Presentation By Aswathi.

K
20EL058
T.S ELIOT (1888-1965)
BIOGRAPHY:
 Thomas Stearns Eliot- one of the major poets of 20th century.
 Born on September 26, 1888 in Missouri, USA
 Father- Henry Ware Eliot
- president of the hydraulic brick company
 Mother- Charlotte Champe Stearns
- volunteer at the humanity club of St.louis
 At the time of Eliots birth, his parents were in their mid- forties.

 1906- Attended Harvard University

 Left with a Masters and Undergraduate degree
 1911- 1914- Returned to Harvard to receive a doctorate degree in philosophy
 Toured the continent after Harvard
 1915- married his first wife Vivienne Haigh Wood
 1917- began working at Lloyds bank in London.
 1925- left the bank to work at a publishing firm (Faber and Faber)
 1927- converted to Anglicanism, dropped U.S citizenship and became a British subject.
 1948- Won Nobel Prize In Literature
 1957- married his second wife Esme Valerie Fletcher who was his secretary and much younger than him
 In 1965- he died of emphysema in London at the age of 77.
 1983- won two posthumous Tony Awards for “ Cats”.
HIS WORKS:
 The love song of “J. Alfred Prufrock” in 1917.
 In 1920, he published more poems in Ara Vos Prec (London) and Poems: 1920 (New York).
 In October 1922, Eliot published “The Waste Land” in The Criterion
- It was composed during a period of personal difficulty for Eliot
-his marriage was failing, and both he and Vivienne were suffering from nervous disorders .
 The poem is known for its obscure nature—its slippage between satire and prophecy; its abrupt
changes of speaker, location, and time.

 “The Hollow Men” in 1925.

- Eliots major poem of the late 1920s
themes-  Post-war Europe under the Treaty of Versailles (which Eliot despised), the
difficulty of hope and religious conversion, Eliot's failed marriage.

 “Ash long Wednesday” in 1930.

- his first long poem after he converted to Anglicanism.
- referred to as Eliots “ conversion poem” it deals with the struggle that ensues when a person
who has lacked faith acquires it.
 it is richly but ambiguously allusive, and deals with the aspiration to move from spiritual
barrenness to hope for human salvation.
 Old Possum’s Book Of Practical Cats published in 1939.
- Old Possum was Ezra Pounds friendly nickname for Eliot
- book of light verse
- after his death the work was converted into a musical, ‘Cats ‘ by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

 Four quartets
- work that led to Eliot being awarded the Nobel Prize In Literature.
- consists of 4 long poems published separately.
- “Burnt Norton “in 1936, “East Coker” in 1940, “The Dry Salvages” in 1941 and “Little Gidding” in 1942.
- Each poem is associated with one of the four classical elements, respectively: air, earth, water, and fire.
- The Four Quartets draws upon Christian theology, art, symbolism and language of such figures as Dante,
and
mystics St.John Of The Cross and Julian of Norwich.

 T.S Eliot has also written several plays such as :-

• “Sweeney Agonistes” published In 1926
• “The Rock” (1934)
•“ Murder In The Cathedral ”(1935)
• “The Family Reunion” (1939)
• “The Cocktail Party” (1949)
• “The Confidential Clerk” (1953)
• “The Elder Statesmen” Published In 1959
His Views/ Reflection Of Life:

 a poem should be an organic thing in itself, a made object

 It should be judged and analyzed by itself without the interference of the poet’s
personal influence and intentional elements.
 Eliot argues that modern poetry must be difficult to match the intricacy of
modern experience

Influences:
 Ezra pound
 Metaphysical poets: john donne
 Dante whom he regarded as the universal poet
 French symbolist Arthur Simon
 Charles Baudelaires Poetry influenced the spirit of Eliot.
STYLE/TECHNIQUES
Stream of consciousness technique to show the chaos in modern mans thinking.
Uses structure, imagery, and language to convey themes of repression, alienation,
and a general breakdown in western society.
Diconnected images/symbols
Highly expressive meter
Metaphysical whimsical images
Rhythm of free verses/flexible tone
Extensive use of literary allusions in most of his poems.
Classical precise use of diction