Thomas Stearns Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born to a very distinguished New England family on September 26, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Henry Ware, was a very successful businessman and his mother, Charlotte Stearns Eliot, was a poetess. His paternal grandfather established and presided over Washington University. While visiting Great Britain in 1915, World War I started and Eliot took up a permanent residency there. In 1927, he became a British citizen. While living in Britain, Eliot met and married Vivienne Haigh-Wood and at first everything was wonderful between them. Then he found out that Vivienne was very ill, both physically and mentally. In 1930, Vivienne had a mental breakdown and was confined to a mental hospital until her death in 1947. Her death was very hard on Eliot and he died on January 4, 1965. Most of Eliot's works were produced from the emotional difficulties from his marriage. Because of Eliot's economic status, he attended only the finest schools while growing up. He attended Smith Academy in St. Louis and Milton Academy in Massachusetts. In 1906, he started his freshman year at Harvard University studying philosophy and literature. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy
T. S. Eliot's first poem was The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock written in 1915. It is widely recognized as one of Eliot's most brilliant poems. J. C. C. Mays claims that, "It is one of his most approachable poems since it structurally takes fewer risks than some of his later poems. The tone of effort and futility of effort is central in Eliot's poems" (Mays 111). 1996 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Copyright 1996 Grolier Interactive, Inc. Other poems Eliot has written are: Portrait of a Lady (1915), Mr. Apollinax (1916), Sweeny Among the Nightingales (1918), and Four Quartets (1943) which he believed to be his greatest achievement. Eliot also wrote the play "Murder in the Cathedral" (1935). It was about the murder of Thomas Becket and was later turned into a film in 1952. Other plays written by Eliot are: "The Family Reunion" (1939), "The Cocktail Party" (1949), "The Confidential Clerk" (1953), and "The Elder Statesman" (1959). "Thomas Stearns Eliot has been considered by many to be the leading American poet of this century. His poem The Waste Land is a summation of the disillusion and fragmentation that was felt by so many people following the first World War. It contained many poetic techniques that changed the face of modern poetry" (Costa 96). Eliot is considered one of the greatest poets and equally one
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Approximate Word count = 900
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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