TS Eliot's Widow Joins 'Get London Reading' Campaign

Valerie Eliot, widow to one of the greatest poets of the 20th century has joined the campaign to get London reading, by donating £1,000 to fund two volunteers. She describes reading as a human right, deserved by everyone. And I couldn't agree more; without reading, one is blind to their surroundings. Never mind novels; think street signs, newspapers, not to mention those all-important health wheels on food packaging. I would certainly feel less guilty eating cheesecake if I couldn't read the ingredients. But that's besides the point. The ability to read is equivalent to the ability to breathe. Actually, no it isn't, I just wanted to sound really philosophical for a moment. But let's face it, it is pretty damn important. And did you know, Valerie Eliot met TS Eliot at Faber and Faber where she worked as his secretary?! Saucy. So there's hope for me yet.

T.S. Eliot (1888–1965). The Waste Land. 1922.

The Waste Land

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.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.