2022 marks one hundred years since the publication of TS Eliot‘s famous poem The Waste Land. To celebrate this auspicious landmark, we at LSS are going to offer our own contribution-means of interpretation, you might say- to the celebrations of this remarkable work of literature. Cocktails. Many indeed will be the Modernists, post modernists, Marxists, structuralists, feminists and all sorts of other -ists who will have their say . But tonight, as you gather for readings with family, friends or those in the public bar, you will have your own special LSS method of literary criticism to offer. All you do is to take a few lines from the poem, and find a refreshing mix to match. Simple. So let’s get started
April is the cruellest month, breeding/lilacs out of the dead land mixing.…
Stop there! All a bit cold and austere-so what better way to capture mixing that than a classic Dry Martini? Here’s a good old 10:1 mix from Diffords ,that’s shaken, not stirred. A couple of these and you’ll be muttering Bin gar keine Russin, whatever that means!
https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/4976/dry-martini-101-ratio-preferred-shaken
And talking of lilacs why not try a Moonlight cocktail? A delicious mix based around dry gin and Cointreau, our researcher chose this especially for the Creme de violette liquer that so subtly captures the tones of Eliot’s first stanza. We thank once again, ladies and gentlemen, the immortal Diffords-what a site!
https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/2510/moonlight-cocktail-gaz-regans
Winter kept us warm, covering/Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
If it’s winter cocktails you’re after, Mr Eliot, the BBC Good Food guide has a whole list to warm the hearts of any poetry group. Click below for the Winter whisky sour, hot toddy and sloe gin fizz, to name but a few!
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/winter-cocktail-recipes
OK, here’s what to do next . Below you will find a link to the whole text, courtesy of The Poetry Society. Why not hack through, pick out a few lines and select an accompanying drink from your favourite menu book? Or even make your own! The Waste Land is long, difficult text. If we at LSS have done our bit to make it more accessible to a wider public, then our work for this week is done indeed.
Shantih, shantih, shantih-which means “cheers and bottoms up” in Sanskrit.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land?msclkid=dd214c22b1bd11ecb797d1df1ca90d07
Learning, Science and Society 