From the excerpt of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland we had already read in class, "IV. Death by Water," I had some kind of assumption of what the rest of it was going to be. And I was completely wrong. With more traditional poems, one section does not differ so entirely from the rest, so the disjointed nature of the different parts of the poem was particularly striking. While part IV is somewhat traditional and self-contained, with a predictable structure and lyrical quality, other parts are far more unexpected and experimental. Examples include the use of words and sentences in all caps like the repeated line "HURRY UP PLEASE ITS TIME" in part II and word repetition like "Twit twit twit / Jug jug jug jug jug jug" in part III. The poem does not easily give up its meaning. The reader must dig and consult other sources. She must familiarize herself with phrases in other languages, such as to decipher the phrase "Et O ces voix d’enfants, chantant dans la coupole!" in part III. According to online sources, this translates to “And O those children's voices singing in the dome!” and is a reference to the poem "Parsifal" by Paul Verlaine. This demonstrates not only how layered the poem is in form and style, but also in references to other works. Other modernist poems we have read in class lend themselves more to casual reading, and we can use our general knowledge about the time period and of poetry to help guide us. The Wasteland requires much more from us as readers, an investment of time and resources to sift through these references to make sense of it. This dedication lends itself to an entirely different experience that Eliot must have intended.