Plagiarizing Eliot

I knew that the image of the wind blowing back the waves’ foam like horses’ manes was taken from somewhere – but it was such an a propos image – there really is no other way to say it or describe it – that I went with it anyway. Of course then I had to go track it down which was not hard since I’ve been on a TS Eliot kick. From “The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock”:

I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

Perfection! And it got me to thinking about literature and narrative – and what comes first? If you read widely and deeply, your brain is full of references, fragments, contexts, interpretations – handed down from others. Part of this is awesome, part of it is not – especially if you are trying to create something yourself (there is a reason why people like William Carlos Williams and Hart Crane said that their main struggle as artists were to AVOID the influence of TS Eliot, no easy task) … but it is an interesting thing in life, and one that gives me a lot of pleasure, and makes me happy and grateful that I am an educated person. Educated in the humanities, yes, so I have all this stuff to call upon in my brain – but also self-educated, self-taught, following my own whims …. There are times when I need to track the images down. One must not steal. But then something comes along – like wind being blown backward off the waves – and you realize that someone has already nailed it down, and so perfectly, that there is nothing to do but parrot them, because it feels like they said it for you. They handed you the image, knowing that you have noticed such things too, and said, “Here. Isn’t this just what it is like?”