T.S Eliot

Photo in header: T.S. Eliot by Henry Ware Eliot vintage gelatin silver print, 1926 NPG Ax142530 © National Portrait Gallery, London

26 Sep 1888 – 4 Jan 1965

Thomas Stearns Eliot, the American-born poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, and literary and social critic Thomas Stearns Eliot, better known by his pen name TS Eliot, was “one of the twentieth century’s major poets”. He moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927.

Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including “The Waste Land”, "The Hollow Men", "Ash Wednesday" and “Four Quartets”. He was also known for his plays. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".

In 1915 Tom married Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, a governess and writer. They remained married until her death in 1947, though separated in 1933, with Vivienne’s poor mental health caused difficulties for the relationship. Their disastrous marriage may not have been helped by Vivienne’s alleged affair with the philosopher Bertrand Russell, some of which took place in Torquay’s Torbay Hotel, near the harbourside.

Historians have been arguing about this for decades, but the evidence does suggest a close relationship between the three. In 1915, to help the Eliots with living expenses, Bertrand loaned the couple £3,000 – a huge amount in those days. Bertrand also took an ailing Vivienne alone on a five-day holiday to Torquay. While in town, he received a letter of gratitude from Tom: “I am sure you have done everything possible and handled her in the very best way – better than I – I often wonder how things would have turned out but for you – I believe we shall owe her life to you, even.”

It’s been suggested that it was the difficulties of his marriage that inspired Tom to write ‘The Waste Land’, a poem widely regarded as one of the most important of the 20th century and a central text in Modernist poetry. The poem loosely follows the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King and features vignettes of contemporary British society. Among its famous phrases are “April is the cruellest month” and “I will show you fear in a handful of dust”.

Link to: T. S. Eliot The Waste Land Part V – What the Thunder said. https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/t-s-eliot 

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