Students often approach the complex poetry of T. S. Eliot with some degree of trepidation, but as this comprehensive text demonstrates, that need not be the case. With its thoughtful analysis and engaging writing style, this guide provides readers with the tools they need to approach Eliots works with confidence, while at the same time encouraging them to draw their own meaning from the words and sounds of the poetry. The text also explores Eliots life beyond his poems, including his extensive work as an essayist, editor, and critic. Given this context, readers will establish a deeper understanding of the poet as well as his work.
Late in his life T. S. Eliot, when asked if his poetry belonged in the tradition of American literature, replied: “I’d say that my poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England. That I’m sure of. . . . In its sources, in its emotional springs, it comes from America.” In T. S. Eliot: The Making of an American Poet, James Miller offers the first sustained account of Eliot’s early years, showing that the emotional springs of his poetry did indeed come from America. Miller challenges long-held assumptions about Eliot’s poetry and his life. Eliot himself always maintained that his poems were not based on personal experience, and thus should not be read as personal poems. But Miller convincingly combines a reading of the early work with careful analysis of surviving early correspondence, accounts from Eliot’s friends and acquaintances, and new scholarship that delves into Eliot’s Harvard years. Ultimately, Miller demonstrates that Eliot’s poetry is filled with reflections of his personal experiences: his relationships with family, friends, and wives; his sexuality; his intellectual and social development; his influences. Publication of T. S. Eliot: The Making of an American Poet marks a milestone in Eliot scholarship. At last we have a balanced portrait of the poet and the man, one that takes seriously his American roots. In the process, we gain a fuller appreciation for some of the best-loved poetry of the twentieth century.
This book offers an exciting new approach to T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets as it shows why it should be read both closely and in relation to Eliot's other works, notably the poems The Waste Land, 'The Hollow Men,' and Ash-Wednesday.
T. S. Eliot's work demands much from his readers. The more the reader knows about his allusions and range of cultural reference, the more rewarding are his poems, essays and plays. This book is carefully designed to provide an authoritative and coherent examination of those contexts essential to the fullest understanding of his challenging and controversial body of work. It explores a broad range of subjects relating to Eliot's life and career; key literary, intellectual, social and historical contexts; as well as the critical reception of his oeuvre. Taken together, these chapters sharpen critical appreciation of Eliot's writings and present a comprehensive, composite portrait of one of the twentieth century's pre-eminent men of letters. Drawing on original research, T. S. Eliot in Context is a timely contribution to an exciting reassessment of Eliot's life and works, and will provide a valuable resource for scholars, teachers, students and general readers.
Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0 (B), University of Duisburg-Essen (Institute foreign language philology), course: Modernism and the Poetry of Ezra Pound, language: English, abstract: The literary friendship between Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot is a great example of a fruitful and influential collaboration of two American poets of the twentieth century. The writers met in 1914 as exiles in Europe where they discovered a mutual commitment to the arts, and foremost to the revitalising of poetry. Their letters, conversations, essays, and poems flow together to form a single commentary on the literary tradition as well as the accomplishments of their time. According to many critics, it is Ezra Pound’s editing of the manuscript of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land that contributed to the poem’s becoming a masterpiece of modern poetry. Moreover, this collaboration constituted the climax of their astonishing series of close interactions. Their common endeavours made them the driving force behind modernism in the English and American poetry of the twentieth century. This analysis critically discusses the various fields where the common ground of their lifelong literary friendship is evident. Further, it will give a coherent account of the reasons as well as the results of their close collaboration. This will be exemplified on the basis of the significant essays, letters and poetic work of both that was produced during the period of Eliot and Pound’s immense interaction between 1914 and the publishing of The Waste Land in 1922. The essay is structured as follows: It begins with an explanation of Pound and Eliot’s motives for their exile in Europe. The central biographical facts on both poets are included for clarification. In addition, the chapter sets Pound in context to William Carlos Williams, who decided in the frequent stay-or-put controversy at that time in favor of America. The next chapter examines the common features of their literary theory and criticism. It deals with their common approach to the literary tradition, as well as with the literary models by which they were strongly influenced. Therefore, it mainly takes into consideration the central essays by Pound and Eliot. Further, an excursus on their relation to Walt Whitman is included. Finally, the assignment illustrates the nature of their collaboration concerning The Waste Land. Additionally, the chapter takes a close look on the reception as well as the publishing history of Eliot’s long poem. The essay ends with a conclusion that sums up the main points.
