Outline

My paper will be focused on the following question:
It is possible to teach "the waste land" written by T.S Elliot to high school students?

Introduccion
º A brief explanation of the poem and why do I think it is necessary to teach it.

Body
ºThe main idea of the poem
ºInteresting topics to teach about the poem
ºHow to relate the poem with students life

Conclusion
º A wrap up of the body

About Auden's poem...

This poem named September,1, brings very contemporary isssues and ideologies. For that reason the implementation of it inside EFL classes is not so difficult.
Inside the group discussion that we had in classes, my classmates and I realized that this poem was very controversial because of the way that was written.The historical context was a very strong influence too. The second world war was taking place and the writer was inmerse in this cruel episode. So, taking this in mind it is not a surprise the born of this poem as a response to all the cruelty that the world was facing. Also, we realize that this poem is not the only one reaction to the war. Many writers, as a way of self expression, begin to write about what was happening with the humanity.

From my point of view this poem was very good constructed. The writer is capable to express all the sadness that he was feeling in that moment and all the disappointment from his inner thoughts.He do not say anything explicit. He leaves the reader to infer about what is written. In this way he shows that he was not interested on impose certain point of view, the only thing that he wanted is to express his feelings.

On the whole, inside the classroom we can do reflective activities with our students leaving them to express what they feel thanks to this poem. Not forcing them to follow a certain patter to do it. The aim will be only share thoughts and feelings in the target language.

the comment (From me to Luis Jerez)

My dear boyfriend:

it was very good to read your point of view about the gender issue present in "A room of one's own", but I must confess that I disagree with your point of view.

From my point of view, the gender issue is something that will never change, in terms of make differences between women and men. I also think if it changes will be a boring society because this feminist movements will disappear and everything will be nice. People need confrontations. It is funny to see how nowadays women want to be as men, but they do not see the lovely differences among us and that men are not evil enemies they are our complement. LiKE IT OR NOT.

On the other hand, Women are very intelligent, we always get what we want. For that reason I do not want to under estimate Virginia Wolf saying that if she wouldn't name herself with the last name "Shakespeare" society will not recognize her as an important writer. Instead of saying that I would say that she wanted to publish and be famous easily. Maybe, with this last name she wanted to be famous inmediately.

To conclude women(not every one) are not white birds, we are ambitious, smart enough to do what we want and do not forget my dear that society is made by men and WOMEN it is not a self-suficient entity, so if women writers are not considered good enough let's think what is wrong on their literature.

19 de noviembre de 2009 14:42

The Waste land... by me...

Something that really moved me was the feeling of insecurity and exposure that the writer transmit through their poems.

I could noticed the feeling of exposure when Eliot states: "APRIL is the cruellest month" why April is the cruellest month? if we think this month is plenty of happiness because of the spring. But he doesn't feel part of this happiness, he feels that in this particular month doesn't have a protection. Maybe, this protection that only something warm as your clothes is capable to give you.

I was wandering to know, how many times we hide ourselves behind this social code named clothes? Personally, I did it once. At the same time, this makes me think that this feeling of insecurity comes from this social issues that he must face in life and to his capacity of observation. The more we see the more we questioned the world we are living in. Also, real and crude world are reflected on his literature thanks to this observational capacity.

To conclude, all the reality creates the point of view of the writer as a help calling, because and from my point of view he was alone facing his own world without any help.

...About "The Rocking-Horse winner" and "Odour of Chrysanthemums"...

For me, was amazing how the writer's life was mixed with each story. Every event of his life was mentioned in some way. I knew that every writer give something of his or her personal life to his/her masterpiece in order to create a real story with real events but here I realise about the importance of doing it.

DH. Lawrence was focused on monetary issues and we could see it in both stories. Also inside his work he presents values. For example, the important things that we could lose if we pay so much attention to money as love relationships. From my point of view we was worried about transmiting this topics because in one time of his life he experienced. On the other hand, the possesive mother present in "The Rocking- Horse winner" was very similar to his own mother. The image of a strong woman controling the child's life and making decitions for him.

On the whole, DH, Lawrence brings very contemporary issues and he also used his own life to develop the plot of his stories in order to make it more real and meaningful to people.

...The need to have a space, both real and metaphorical to write....

From my point of view, it is very necessary to have a special space to write and clarify your ideas. But, I think that in order to have ideas is very necessary interact with others all the time.

Virginia Wolf shows this personal space to write with the idea of a room created only for her and her thoughts. In this way she express the need of being alone. For this reason, to contrast her feelings with the real world it was necessary to find a quiet place with little interaction with the outside. On the other hand, if you want to write about something you must interact with the real world. If you are a good observer and if you are interested on interact with people you will have more to write about because you will have more anecdotes.

To conclude, the writer need a space to write what is happening around, but this does't mean that you must be always alone.