Thomas Stearns Eliot was born to a very remarkable New England family on September 26, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Henry Ware, was a very successful businessman and his mother, Charlotte Stearns Eliot, was a poetess. While visiting Great Britain in 1915, World War I started and Eliot took up a permanent residency there. In 1927, he became a British citizen. While living in Britain, Eliot met and married Vivienne Haigh-Wood. At first, everything was wonderful between them. However, Vivienne was very ill, both physically and mentally. In 1930, Vivienne had a mental breakdown and was confined to a mental hospital until her death in 1947. Her death was very hard on Eliot, and he died on January 4, 1965. Most of Eliot's works were produced from the emotional difficulties from his marriage.
Because of Eliot's economic status, he attended only the finest schools while growing up. He attended Smith Academy in St.
eliot and rosa
Eliot's Birthday
Drawing of T. S. Eliot by Simon Fieldhouse. Deutsc...Louis and Milton Academy in Massachusetts. In 1906, he started his freshman year at Harvard University studying philosophy and literature. He received his bachelor's degree in philosophy in only three years. Eliot went on to study at the University of Oxford and also at the Sorbonne in Paris. At the Sorbonne, he found inspiration from writers such as Dante and Shakespeare and also from ancient literature, modern philosophy and eastern mysticism. Eliot's first poem was "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," published in 1915. Eliot converted his religion to Anglo-Catholicism in 1927, and soon after his poetry took on new spiritual meaning. "Ash Wednesday" was the first poem he created after his conversion, composed in 1930. It is said that it traces the pattern of Eliot's spiritual progress. It strives to make connections between the earthly and the eternal, the word of...