At first when I started to read Eliot, I felt as though I would have understood more if the poems had been written in Chinese. This feeling remained with me until I read "A Song For Simeon" (1928). The day I read it happens to be the 9th of Av, which is a fast day for Jews, according to Rabbinic tradition, the anniversary of the destruction of first and second temples, English and Spanish expulsions of Jews and the start of World War 1.
How amazed I was when this poet, with his reputation as an antisemite, expressed exactly the mood of the fast day.
I have walked many years in this city,
Kept faith with the poor,
Have given and taken honour and ease.
There went never any rejected from my door.
Who shall remember my house, where shall live my children's children
When the time of sorrow is come?
They will take the goat's path, and the fox's home,
Fleeing from the foreign faces and the foreign swords.
"Never rejected any from my door" recalls the story of Elijah the prophet, who is said will herald the messiah. Jewish folklore holds that Elijah disguises himself as a beggar and knocks on the doors of the wealthy.
The goat's path referred to the ancient atonement ritual that was carried out in the Temple. The sins of the people would be symbolically transferred to a goat, known as the scapegoat, this goat would then be sacrificed in the wilderness.
"Foxes" are a code name for the Romans, destroyers of the Temple. Like the association with Elijah, the foxes allude to redemption. Foxes immediately recall the very well known story about Rabbi Akiva whose disciples asked him why he laughed at the sight of "foxes" in the Temple. He said that the foxes heralded the coming of the Messiah because the temple had to be first destroyed before redemption could occur.
It was the most amazing feeling to encounter the combination of these stories, hidden in the poem and feel their relevance to my own story, here and now, as I fasted for the events that the poem described.
I realised that the reason Eliot was like Chinese to me was that I simply was ignorant of the stories and illusions behind his words. The poet works in a higher dimension, combining stories, rather than words. He sculpts and builds and attempts to glimpse into the future.
I decided to attempt to improve my knowledge of literature, so as to be able to read Eliot. TS Eliot could be used as a guide to the canon of literature of the Western tradition and also Eastern tradition and how they meld together. I am hoping becoming more familiar with literatures' backbone, it's classics, as well as providing a key to TS Eliot, will make me a better librarian and also grow as a person.
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