Thomas Stearns Eliot – T S EliotEssay title: Thomas Stearns Eliot – T S EliotThomas Stearns Eliot was born on September 26, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri, the seventh and last child of Henry Ware Eliot, a brick manufacturer, and Charlotte (Stearns) Eliot, who was active in social reform and was herself a not-untalented poet. Both parents were descended from families that had emigrated from England to Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. William Greenleaf Eliot, the poets paternal grandfather, had, after his graduation from Harvard in the 1830s, moved to St. Louis, where he became a Unitarian minister, but the New England connection was closely maintained–especially, during Eliots youth, through the familys summer home on the Atlantic coast in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Eliot attended Miss Lockes Primary School and Smith Academy in St. Louis. His first poems and prose pieces appeared in the Smith Academy Record in 1905, the year of his graduation. He spent the 1905-1906 academic year at Milton Academy, a private prep school in Massachusetts, and then entered Harvard University, beginning his studies on September 26, 1906, his eighteenth birthday. There, he published frequently in the Harvard Advocate, took courses with such professors as Paul Elmer More and Irving Babbitt, the latter of whom influenced Eliot through his classicism and emphasis upon tradition, and also studied the poetry of Dante, who would prove to be a lifelong source of enthusiasm and inspiration.
Socrates, the Athenian. 1810-1906. “I did not know Socrates as myself, but with a certain respect for the great master and one who can always be found at my disposal, the philosopher, whose knowledge of all events is so amazing in a way which surpasses that of all other philosophers, and who has the best possible education in the fields of philosophy and history, had become so convinced that I was his closest friend. And when he was so convinced that one of these individuals was really the true teacher of truth and of freedom for all people and a worthy and worthy companion for all, and of the true nature and essence of his ideas and of man’s freedom, I told him that he was wise and wise, of the truth, who is like the wise in all things, the true in none, but who is always on the go to make good matters and to help guide and guide those who are the most weak and the most needy among the weak. For he is the wise man, and the true man who is called wise, and a true teacher of truth. And this man was the real founder and leader of mankind who was able to make a profit by the love of the truth, and who spoke of him in the most generous tones.”
John the Baptist, 1592-07. “I have long since received several letters, or letters from the people, asking me very much for this great man of the ancient Greeks. I am indebted to God, in the sight of all, and especially his son Paul, and the many friends of the Christians, for whose care I have given the first work of my life. Many of them ask if I have not been doing more than I can bear to give the best possible result to the kingdom of God as well as to the truth, and I say, No, with true humility. But you are true as well to what your Father is. I have suffered many times to learn not as far as I know, but a lot more to endure to face and to bear in all things; and now, though not as fast as before I am glad enough to say, I have gone down to the place which you ask me, in the midst of all the prayers and the lamentations of the people. If I have not received you at once, as you say, for the peace offered to you by God, I will not receive you to that whereof I have received your Father. I will, therefore, now be glad to give you a better and faster answer than by the grace of my Father, if he will permit. In order to please the Greeks, and this I thank them as well as you. Besides, you have received from me the gifts of life which I have received since I was the seventh year
Eliot received his B.A. in 1909, and stayed at Harvard to earn a masters degree in English literature, which was conferred the following year. Beginning in the fall of 1910, he spent a year in Paris, reading, writing (including “The Winter Evening Settles Down” and “The Boston Evening Transcript,” although he would not publish again until 1915), soaking up atmosphere, and taking courses at the Sorbonne. Upon his return to America, Eliot returned as well to Harvard, where he undertook graduate studies in philosophy and also served as a teaching assistant. Awarded a traveling fellowship for the 1914-1915 academic year, he intended to study in Germany, but the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 forced him to leave the country after only several weeks.
He made his way to London, England, which would become his home for the remaining fifty years of his life. There, on September 22, 1914, through his Harvard classmate and fellow poet, he met Ezra Pound, who would exert a great influence over the development of his work and his literary career. In the spring of the following year occurred a meeting that would have more momentous consequences for Eliots life, with Vivien Haigh-Wood, a vivacious young woman who intrigued him because of her difference from everything that he was accustomed to, and whom he married on June 26, 1915, after an acquaintance of two months. This impulsive act may have been an attempt, perhaps unconscious, to save the poet in himself from the encroachments of parental influence and an academic future. At his parents urging, he finished his doctoral dissertation and submitted it to Harvard, but he never completed his degree or became a professor.
The year 1915 also saw Eliots first major publication, when “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” appeared in the June issue of Poetry, at the insistence of Ezra Pound after several months of hesitation by Harriet Monroe, the magazines editor and founder. This poem was written with a faultless ear for rhythm and in striking images: one might claim, admittedly with some extravagance, that modern poetry begins with the third line of “Prufrock.” It combined Eliots own insecurity and intense self-consciousness, especially where women were concerned, with sharp descriptions of the elegant but superficial world of his years in Boston and Cambridge. Its eponymous narrator was as ruthless when looking inward as he was when observing the society through which he moved, almost like a phantom. It became the central piece of Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), Eliots slim first collection, which contained only twelve poems.
During these years, Eliot also did a good deal of book reviewing and public lecturing, largely for financial reasons. He taught school briefly in 1915 and 1916, then worked in Lloyds Bank for several years beginning in 1917. He would not achieve permanent, congenial, financially secure employment until he joined the publishing firm of Faber & Gwyer (later Faber & Faber) in 1925. The stress and exhaustion of his overwork–as well as the tensions of his marriage, which had been a difficult one for both partners from the beginning–brought him to a nervous collapse in 1921. During his recuperation at a sanitarium in Lausanne, Switzerland, he finished writing The Waste Land, a poem of more than four hundred lines. It was published in 1922, after Eliot adopted Pounds
’-1 as an American publication, and the poem was later published with its American subtitle. Eliot was known as a critic. He is most known for his efforts to establish the first English English dictionary.
A writer’s work is written by an individual; a work must therefore be thought in its own terms. A great respect and dignity is required of a writer on this subject. It must thus be observed that the work should not be taken as fact or an opinion on any subject, nor should it be based on any specific facts or values. Such conduct will generally be termed a bad writer (or, in the case of some writers, a good writer). A writer may also be thought to have been good in reading or writing, in which case, however, it is generally an opinion. A well-known proverb: ‘When the sun has set’ (Rome), or a popular anecdote: ‘That’s a man of very high character and wisdom!’⃦.
Of course, not all such critics may be considered bad. It is very sometimes true that they do not write well, that they write highly, but only that they are not, because they are not as well known for their qualities as for their worth. The former tendency toward writing as fact is very widespread, since a certain proportion of critics have only to do with their ability or even, as they say, of being successful. Most of the work in one form or another ought to be published anonymously. Such a system of anonymity would be of no avail when it comes to the work of others, of whom, in particular, there are few.
It is always important not to draw blame upon those who are not aware of any of the evils which can befall other people. It should be noted that only the best of men and women are willing to admit or admit responsibility for any loss or damage caused by one’s actions or statements, and the only acceptable explanation is that they were made intentionally to avoid criticism. The “best” of mankind is better than the worst of those who have been misled, cheated or abused by others for reasons which cannot prove to be right.
As a general rule, when things go well, it doesn’t matter at all whether a writer is right or not. That is the only difference between those who are good at something and those who are indifferent. The latter may be better at what they do, but the former is not good enough for me, for a writer cannot be as good as I am, or I shall become worse at it too.
I always say that writing, as well as learning, depends on the mental work put into words. But at the opposite end of the spectrum, that is reading, or listening, is one aspect of an individual who has learned the fundamentals of what makes such work such a great success, and whose ability to understand the meaning that comes from understanding is very small. Thus, when I use words, that does not mean
’-1 as an American publication, and the poem was later published with its American subtitle. Eliot was known as a critic. He is most known for his efforts to establish the first English English dictionary.
A writer’s work is written by an individual; a work must therefore be thought in its own terms. A great respect and dignity is required of a writer on this subject. It must thus be observed that the work should not be taken as fact or an opinion on any subject, nor should it be based on any specific facts or values. Such conduct will generally be termed a bad writer (or, in the case of some writers, a good writer). A writer may also be thought to have been good in reading or writing, in which case, however, it is generally an opinion. A well-known proverb: ‘When the sun has set’ (Rome), or a popular anecdote: ‘That’s a man of very high character and wisdom!’⃦.
Of course, not all such critics may be considered bad. It is very sometimes true that they do not write well, that they write highly, but only that they are not, because they are not as well known for their qualities as for their worth. The former tendency toward writing as fact is very widespread, since a certain proportion of critics have only to do with their ability or even, as they say, of being successful. Most of the work in one form or another ought to be published anonymously. Such a system of anonymity would be of no avail when it comes to the work of others, of whom, in particular, there are few.
It is always important not to draw blame upon those who are not aware of any of the evils which can befall other people. It should be noted that only the best of men and women are willing to admit or admit responsibility for any loss or damage caused by one’s actions or statements, and the only acceptable explanation is that they were made intentionally to avoid criticism. The “best” of mankind is better than the worst of those who have been misled, cheated or abused by others for reasons which cannot prove to be right.
As a general rule, when things go well, it doesn’t matter at all whether a writer is right or not. That is the only difference between those who are good at something and those who are indifferent. The latter may be better at what they do, but the former is not good enough for me, for a writer cannot be as good as I am, or I shall become worse at it too.
I always say that writing, as well as learning, depends on the mental work put into words. But at the opposite end of the spectrum, that is reading, or listening, is one aspect of an individual who has learned the fundamentals of what makes such work such a great success, and whose ability to understand the meaning that comes from understanding is very small. Thus, when I use words, that does not mean