Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns)

Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns)
Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns). 1888-1965.
American-born British critic and writer whose poems “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915) and The Waste Land (1922) established him as a major literary figure. He also wrote dramas, such as Murder in the Cathedral (1935), and works of criticism. He won the 1948 Nobel Prize for literature.

* * *

born Sept. 26, 1888, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.
died Jan. 4, 1965, London, Eng.

U.S.-British poet, playwright, and critic.

Eliot studied at Harvard University before moving to England in 1914, where he would work as an editor from the early 1920s until his death. His first important poem, and the first modernist masterpiece in English, was the radically experimental "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915). The Waste Land (1922), which expresses with startling power the disillusionment of the postwar years, made his international reputation. His first critical volume, The Sacred Wood (1920), introduced concepts much discussed in later critical theory. He married in 1915; his wife was mentally unstable, and they separated in 1933. (He married again, happily, in 1957.) His conversion to Anglicanism in 1927 shaped all his subsequent works. His last great work was Four Quartets (1936–42), four poems on spiritual renewal and the connections of the personal and historical past and present. Influential later essays include "The Idea of a Christian Society" (1939) and "Notes Towards the Definition of Culture" (1948). His play Murder in the Cathedral (1935) is a verse treatment of St. Thomas Becket's martyrdom; his other plays, including The Cocktail Party (1950), are lesser works. From the 1920s on he was the most influential English-language modernist poet. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948; from then until his death he achieved public admiration unequaled by any other 20th-century poet.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns) — (26 sep. 1888, St. Louis, Mo., EE.UU.–4 ene. 1965, Londres, Inglaterra). Poeta, dramaturgo y crítico británico de origen estadounidense. Eliot estudió en la Universidad de Harvard antes de mudarse en 1914 a Inglaterra, donde trabajó como editor… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns) — (1888 1965)    Born in St. Louis, Missouri, he was educated at Harvard, the Sorbonne and Merton College, Oxford; he became a British citizen in 1927. He worked briefly as a schoolteacher, then from 1917 to 1925, he worked at Lloyds Bank in London …   British and Irish poets

  • Eliot — Eliot, Edward Grandville Eliot, George Eliot, Thomas Stearns * * * (as used in expressions) Eliot, Charles William Eliot, George Eliot, John Eliot, T(homas) S(tearns) Fry, Roger (Eliot) Ness, Eliot …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Eliot — Eliot1 [el′ē ət, el′yət] n. [dim. of ELLIS1] a masculine name: see ELLIS1 Eliot2 [el′ē ət, el′yət] 1. Charles William 1834 1926; U.S. educator: president of Harvard University (1869 1909) 2. George (pseud. of Mary Ann Evans) 1819 80; Eng.… …   English World dictionary

  • Eliot — /el ee euht, el yeuht/, n. 1. Charles William, 1834 1926, U.S. educator: president of Harvard University 1869 1909. 2. George (Mary Ann Evans), 1819 80, English novelist. 3. John ( the Apostle of the Indians ), 1604 90, American colonial… …   Universalium

  • Eliot — I. biographical name Charles William 1834 1926 American educator; president Harvard U. (1869 1909) II. biographical name George 1819 1880 pseudonym of Mary Ann (or Marian) Evans English novelist III. biographical name Sir John 1592 1632 English… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Eliot — El•i•ot [[t]ˈɛl i ət, ˈɛl yət[/t]] n. 1) big Charles William, 1834–1926, U.S. educator: president of Harvard University 1869–1909 2) big George (Mary Ann Evans), 1819–80, English novelist 3) big John (“the Apostle of the Indians”), 1604–90,… …   From formal English to slang

  • Eliot — /ˈɛliət/ (say eleeuht) noun 1. George (Mary Ann Evans), 1819–80, English realist novelist; her best known works are The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), and Middlemarch (1872). 2. T(homas) S(tearns), 1888–1965, British poet, critic …  

  • Thomas — Thomas, Albert Thomas, André Antoine Thomas, Ch. L. Ambroise Thomas, Dylan Thomas, Sidney Gilchrist Thomas, Theodore * * * (as used in expressions) Adès, Thomas …   Enciclopedia Universal

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”