Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Waste Land and Other Poems

  • By: T. S. Eliot
  • Narrated by: Ted Hughes
  • Length: 1 hr and 9 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Waste Land and Other Poems

By: T. S. Eliot
Narrated by: Ted Hughes
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T. S. Eliot is arguably the most influential and important book of poetry produced in the twentieth century. Read by Ted Hughes

Published in 1922, The Waste Land was the most revolutionary poem of its time, offering a devastating vision of modern civilization which has lost none of its power.

'Each year Eliot's presence reasserts itself at a deeper level, to an audience that is surprised to find itself more chastened, more astonished, more humble.' Ted Hughes

Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was born in St Louis, Missouri, USA. He settled in England in 1915 and published his first book of poems in 1917. Eliot received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948.

Four Quartets is the culminating achievement of T.S. Eliot's career as a poet. While containing some of the most musical and unforgettable passages in twentieth-century poetry, its four parts, 'Burnt Norton', 'East Coker', 'The Dry Salvages' and 'Little Gidding', present a rigorous meditation on the spiritual, philosophical and personal themes which preoccupied the author. It was the way in which a private voice was heard to speak for the concerns of an entire generation, in the midst of war and doubt, that confirmed it as an enduring masterpiece.

©2016 Faber & Faber (P)2016 Faber Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Crow cover art
The Poems of T. S. Eliot cover art
Of Love and Desire cover art
The Sunday Sessions cover art
The Thought-Fox and Other Poems cover art
Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey cover art
Ulysses cover art
Tristram Shandy cover art
Waiting for Godot cover art
Republic cover art
At Blackwater Pond cover art
Paradise Lost cover art
Sincerity cover art
She Walks in Beauty cover art
The Richard Burton Poetry Collection cover art
Poetry Please cover art

Critic reviews

"'The Waste Land' is one of the most important poems of the 20th century." (Andrew Motion, Independent)

"Eliot's 'Waste Land' is I think the justification of the 'movement', of our modern experiment, since 1900." (Ezra Pound, letter to Felix E. Schelling)

"'The Waste Land' is unquestionably important, unquestionably brilliant.... One of the most moving and original poems of our time." (Conrad Aiken, New Republic)

"'The Waste Land' is Mr Eliot's greatest achievement." (E. M. Forster)

"'The Waste Land' remains a great positive achievement, and one of the first importance for English poetry. In it a mind fully alive in the age compels a poetic triumph." (F. R. Leavis)

"A damn good poem...about enough, Eliot's poem, to make the rest of us shut up shop." (Ezra Pound)

What listeners say about The Waste Land and Other Poems

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    17
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    18
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

simply because

Helped me reclaim my teenage wasteland, through a series of symbols and signs, that only my beautiful mind can navigate. Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars

Hughes reads Eliot better than Eliot

Eliot needs to be read aloud rather than laboured over on the page. Hughes understands the music .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent

It's something wonderful when a poet finds a voice and a character that resonates over such a long period of time, Prufrock is one such. Even now nearly a century later he is almost speaking for me and my view of the world. Still a beautiful poem and followed up with The Waste Land which I'm still trying to unravel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful