There's no such thing as a cultural wasteland

Have you read T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land? If not, don’t worry, there won’t be a test. Poetry ain’t for everybody, and is broad enough in scope that its definition could mean lots of different things. Like, say… jam. Preserves. Whatever.

So even if you do like poetry, The Waste Land might not be your cup of lexical tea. It is notoriously obscure, full of sudden shifts in locution and voice. A predilection for difficult poetry doesn’t make you automatically smarter. It makes you look like a dick, if you keep going on about it.

Why is The Waste Land a tough read? One of the main reasons is its constant use of allusion, and its intimidating range of references to myriad cultures, languages and literatures. It is unashamedly ergodic (a little like this sentence). Don’t speak Sanskrit? Poor working knowledge of Latin culture? The Waste Land might require some boning up.*

You don’t have to bother, of course. Poetry doesn’t have to be hard. But one thing to bear in mind is the ease with which you manage a similar feat of translation every day.

Popular Culture is a tricky beast. Its footprints are everywhere, but no one’s ever seen it. It depends on a distinct interplay between ideas, attitudes and memes that requires prior knowledge to understand. A bit like The Waste Land. Well, actually, a LOT like The Waste Land. I admit, I set that part up- this post would have been a little redundant otherwise.

I don’t mean to be patronising in pointing all this out. It’s not a huge cognitive leap to make. I only bring it up because I was listening to the old ‘pop culture vs high culture’ theme on the radio the other day, and felt unable to contribute effectively to the debate (banging on the steering wheel and shouting at one of the guests wasn’t enough, apparently). The point was made that nothing worth doing is easy, and that by extension, popular culture was of less worth than that which requires some ‘learning.’

Well, what tosh, twaddle and twittering trash (take THAT, Elmer Fudd). Popular culture might appear easy, as the knowledge required for adept usage is made readily available. It’s on the telly, like. Other texts might require some greater research, but here’s the thing- the knowledge is static. Once you know it, you know it (unless you forget it). Someone who is familiar with all the sources for The Waste Land can understand their relevance with less effort than us mortals, but might have more difficulty with a spontaneous pop quiz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is the context that makes prior knowledge impressive.

I am not suggesting that all knowledge is of equal worth. I am extremely glad that I can quote Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, and am more likely to deploy it in polite conversation than the button commands for all the special moves on 'Street Fighter II'. Some knowledge is worth having, worth pursuing. Some is worthless out of context. Some is worthless full stop. But it all comes from the same place- out there, and ends up in the same place- in yer bonce. The skills required to get it from one to another are the same. Cultural analysis: “The Power… is yours!”

*...what?