Key Biographical Facts
1) T.S. Eliot was born on September 26, 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri to a third-generation New England family. Growing up, Eliot considered himself a child of both the Southwest and New England.
2) Eliot was the youngest of seven children, and his parents were prosperous and secure. Afflicted with a congenital double hernia, he was in the constant eye of his mother and five older sisters.
3) Eliot's mother, Charlotte Champ, focused her attentions on education and her children. She was a poet herself and Eliot was influenced by his family's tradition of service to religion, the community, and education.
4) Eliot attended Harvard University where he was shy and intellectually independent. He acquired his bachelor of arts degree and learned the techniques which soon made him famous.
5) Eliot's first work, Prufrock and Other Observations, became an immediate source of discussion and controversy because it addressed the "distraction and alienation that World War I had intensified in Western civilization".
6) Eliot was the editor for the Egoist, a feminine magazine, and wrote anonymous reviews for the LondonTimes, jobs held before he focused on poetry.
7) Eliot was drawn to precision and concreteness in language. He also called attention to thematic or musical structure for communicating emotions. His writing style included several obscure allusions that require background knowledge on different topics. This, along with the intricacy of the words and figurative language, make it somewhat difficult for readers to understand the overall message of the poem.
8) Eliot became an Anglo-Catholic and a British citizen, and some of his poems had religious allusions in them.
9) In his entire career, Eliot wrote around thirty poems and seven plays, not to mention the several reviews he wrote as he was an editor, poet, and playwright.
10) T.S. Eliot died from emphysema on January 4, 1965, leaving behind a strong literary legacy.
1) T.S. Eliot was born on September 26, 1888 in St. Louis, Missouri to a third-generation New England family. Growing up, Eliot considered himself a child of both the Southwest and New England.
2) Eliot was the youngest of seven children, and his parents were prosperous and secure. Afflicted with a congenital double hernia, he was in the constant eye of his mother and five older sisters.
3) Eliot's mother, Charlotte Champ, focused her attentions on education and her children. She was a poet herself and Eliot was influenced by his family's tradition of service to religion, the community, and education.
4) Eliot attended Harvard University where he was shy and intellectually independent. He acquired his bachelor of arts degree and learned the techniques which soon made him famous.
5) Eliot's first work, Prufrock and Other Observations, became an immediate source of discussion and controversy because it addressed the "distraction and alienation that World War I had intensified in Western civilization".
6) Eliot was the editor for the Egoist, a feminine magazine, and wrote anonymous reviews for the LondonTimes, jobs held before he focused on poetry.
7) Eliot was drawn to precision and concreteness in language. He also called attention to thematic or musical structure for communicating emotions. His writing style included several obscure allusions that require background knowledge on different topics. This, along with the intricacy of the words and figurative language, make it somewhat difficult for readers to understand the overall message of the poem.
8) Eliot became an Anglo-Catholic and a British citizen, and some of his poems had religious allusions in them.
9) In his entire career, Eliot wrote around thirty poems and seven plays, not to mention the several reviews he wrote as he was an editor, poet, and playwright.
10) T.S. Eliot died from emphysema on January 4, 1965, leaving behind a strong literary legacy.