Questions:

1.Where did he attend college? 2. how many plays did he write? 3. what was the main work he was

known for? 4. where did he study at in Paris? 5. what was his masterpiece that was

mainly known for modernism?

T.S. ELLIOT

By: Kristen O’Neal

1888-1965

T.S. Elliot

More biography

He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948 In 1965, he died of emphysema in

London at the age of seventy-seven. 1983 won two posthumous Tony Awards

for “Cats” He is also known for his seven plays,

mainly “Murder in the Cathedral” . he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne

for a year

AUTHOR INFORMATION

BIRTH: Thomas Stearns Eliot Born September 26, 1888 in Missouri.

CHILDHOOD: Father =Henry Ware Eliot

He was the president of the Hydraulic Brick Company. Mother = Charlotte Champe Stearns

She was a teacher. At the time of his birth, his parents were in their mid-forties ,

early fifties All of his other siblings were already grown when he was born.

EDUCATION: attended Harvard University Left college with a masters and undergraduate degree. Later on returned to Harvard to receive a doctorate degree in

philosophy.

major works

2 major poems: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock : centers on

the feelings and thoughts of the persona, J. Alfred Prufrock

The Waste Land: cited as his most influential work; a reflection of Eliot's disillusionment with the moral decay of post World War I .

1 major play: Murder in the cathedral : he was awarded the Nobel

peace prize in 1948; portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. 1170

influences

Influences on T.S. Elliot were: Tennyson’s had a great influence on him throughout his life that helped

him write great poems, stories, and plays. Influenced by a variety of thinkers and writers: George Santayana, Irving Babbitt, F. H. Bradley, the French poets Charles

Baudelaire, Jules Laforgue, Stephane Mallarmé, Dante Alighieri, and John Donne.

His early teachers during his education had a great influence on him. Also these other people influenced him: 1. Sir James George Frazer(1854-1941)

diverse and widely separated cultures: 2. Miss Weston(1850-1928)

From Ritual to Romance: to be healed by finding answers to the riddle and then the curse

can be removed

People who were influenced by his earlier works

William Butler Yeats born June13 1865 – died January 28th 1939 was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature.

Wallace Stevens born October 2, 1879 –died August 2, 1955 was an American Modernist poet.

Eugenio Montale October 12, 1896 — September 12, 1981 was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1975.

Jeanette Winterson born 27 August 1959 is a British novelist.

And many, many more.

School background

after graduation, he attended Milton Academy in Massachusetts for a preparatory year, where he met Scofield Thayer, who would later publish “The Waste Land”.

He studied philosophy at Harvard from 1906 to 1909, earning his bachelor's degree after three years, instead of the usual four.

Frank Kermode writes that the most important moment of Eliot's undergraduate career was in 1908.

Events happening in the world during the time he was writing

① World war 1 ② World war 2③ Prohibition began in Nebraska④ 19th amendment was adopted to the

constitution

Famous Quotes

“  Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

“  For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.”

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

“Dante’s is a visual imagination”

This is one of his most famous quotes…

Style or Technique

STYLES: Modern life is chaotic, futile, fragmentary disconnected images/symbols literary allusions rhythm free verses images flexible tone TECHNIQUES:

fragments, images accumulated, suggestions, allusions (death vs. rebirth)

death in life rebirth in death cycle of seasons

“The waste land”

This is the excerpt I chose: April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixingMemory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain.Winter kept us warm, coveringEarth in forgetful snow, feedingA little life with dried tubers.

The waste land

It also uses fragmentary technique because At the first sight of the poem , The Waste Land may look like it has no set metrical pattern, but then at the beginning of the poem it suddenly introduces rhyme; which is also known as “free verse”.

It is an allusion because the first lines of the poem are shown as a monument as a specific tradition in English ; by alluding to the audience. It also uses the natural cycle of death and rebirth. Which is death V.S. rebirth. The lines in this poem pose a question if the poet has originality or if he was just following the English tradition.

“ the Waste Land” this poem describes a mood of deep illusion coming from both the experience of the world war 1 and from his personal travels during his life.

Two of his major poems

The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock : Love Powerlessness Stream-of-conciousness is the modernist

technique The Waste Land:

Written in 1922 Marriage failing modern world; cultural fragmentation death and regeneration decay and growth;

Bibliography

Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 12 Nov. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/>.

Illinois. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/eliot.htm>.

Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.bartleby.com/>.

Google. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. <http://www.google.com/>.