T.S. Eliot popped into my mind today. After all, April begins. He called it the cruelest month. However, today my thoughts drift to two powerful lines that open Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Drink in the wonder. Change does not always necessitate pain—it can be beautiful. Embrace the season.
Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, . . .
When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root. . .
Categories: Musings The Writing Well
Catherine Hamrick
Soul deep storyteller and editor with a passion for social media, gardens, the South, French culture, art, and literary classics
Someone long ago commented that we feel better after reading tragedy and worse after a comedy. Catharsis v. Comparison. I love both Chaucer and Eliot equally, in different ways, but I am more drawn to reading The Waste Land. It is sonically wonderful, yes, but you also get to go through hell (“bats with baby faces”) and, like Dante, emerge feeling wiser and even more hopeful.
Still, Chaucer’s narrator is as close as we’re going to get to an ideal human being. (Not including Jesus, who was also divine.) It’s a privilege and a joy to spend time with him. This time of year in Jackson we have the most beautiful greens imaginable. I like to say, “As green as the grass on Chaucer’s lawn.”
No need for Miracle Gro in Jackson. Emerald mile after emerald mile. I will always treasure certain shady streets and Miss Welty’s abode where the best of poppies grow. Great comment!