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• 1 2016-01-17T20:04:39-08:00 T.S. Eliot 16 image_header 2016-04-26T02:14:13-07:00 Thomas Stearns Eliot was born September 26, 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri where he spent 18 years before going off to be educated at Harvard. He is among the Paris Expatriates when he left for Europe after graduating Harvard. He stayed in Paris for a year, came home to finish a Doctorates degree in philosophy but didn’t, and went to England in 1914 where he married, became a teacher, and then a banker. While in England, Eliot met Ezra Pound and they began working together on poetry and publication. In 1915, Pound published “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in his own literary magazine, paving the way for Eliot to publish his own book of poetry—Prufrock and other Observations—in 1917. Almost immediately, people took to the work and became big fans of Eliot. Eliot published “The Wasteland” in 1922 and saw his popularity soar. From a strictly literary criticism perspective, Eliot would reign as the most popular poet for the next thirty years. Eliot masterfully combined his love of metaphysical English poets with symbolist French poets to hone his own style of poetry that looked at the world and all the disillusionment—particularly of his younger generation—about their situation. As he gained prominence in the critical world, his own personal religious views—an Orthodox Christian convert—shaped the mood of literature. His later poetry, as well as some of his plays, reflect his newly found conservative viewpoints. Throughout his career at Faber and Faber in England, he published many, many young poets and eventually became the director of the business. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948, after divorcing his first wife in 1933 but before marrying his second in 1956. He died on January 4, 1965.
  
  This is Eliot (among others) reading "The Wasteland". Skip to 1.45 for the poem.
  
  
  
  
  In relation to our class and the Grail, we have to look at his poem “The Wasteland”. To say that TWL has a few references to Grail texts is potentially the greatest understatement of the century. I'm not an expert but... To quote Eliot himself "Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance"." The first line "April is the cruelest month" is reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales's  "When April with his flowers sweet as fruit..." While not actually a Grail text, TCT is definitely a popular romance and therefore a good connection for the casual reader. (You know, just in case they haven't seen the four hour opera Parsifal, based on the obscure German romance Parzival, inspired by the slightly more well known Perceval) The last lines, as well, reflect on the Grail story with the repetition of Shantih, which means peace and tranquility, in regards to what the narrator is looking for as he sits and fishes in front of an arid plain. From the first to last line, there are a plethora of other references, nods, and retellings that would take far too long to write out here. The point being, Eliot sat down to write this poem with the grail texts in mind and it has become, according to most scholars and casual readers alike, the most important retelling of the grail texts in our current society.
  
  
  Fun Facts:
  "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is the greatest poem ever written.
  Eliot's birthday is a day after mine. Yay writers born in late September.
  
  Further Resources: (Just for fun)
  This Goodread's Thread
  The Comment Section on This Video
  Prufrock and Other Observations
  
  Citations:
  "T.S. Eliot." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.