Mobile App Of The Day

The Wasteland. iPad. $13.99. It doesn’t multitask and it’s not cheap, but if you are any bit at all into T.S. Eliot (I am) and love consuming content on your iPad (I do), then this app might be for you. The poem itself contains much to engage, but the interactive features incorporated into the iPad app bring this masterpiece to life. Features include the ability to: 

• watch a remarkable specially-filmed performance of the entire poem by Fiona Shaw, synchronised to the text

• listen to complete audio readings of the poem, also synchronised to the text, by T. S. Eliot himself (readings from two periods in his life) as well as Ted Hughes, Alec Guinness and Viggo Mortensen

• understand the poem’s many references and allusions with the help of comprehensive interactive notes

• reveal the structure of the verse and move quickly between sections with a new navigation tool

• watch over 35 expert video perspectives on the poem including contributions from Seamus Heaney and Jeanette Winterson 

• examine original manuscript pages to see how the poem took shape under Ezra Pound’s editing

April is, indeed, the cruelest month, but this iPad app does make it easier to bear. T.S. Eliot lovers, rejoice!