History Creator / TSEliot

He lived in St Louis for the first 16 years of his life, during which he developed an infatuation with literature. He soon entered Harvard University in 1906, attaining his M.A. in 1910. He then moved into the Sorbonne and stayed there for a year. He then returned to Harvard to pursue a doctorate in philosophy, but left before getting the degree; he returned to Europe and settled in England in 1914. The following year, he married Vivienne Haigh-Wood and began working in London, first as a teacher, and later for Lloyd's Bank.

* ''Literature/TheWasteLand'' (1922): One of Eliot's most famous poems. He makes a lot of allusions to literary works like Ovid's Metamorphoses, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, and Creator/CharlesBaudelaire.

* ''Ash Wednesday'' (1930): A long poem that Eliot wrote after his conversion to Anglicanism. It focuses on the struggle that ensues when one who has lacked faith in the past strives to move towards God.

Thomas Stearns Eliot [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever OM]] (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was an American-born English poet, essayist, playwright, and literary critic. Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. ''Literature/TheWasteLand'' is his most famous poem.

* OneBookAuthor: More like maybe three/four-book-author. Eliot is best known for being a poet, but his ''Collected Poems 1909-1962'' is a very short volume and, of it, most people know only "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land". A good few people know [[Literature/OldPossumsBookOfPracticalCats the cat poems.]] Some people have read ''Four Quartets'', a later poem, long by Eliot's standards, but not very long. A few people have read, or maybe seen, ''Murder in the Cathedral''. As for his other plays, such as ''The Rock'', ''The Cocktail Party'' and ''The Elder Statesman''; his other poems, including collections of his juvenilia which are longer than his actual ''Collected Poems''; his many essays on literary subjects, including important ones on Creator/RudyardKipling, [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Dante Alighieri]], and Charles Baudelaire, as well as massively influential pieces such as "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and collections of articles such as ''After Strange Gods'' and ''For Lancelot Andrewes''; loads of book reviews; stand-alone books such as ''Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F.H. Bradley'', ''Notes Towards a Definition of Culture'' and ''The Idea of a Christian Society'', not to mention six volumes (and counting) of his letters, which themselves form a picture of the literary history of his time and place...well, most of it doesn't get read.

* CloseKnitCommunity: Discussed in "Choruses from The Rock"

From 1917-1919, Eliot edited the "little" magazine ''Egoist''. During that time, he published his first book of poems, ''Prufrock and Other Observations'', published in 1917, and immediately established him as a leading poet of the avant-garde. In 1922, he founded the ''Criterion'', a quarterly review of literature and philosophy, which he also edited, all while working as an editor and director for Faber & Faber Ltd. It was in the October 1922 issue of the ''Criterion'' that he published ''The Waste Land'' in 1922, now considered by many to be the single most influential poetic work of the twentieth century. Eliot's reputation began to grow to nearly mythic proportions; by 1930, and for the next thirty years, he was the most dominant figure in poetry and literary criticism in the English-speaking world. In addition, he became a British subject in 1927 and was confirmed in the Church of England, his religious beliefs influencing and finding reflection in his later poetry and other writings.

From 1917-1919, Eliot edited the "little" magazine ''Egoist''. During that time, he published his first book of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations, was published in 1917, and immediately established him as a leading poet of the avant-garde. In 1922, he founded the ''Criterion'', a quarterly review of literature and philosophy, which he also edited, al whil working as an editor and director for Faber & Faber Ltd. It was in the October 1922 issue of the ''Criterion'' that he published ''The Waste Land'' in 1922, now considered by many to be the single most influential poetic work of the twentieth century. Eliot's reputation began to grow to nearly mythic proportions; by 1930, and for the next thirty years, he was the most dominant figure in poetry and literary criticism in the English-speaking world. In addition, he became a British subject in 1927 and was confirmed in the Church of England, his religious beliefs influencing and finding reflection in his later poetry and other writings.

* AChatWithSatan: In the first act of ''Murder in the Cathedral'', Becket is visited by "tempters" who plead with him to give up his feud with the King of England. The first tempts him with hedonistic pleasures, the second with a restoration of his former authority, the third with political power. He rejects them all, but the fourth tempter surprises Becket by asking him to ''seek out'' martyrdom for the glory that comes after it. In most productions, the fourth tempter is presented as being separate, more enticing than the first three, and possibly the Devil in disguise.

* ShoutOut: Eliot turned this UpToEleven. Many of his poems don't just allude to previous works, but are skilful collages of actual quotes from previous works, from Dame Julian of Norwich via various Tudor divines to Baudelaire, Music/RichardWagner, music hall songs and other sources. Eliot's genius was to make all his Shout Outs sound like they belonged to one voice.

It was in London that Eliot came under the influence of his contemporary Ezra Pound, who recognized his poetic genius at once, and assisted in the publication of his work in a number of magazines, most notably ''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' in Poetry in 1915. The literary friendship between the two would remain an important influence on Eliot.

* ''Literature/TheWasteLand'' (1922): One of Eliot's most famous poems. He makes a lot of allusions to literary works like Ovid's Metamorphoses, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, and Charles Baudelaire.

* ''The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'' (1915): Eliot's first major poem, published at the instigation of Ezra Pound. At the time of the publication, it was deemed outlandish, but it is now seen as a shift from UsefulNotes/{{Romanticism}} to Modernism.