Today is the 120th birthday of T.S. Eliot, poet of twentieth century angst and twentieth century faith. I liked this poem because I remember one time long ago laughing hysterically and concentrating on one thing to calm myself.

HYSTERIA

by: T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

As she laughed I was aware of becoming involved
in her laughter and being part of it, until her
teeth were only accidental stars with a talent
for squad-drill. I was drawn in by short gasps,
inhaled at each momentary recovery, lost finally
in the dark caverns of her throat, bruised by
the ripple of unseen muscles. An elderly waiter
with trembling hands was hurriedly spreading
a pink and white checked cloth over the rusty
green iron table, saying: “If the lady and
gentleman wish to take their tea in the garden,
if the lady and gentleman wish to take their
tea in the garden …” I decided that if the
shaking of her breasts could be stopped, some of
the fragments of the afternoon might be collected,
and I concentrated my attention with careful
subtlety to this end.

“Hysteria” was originally printed in Catholic Anthology, November 1915.

Mr. Eliot might have enjoyed this picture by Niccolo Frangipane since it combines the laughter of the poem with a cat. Eliot was rather fond of cats.

Here’s actor Michael Gough reading Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”.

Ezra Pound on T.S. Eliot: “Mr Eliot is at times an excellent poet and has arrived at the supreme Eminence among English critics largely through disguising himself as a corpse.”

Corpse or hysterical? I suppose it all depended on what mood he was experiencing at the time.