Some context for a cliche

"April is the cruelest month."

Every year at this time somebody is quoting that line, from T.S. Eliot THE WASTE LAND, in lieu of anything better to say about whatever cruelty is regnant. Or just as a way of complaining about taxes.

What is the context? Here is a bit of it.

"April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain."

Love those gerunds, a comma they are following,

Bred, mixed and stirred: A line they are ending

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