T. S. Eliot Playwright

Gender: Male
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Born: Sep 26, 1888
Died: Jan 4, 1965

Thomas Stearns Eliot OM was an essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "one of the twentieth century's major poets." He was born in St. Louis, Missouri to an old Yankee family. However he emigrated to England in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.

Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, which is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday and Four Quartets. He is also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry."

I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics. politics & religion

I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope, For hope would be hope for the wrong thing. hope

Where is all the knowledge we lost with information? knowledge

Art never improves, but... the material of art is never quite the same. art

You are the music while the music lasts. music

This love is silent. love

For love would be love of the wrong thing there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. faith, hope & love

A play should give you something to think about. When I see a play and understand it the first time, then I know it can't be much good. being good & time

It is only in the world of objects that we have time and space and selves. time

We know too much, and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for religion, and so is our religion. religion

The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living. communication

The last thing one discovers in composing a work is what to put first. work

Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. poetry

Home is where one starts from. home

Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? knowledge, life & wisdom

Knowledge is invariably a matter of degree: you cannot put your finger upon even the simplest datum and say this we know. graduation & knowledge

Business today consists in persuading crowds. business

Our high respect for a well read person is praise enough for literature. respect

I will show you fear in a handful of dust. fear

I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates. aging

I had seen birth and death but had thought they were different. death

There is no method but to be very intelligent. intelligence

Poetry should help, not only to refine the language of the time, but to prevent it from changing too rapidly. poetry & time

T. S. Eliot Playwright

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025