he source of his expression, but it is not a necessary part of our understanding. Frost's assumption of a mask in the form of the persona of the speaker shows a desire on his part to hide his own voice while still expressing what he has learned in life, and knowing this does tell us something about the man.
T.S. Eliot's assumption of a mask is even more concealing than is Frost's. Eliot's more intellectually stringent poetry places an even greater distance between the poet and the reader, expressing ideas more readily than emotions and structuring connections between images that are more intellectual than emotional. To understand Eliot, it is essential that the reader look to a good deal of external material. Many of the references are obscure--"The Waste Land" begins with a quotation partially in Latin and partially in Greek and contains Biblical references, mythological references, a German quotation, and other material that needs to be explained to understand what th
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