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The Life of T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot was born on September 26, 1888,
in St.Louis Missouri, to Henry Ware and Charlotte Stearns Elliot. His father was
a businessman, and his mother was a poetress. Eliot came from a financially
endowed family and was allowed to attend all of the best schools. His education
started at the prestigies grammar school Smith Academy in St.Louis. He then went
to secondary school in Massachuets at Milton Academy, a preparatory school for
Harvard. In 1906, he started his Bachelor’s Degree at Harvard, and within three
years he graduated. He then started graduate school at Harvard to earn a Masters
degree in Philosophy. In 1910 Eliot studied French Literature in Paris at
Sorbonne. Then, in 1911 he went to Munich. Due to the war he was unable to
travel back to the States, and was detained in London, England.
Eliot had always
dreamed of being out on his own. He finally had the chance. He devoted his life
now to learning and writing. Eliot’s literary career began early in life. His
first publication, “A Tale of A Whale,’” was in an issue of The Milton Academy
Record in the April issue of 1901. His second publication soon followed with
Milton Academy publishing “The Man Who Was King’” in the June issue of 1901. His
first major publications arrived shortly after. His friend and trusted advisor
Ezra Pound was able to persuade Eliot to publish “The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock,” in 1915. Pound also introduced Elliot to Vivian Haigh-Wood, who
Elliot was married to three months after meeting. It is said that “The Love
Song..” deals with Eliots own self image. The lead character in this poem is
insecure around ladies, and the story is set in an environment where flirtation
is a key component(Longman). Even though Eliot did receive fame for this poem,
he still struggled with financial problems. He was forced to get a job as a
school teacher from 1915-1916. Eliot was still writing and now teaching, and
also was having problems with his marriage; these factors undoubtably, led
Elliot to collapsing and being sent to a sanitarium in Switzerland(Longman). He
was thought to have suffered from a nervous condition, but was found out later
he had ‘alboulie’. While in the sanitarium Elliot finished his finest work ever
published “The Wasteland”. After Eliot’s death people drew upon the conclusion
that the “The Waste Land” was a mirror of Eliot’s life (Litz, 61). After Eliot’s
short lived career as a school teacher, he took a job in a bank in London.
This
career was needed to support Elliot and his wife; however, it was not
stimulating enough for Elliot. To keep Eliot’s writing a major part of his life,
he created a quarterly literary magazine in 1922 entitled The Criterion. This
magazine was unique because Elliot allowed a vast array of opinions by his
writers. He did not limit writers to his beliefs or views of the time period.
This magazine was intended to be original and stir up ideas within people. Due
to his position at the bank, Elliot wished for his name to remain anonymous as
the editor of the Criterion. In a letter to a fellow co-worker, Edmund Wilson,
he asked him to never reveal that he was the editor of The Criterion. Elliot
feared that if it was announced that he was editor then it would jeopardize his
job at the bank, and he could not afford to lose his job due to the fact he was
not receiving payment for his editorship (Margolis 22). Elliot had always been
far removed from any religious convictions, but in the early 1920’s his work
started to show some signs of religious beliefs. He was not conscience of this,
but evidence was beginning to show in his work. Pound had also turned Eliot onto
the works of Dante, and around 1920 he began writing critiques of Dante’s work
comparing it to Christianity. Eliot also wrote a critique on William Blake and
talked of how Christianity was the underlying meaning of Blake’s works
(Margolis, 38). Eliot unknowingly was starting to unleash the beliefs that would
lead to the end of The Criterion. Eliot began to focus more on the Christian
meaning of literature. He began to see the presence of a god in even his own
writings. Eliot had never truly believed in a God. Eliot was also the type of
man that put all of himself in whatever he believed in, and when he finally
becomes a Christian he will abandon all his other projects to focus on that
aspect of his life.
The year 1928 marked a new beginning for Eliot. He resigned
from his job at the bank and joined Faber and Faber Publishing. Also, in 1928
Eliot joined the English Church. Eliot began to devote allot of energy to the
church, and his ideas of religion began to show more prominently in his writing.
In this same year Humanism was hitting a peak. The ideas of this movement had
caused allot of talk. The humanist were even trying to adopt there ideas as a
religion. For the first time Eliot did not want to allow the ideas of someone
different than his own to be published in his magazine. Years earlier he may not
have cared, but his religious ideas were finally starting to become a part of
him. After some debate, and an article by Eliot opposing of Humanism, he allowed
the Humanist ideas into his publication (Margolis 146-155). His religious ideas
were not only affecting his writing abilities, but they were also affecting his
home life. For years he had dealt with a crazed wife. Vivian had been in and out
of mental institutions. She was very angry and jealous. Eliot could no longer
deal with her. He knew there was something better than this, and in 1933 he
finally made the decision to separate from his wife. Eliot did posses deep
feeling for Vivian, but could no longer pretend that everything was all right
between the two of them. Eliot went as far as to avoiding any places she might
possibly be, and to end contact with mutual friends, for fear of running into
Vivian (Headings, 139). By 1939 Eliot began a new chapter of his life. His
religious convictions were starting to dominate his life. He no longer felt it
appropriate to be editor of The Criterion. He did not want to pass on his
position to another, so publication ended. Eliot was now free to devote all of
his time to the Church, and to his writings. His first publication of his new
life was “The Family Reunion”.
This poem dealt largely with his religious side,
and showed a new Eliot to all of the world. Some believed that the end of The
Criterion ended Eliot’s life as a writer, Eliot saw it though as a great
awakening (Headings 206). Not long after Eliots new life began disaster struck,
in 1947 Vivian died while in a mental institution. Eliot was shattered by this
news and asked a friend “How does one set about dying” (T.S.E.). In 1948 he was
delivered happier news, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. This award
both stunned and overwhelmed Eliot for he had no clue of how far his writings
had traveled. In Eliot’s acceptance speech he said “ to enjoy poetry belonging
to another language, is to enjoy an understanding of the people to whom that
language belongs, an understanding we can get in no other way” (Acceptance).
Eliot believed that poetry was the only way to bring the world together. He
believed that through writing feeling and emotions people of all backgrounds and
races could connect. Eliot thought that if people could connect on this
emotional level the world would be a happier place. Another remarkable event was
waiting just around the corner for Eliot. In 1956, he proposed to his secretary
of eight years, Valerie Fletcher. They were married in January of 1957. Finally
Eliot had a happy life. While talking to a friend about his new marriage, Eliot
stated, “I am the happiest man in the whole world” (T.S.E.). His happy life was
cut short, however. In 1962, he went into coma. He did recover, but a few years
later on January 4, 1965 Eliot died of emphysema in London (T.S.E.). Eliot never
completed his doctorate at Harvard, and therefore was never a professor, like he
had dreamed early in life. After not achieving this goal in his life, he adopted
another goal. This goal was to reeducate society through his writings (Margolis,
21). He did this in many ways.
To trace Eliots works you are essentially tracing
his life. By doing, this the reader is able to see how one man can transform
from a young boy to an intelligent man, to a man trapped in an unhappy life, and
lastly a man finding true peace through his own religious ideas. In 1917 Eliot
published the poem “The Love Song Of J.Alfred Prufrock.” This poem took Eliot
six years to write. The poem also shows a complex personality and diversity of
writing styles in a long monologue. The title of this poem leads the reader to
believe that it is one mans quest for love. The reader finds early on that this
is not the case with this poem. It opens with a quote from Dante’s book the
Inferno. I believe this is used to show Prufrocks mental state as one of being
in hell on earth. He is trapped and feels isolated and alone. The first few
lines of the poem show a peaceful scene. The fourth line in the poem begins to
show the hell Prufrock feels. He talks of “one-night cheap hotels.”(6) He has no
love in his life and is possibly forced to pay for the love he desires in the
cheap hotels he talks of. Prufrock then asks the “overwhelming question,”(10)
“What is it.”(11) The reader is never told what it is, or a possible answer to
this question. This keeps the readers attention by keeping the reader in wonder.
Directly after this question is asked he states “the women come and go talking
of Michelangelo.”(14) We begin to see why Prufrock feels so alone. He seems torn
as to where he fits in, in society. He does not seem sure if he belongs in the
‘cheap hotels’ or in conversations of ‘Michelangelo.’ He then precedes to talk
of the “yellow fog”(15) and “the yellow smoke.”(16) The smoke and fog may
symbolize his suffocated feelings. He has no outlet to realize his emotions, and
he keeps them bottled up in himself. He is confused on life and of love and has
no one he can seek guidance from.
The smoke of fog may be drowning deeper and
deeper anyway from society. He then repeats “women come and go talking of
Michelangelo.”(35) It seems as though he deeply desires to be apart of this
higher class in society. He is involved in the same social settings with these
people, but he is unable(chained down by fear) to carry on a conversation with
these people, especially the women. He then mentions time and asks himself “Do I
dare?”(37) He is aware that age is taking a toll on his life, but he is still to
paralyzed to act of his desires. He thinks he will “disturb the universe” if he
speaks to the ladies.(45) He has never talked to them and he knows if he does
that will forever change the way everyone, including himself, views him. He is
comfortable in his isolation and loneliness. In the next stanza he talks of how
he has “measured out my life with coffee spoons.”(51) Showing us how predictable
his life is. That the same settings occur day in and day out and that he always
has the same reaction to them. He talks of how he has “known the voices dying”
and “known the eyes” and of how he “knows the arms.”(52,55,61) He is very
familiar with all the people in this social setting. He knows their voices and
eyes, possibly even more personal details of these peoples lives. He has learned
all these things though by watching, and listening, not by participating.
He
also talks of how he has seen “smoke that rises from the pipes,” and “men in
shirt-sleeves, learning out windows.”(73) Once again he is referring to
alienation from the two different classes. He is fearful of become a member of
any part of society that would entail him socializing with women. Prufrock then
starts to question whether “it had been worth it, after all.”(87) He wonders if
the casual conversation, the flirtation with women and a business correspondence
with men would have changed his life. He wonders if he would have been happier,
or if in the end he would have still been miserable. He then states “No! I am
not prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be:” and goes on to state all the things he
is not.(111) He says he is not a politician, an advisor, or a lord, but a fool.
He talks of growing old in his lonely life. He does not believe he will ever
find love. He says “I have heard the mermaids sing... but they do not sing for
me.”(124) Not even in an imaginary world can Prufrock find love. In his
isolation he can not even comprehend what it would mean to find love or
companionship. Prufrock has no real connection with the real world. He lives a
life of regret and despair. He is spiritually bankrupt. He has no love, nor does
he seed any out. He has no guidance and does nothing to receive any. He lives
alone, without a God or leader or a listener. He has closed himself off so much
from the world that he can not even think in a normal pattern. He jumps from
idea to idea, and never truly looks inside himself to find the answers. He
believes they are beyond his reach, when all the answers lie within himself. 5
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