April’s Cruelty

The tireless Simon M. at Blogian asks T.S. Eliot’s interesting question, Is April truly the cruelest month? (link)

Over at Haigazian University in Beirut, the Dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, “noted that the month of April witnesses two sad spots in the collective memory of our local community; one is the Armenian Genocide during the First World War, and the other is the start of the Lebanese civil war back in 1975.” (source)

excerpt from THE WASTE LAND by T. S. Eliot

I. The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
(complete poem)

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