these Birks for bleary-eyed morning drop offs this fall.
+Kind of obsessed with this knit set in the stripe?! Like for casual lounge? Would probably wear bottoms with a plain white tee and the sweatshirt around my shoulders to break it up.
+Tory Burch is running a sale, and you have to check out this reversible fleece coat. Great buy and will be ideal for fall.
+Pretty fall blouse. Immediately imagined tucked into high-waisted denim.
+Just bought two new Yeti water bottles — the lilac and the chartreuse, limited edition colors! — for my kids for back to school. Over the years, these have held up the best and they keep water cold. My kids always ask for these before any of the other brands we have. The only caveat is that they are heavy for little, little ones. To personalize those bottles so they aren’t accidentally grabbed by another kiddo, you can order these monogram decals on Amazon, a single initial from these Joy Creative Shop stickers, or these personalized name stickers.
+A fun patterned fall tote for mom life. Great as diaper bag.
+This hair clip is a splurge but SO pretty.
+Cutest cord skirt for your little love. Imagine with a little turtleneck or fair isle sweater!
+A great commuter/work bag for fall.
+Cutest heels to pair with early fall dresses. You know I adore a whipstitch detail! (Ahem!!! This arrived and will be wearing this all fall. Cannot waitttt.)
+A very strange maternal impulse, but I routinely clean out my children’s sock drawers and replace with fresh white socks. It’s the smallest detail but they somehow stain/ruin/snag their socks with wild abandon and I think it’s the least expensive way to make them look polished! Anyhow, just refilled their sock drawers for the school year with these and these for my son and these (uniform) and these (not uniform) for my daughter.
+In photo at top, you can see my favorite charger (can charge multiple items at once), my favorite pens, and my favorite notebooks (15% off with code MAGPIEBYJENSHOOP).