ELIOT - THOMAS STEARNS

ELIOT - THOMAS STEARNS (1888-1965) was an American essayist, playwright, literary and social critic.  He was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 and renounced his American citizenship.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry."

Eliot was one of the most daring innovators of 20th-century poetry and his influence on modern poetry, criticism and drama has been immense.  Never compromising either with the public or indeed with language itself, he followed his belief that poetry should aim at a representation of the complexities of modern civilization in language and that such representation necessarily leads to difficult poetry.  He attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), 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 dense, allusion-heavy "The Waste Land" (1922), "The Hollow Men" (1925), "Ash Wednesday" (1930), and "Four Quartets" (1945).

His work from "Prufrock" to "Four Quartets" reflected the development of a Christian writer.  Although Eliot always took care not to become a "religious poet" and often belittled the power of poetry as a religious force, his play "Murder in the Cathedral" (1935), concerning the death of the martyr Thomas Becket, is a more openly Christian apology.  After this, he worked on more "commercial" plays for more general audiences: "The Family Reunion" (1939), "The Cocktail Party" (1949), "The Confidential Clerk" (1953), and "The Elder Statesman" (1958).

Eliot also made significant contributions to the field of literary criticism, strongly influencing the school of New Criticism.  While somewhat self-deprecating and minimising of his work -- he once said his criticism was merely a "by-product" of his "private poetry-workshop" -- Eliot is considered by some to be one of the greatest literary critics of the twentieth century.  His essays were a major factor in the revival of interest in the metaphysical poets.  Late in his career, Eliot focused much of his creative energy on writing for the theatre, and some of his critical writing, in essays like "Poetry and Drama," "Hamlet and his Problems," and "The Possibility of a Poetic Drama," focused on the aesthetics of writing drama in verse.

 

The following books are in PDF and/or ePUB format as indicated:

 

                               == Poetry & Collections ==

* THE ANNOTATED WASTE LAND WITH ELIOT'S CONTEMPORARY PROSE (Yale UP, 2005).  Second edition.  Edited with Annotations and Introduction by Lawrence Rainey. -- PDF

* COLLECTED POEMS, 1909-1962 (Harcourt, 1963 / Faber & Faber, 2002) -- PDF + ePUB

* COMPLETE POEMS AND PLAYS (Faber & Faber, 1969) -- ePUB

* EARLY POETICAL WORKS (Delphi Classics, 2014) -- ePUB

* FOUR QUARTETS (Faber & Faber, 1979) -- ePUB

* OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS (Faber & Faber, 1967).   Illustrated by Nicholas Bentley. -- PDF + ePUB

* OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS (Harcourt, 1982).   Illustrated by Edward Gorey. -- PDF

* THE WASTE LAND (Norton Critical Edition, 2001).  Edited by Michael North. -- PDF

* THE WASTE LAND & OTHER POEMS (Barnes & Noble, 2005).  Introduction and Notes by Randy Malamud. -- ePUB

* THE WASTE LAND & OTHER WRITINGS (Modern Library, 2001).  Introduction by Mary Kerr. -- ePUB

 

                                        == Plays ==

* THE COCKTAIL PARTY (Harcourt, 1978) -- PDF

* THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK (Harcourt, 1954) -- PDF

* THE ELDER STATESMAN (Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1959) -- PDF

* THE FAMILY REUNION (Harcourt, 1939) -- PDF

* MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL (Harcourt, 1935) -- PDF

 

                                        == Prose ==

* CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE: The Idea of a Christian Society & Notes towards the Definition of Culture (Harcourt, 1976). -- PDF

* FOR LANCELOT ANDREWES: Essays on Style and Order (Faber & Gwyer, 1928). -- PDF

* ON POETRY AND POETS (FSG, 1961). -- PDF

* POETRY AND DRAMA: The Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture, 1950 (Faber & Faber, 1951). -- PDF

* THE SACRED WOOD: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (Knopf, 1921). -- PDF

* SELECTED ESSAYS: 1917-1932 (Harcourt, 1950). -- ePUB

* SELECTED ESSAYS: New Edition (Harcourt, 1964). -- PDF

* SELECTED PROSE (Harcourt, 1975).  Edited with an Introduction by Frank Kermode. -- PDF

* TO CRITICIZE THE CRITIC & OTHER WRITINGS (Nebraska, 1992). -- PDF

* THE USE OF POETRY AND THE USE OF CRITICISM: Studies in the Relation of Criticism to Poetry in England (Faber & Faber, 1933). -- PDF

 

                                   == Correspondence ==

* THE LETTERS OF T. S. ELIOT: Vol. 1, 1898-1922 (Faber & Faber, 1988).  Edited by Valerie Eliot and Hugh Haughton. -- ePUB

* THE LETTERS OF T. S. ELIOT: Vol. 2, 1923-1925 (Faber & Faber / Yale UP, 2009).  Edited by Valerie Eliot and Hugh Haughton. -- ePUB + PDF

* THE LETTERS OF T. S. ELIOT: Vol. 3, 1926-1927 (Yale UP, 2012).  Edited by Valerie Eliot and John Haffenden. -- PDF

* THE LETTERS OF T. S. ELIOT: Vol. 4, 1928-1929 (Yale UP, 2013).  Edited by Valerie Eliot and John Haffenden. -- ePUB

* THE LETTERS OF T. S. ELIOT: Vol. 5, 1930-1931 (Faber & Faber, 2014).  Edited by Valerie Eliot and John Haffenden. -- ePUB