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A member of the Romantic tradition, T.S. Eliot is considered a central figure in Western literary culture. He is said to have created some of the best poetry of the 20th century. Study Eliot with this text, which includes an extensive biography of the author, literary criticism, a list of works by and about the author, and more.

This series is edited by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University; Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Professor of English, New York University Graduate School; preeminent literary critic of our time. The lives of the greatest writers of the world are explored in the new series Bloom’s BioCritiques. In addition to a lengthy biography, each book includes an extensive critical analysis of the writer’s work, as well as critical views by important literary critics throughout history. These volumes are the perfect introduction to critical study of the important authors currently read and discussed in high schools, colleges, and graduate schools. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

not geared towards the general reader
Usually I find Bloom's books very helpful in understanding difficult worksand authors.However, in this collection, all the essays are geared towardmore serious scholars of Eliot's works, rather than toward the generalreader looking for more information.Yes, the editor includes somestandard and well known essays about Eliot by the likes of Hugh Kenner,Northrop Frye, Richard Ellmann (Joyce's biographer) and some moderncritics, but there is nothing that holds these essays together.It wouldhave been better to organize the essays around particular works -- instead,we get a brief look at Ash Wednesday, a bit on the Wasteland, some otherrandom poems, you get the idea.Many of these essays are outdated by now. If you are a graduate student writing your thesis on Eliot, these essaysmay be useful, but for the general high school student or adult who justswants some help with understanding Eliot, try a more user-friendly serieslike the Twayne's Masterworks, or Norton Critical Editions. ... Read more

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This is an account of T.S.Eliot's early life and works, which attempts to provide, not only a biographical profile of the poet's early years, but also a critical analysis of the poetry of those years, most notably "The Wasteland". Lyndall Gordon is author of "Virginia Woolf" and "Eliot's New Life". She won the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize 1978, for "Eliot's Early Years". ... Read more

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Excellent companion to "The Waste Land"
I teach "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in my high school classes, but "The Waste Land" has always been a complete mystery to me. This book, a hybrid of biography and literary criticism, enabled me to understand a large chunk of the poem. It turns out, according to Gordon, that "The Waste Land" is a sort of spiritual clearinghouse for Eliot's religious and personal reflection. I now think it's impossible to adequately interact with the poem without a basic understanding of Eliot's religious philosophy and his personal life. Gordon uses many of Eliot's unpublished poems to illuminate these facets of his life and thought. As such I found it very useful, although it was not an easy read. (The language is rather dry and academic.) Still, I recommend it highly for anyone interested in tackling "The Waste Land." ... Read more

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This reissue of Menand's classic intellectual history of T.S. Eliot and the singular role he played in the rise of literary modernism features an updated Afterword by the author, as well as a detailed critical appraisal of the progression of Eliot's career as a poet and critic. Menand shows how Eliot's early views on literary value and authenticity--and his later repudiation of those views--reflect the profound changes regarding the understanding of literature and its significance that occured in the early part of the twentieth century. The new Afterword was adapted from Menand's critically lauded essay on Eliot in The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, Volume Seven: Modernism and the New Criticism. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Eliot never looked so attractive
Northrop Frye's introduction to T.S. Eliot is a valuable book, both for those who are not familiar with Eliot and for those who are but just devour all the information about him that they can (like me). This is a very slim volume, about 100 pages, and divided into five sections. The first section gives the reader a brief biography of Eliot, just to lay out the landscape. The second section progresses into Eliot's beliefs both spiritual and literary, giving one an idea of the issues he was most concerned with and which therefore influenced his poetry. The last three sections deal with the poems themselves, first giving an overview of Eliot's style and common themes in his work &etc., then getting more in-depth with the individual poems. As always with Frye, there are many outstanding insights, some I've never heard or read anywhere previously, and others I have, but never quite understood till he explained it in that coherent way he explains everything- then it all finally makes sense! This book has added to my pleasure of reading Eliot moreso than any other introduction or collection of essays on Eliot has. Those psychoanalysts and post-structuralists have done Eliot a disservice by their attempts at criticism and biography- the way they write about him makes him sound so prosaic and unappealing! Frye obviously knows his subject well, and he writes about him in a lucid, engaging, unpretentious fashion, helping the reader grasp concepts in Eliot's works which would otherwise prove daunting. Everyone who loves Eliot needs to own this book. Also, if you're a student struggling to understand Eliot, do yourself a favour and find this volume! It is out of print, but you may be able to purchase a copy on the 'net. If not, your local library or used book store may have it.

One final note: this book is not necessarily helpful if you're looking to understand a specific poem of Eliot's and that's it. This is more of an overview of Eliot's poetry and a study of its evolution, or as one reviewer put it: "Frye's study takes a more holistic view of Eliot's career; and it's especially successful in relating Eliot's literary theory to his practice and various works (written in different periods) to each other." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A solid introduction to FQ with no revolutionary surprises
Raymond Preston's FOUR QUARTETS REHEARSED was one of the first in-depth commentaries on T.S. Eliot's masterpiece "Four Quartets".

Preston's examination of "Four Quartets" consists of four chapters, each about one of the Quartets. He analyses each portion and connects it to the other Quartets and to outside sources. Preston attempts to seek a middle ground on which scholars can agree. He posits no outlandish theories nor attacks the interpretation of his colleagues. He writes, "What is needed to correct the deficiencies of one's personal reading is not an exchange of critical gun-fire, but quiet co-operative discussion of detail."

What I found most refreshing about Preston's work is that it connects "Four Quartets" to other things Eliot was writing around the same time, such as his play "The Family Reunion" and various essays. He also dedicates much more attention to the inspiration of St John of the Cross than do most commentators on Eliot's work.

FOUR QUARTETS REHEARSED is a great place to start for those wanting to approach a better understanding of the depths of Eliot's greatest work. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

the life of one of the greatest poets in english language
Gordon began her research in 1970. Her first book, Eliot's Early Years, was published in 1977 and its sequel, Eliot's New Life, in 1988. This present book is the result of further research and new information (much of which came to the author in response to her earlier publications), including new access to Eliot manuscripts; confidential letters regarding Eliot written by Emily Hale to close friends; Mary Trevelyan's unpublished memoir of her close friendship with Eliot; and a bundle of Eliot's letters which were rescued from an English pig farmer who was about to destroy them.

Eliot and his women
I read Eliot's "The Hollow Men" at age 15, and was transfixed by the intellectual and emotional force behind the words.I still am, but I have not gotten around to reading any biograpy of his before now.I have read a couple of his other poems.This author's approach to the subject, through an autobiographical reading of many of his later works, makes me want to finally get around to reading his major works.It also makes me want to read other biogrraphies of him, in order to get fresh angles on him and his writing. ... Read more

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T.S. Eliot's poetry is well known for its allusiveness and reference to a wide range of historical and literary subjects. At the same time, the roots of explanations and critical readings necessary to elucidate and contextualize Eliot's poetry have seldom been available. This book offers a carefully explanatory as well as critical reading of Eliot's Selected Poems. It tackles each poem individually, offering comments and explanations that draw from secondary as well as archival and unpublished sources. In particular, there is an exhaustive section explaining and contextualizing the manifold difficulties encountered in The Waste Land. Jain's use of various new critical approaches, alongside her use of primary data from Eliot holdings in the UK and the US, makes this an important source for comprehending Eliot's "difficult" poetry. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Not your grandfather's T.S. Eliot . . .
I learned a great deal from this extremely readable book, which argues
that Eliot should be viewed through the lens of his relationship with
popular culture and not just as a literary highbrow. Chinitz shows how
Eliot has been constructed over time by critics and others as an elitist
or stuffy intellectual, and he develops his own intriguing portrayal of
Eliot as someone who wanted to, tried to, and often but not always
succeeded in crossing the "cultural divide," that space between high art
and popular culture. He doesn't just point out pop culture references in
Eliot's work; he also very effectively reveals how various sources,
ranging from popular songs and plays to comedians and comic strips,
influenced Eliot's poetry, his ideas, and the path of his career. The
book leaves you feeling that Eliot needs to be reinterpreted and newly
understood. I found Chinitz's writing style very accessible and
"user-friendly" as well as entertaining. ... Read more

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Reflecting the surge of critical interest in Eliot renewed in recent years, A Companion to T.S. Eliot introduces the 'new' Eliot to readers and educators by examining the full body of his works and career. Leading scholars in the field provide a fresh and fully comprehensive collection of contextual and critical essays on his life and achievement.

• It compiles the most comprehensive and up-to-date treatment available of Eliot's work and career
• It explores the powerful forces that shaped Eliot as a writer and thinker, analyzing his body of work and assessing his oeuvre in a variety of contexts: historical, cultural, social, and philosophical
• It charts the surge in critical interest in T.S. Eliot since the early 1990s
• It provides an illuminating insight into a poet, writer, and critic who continues to define the literary landscape of the last century

Product Description
This book provides a comprehensive and stimulating introduction to Eliot's poetry for those reading and studying it, perhaps for the first time.The poems--as well as some of the poetic drama and relevant prose criticism--are discussed in detail and placed in relation to the development of Eliot's oeuvre, to his life, and to a wider context of philosophical and religious enquiry. ... Read more

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By the time Vivienne Eliot was committed to an asylum for what would be the final nine years of her life, she had been abandoned by her husband T.S. Eliot and shunned by literary London. Yet Vivienne was neither insane nor insignificant. She generously collaborated in her husband’s literary efforts, taking dictation, editing his drafts, and writing articles for his magazine, Criterion. Her distinctive voice can be heard in his poetry. And paradoxically, it was the unhappiness of the Eliots’ marriage that inspired some of the poet’s most distinguished work, from The Family Reunion to The Waste Land.This first biography ever written about Vivienne draws on hundreds of previously unpublished papers, journals and letters to portray a spontaneous, loving, but fragile woman who had an important influence on her husband’s work, as well as a great poet whose behavior was hampered by psychological and sexual impulses he could not fully acknowledge.
Intriguing and provocative, Painted Shadow gracefully rescues Vivienne Eliot from undeserved obscurity, and is indispensable for anyone wishing to understand T.S. Eliot, Vivienne, or the world in which they traveled. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Vivienne eliot finally has her day
I read the book in 2002 while living temporarily in London. I disagree with critics who pan this biography, and say instead that it is a refreshing thing that this woman, long in the grave ( I blame TS Eliot in part), has finally been given a chance to be shown as a real woman, as something other than a footnote of Eliot's fame. What struck a chord with me was, in part, the unveiling of a tricky malfeasance by TS Eliot and Vivienne's brother. If she went insane, it was the two of these men who drove her into the asylum!

The woman was brilliant in her own right as a writer, reviewer, as well as editor and advisor (along with Pound) to TS as he composed the rantings that would become The Wasteland. In fact, I have a hunch that part of the writing is hers, not TS. As a woman who once suffered from early peri-menopause, I can say that Vivienne was likely such a sufferer. In her day, we did not help these women because we chose to lump all such "female complaints" as crazy, hypochondriac ravings, or as manipulative. I think the book shows the pitiable state she was in at the end of her life, and I take her behaviour to be at worst sad and at best brave. Seymour-Jones wrote a masterful biography. Those who moan on and on about its being ponderous or whining are simply WRONG. A biography does not need to be simply scholarly. Sometimes being empathetic is enough.

Twitter in Bloomsbury
This book, with much more detail than I wanted to know, opens up the "secret" life of Eliot as no other writer has done.Vivienne is no sympathetic character here, but she clearly did not deserve the way she was treated by Tom and his buddies.While he needed to keep his homosexuality in the closet for good reasons, it was a criminal offense, he could have managed to contain his hatred of women physically by leaving her soon after the marriage.It does not appear that he used the marriage as camouflage, but he certainly behaved as if he did.I suppose one can defend the oversupply of detail as needed because her subject is still "controversial," why I do not know.The book can also be recommended as a depressing picture of the treatment of mentally ill people at that time.And her portrayal of the social set to which they belonged reminds me of nothing so much as the twitter society of today's teenagers, all gossip and drama queen behavior, floating at a level of pampered imbecility.

Dirty Linen Has Never Been Aired Like This
Carole Seymour-Jones has created a ponderous tome without a great deal of innuendo. She has allowed the reader, if willing to slog through the mire, an opportunity to come to their own conclusions about the marriage of Vivienne and Thomas Stearns Eliot. Ample use of largely unedited letters, diaries and detailed sources allow a slowly emerging picture of a completely dysfunctional marriage built on lies and misrepresentations on all sides. Ms. Seymour-Jones clearly has a bias towards Vivienne Eliot, yet I would be naive to believe that Vivienne was an entirely hapless victim in the dreadfully destructive relationship. There is little doubt of T.S. Eliot's homosexual leanings in the excerpted letters to Ezra Pound, and the infidelities that occurred on both sides are obvious. Perhaps the most disturbingpicture that emerges was the absolute powerof Vivienne's devotion to a man that clearly was not dedicated to her in any way. This inequitable situation eventually led to a schism in her personality that led to frank mental illness. Her plight was also compounded by medical problems that ravaged her from youth, and were untreatable in her lifetime. Her condition was treated with bromide, a poisonous neurotoxin that was a widely used medicine at the time. The constellation of characters (or villains) that made up the British literary intelligentsia, including the Bloomsbury Group is highlighted as well, including Bertrand Russell, Lady Violet Ottoline, Virginia Woolf, Ezra Pound, and Ford Maddox Ford. Let's just say that after you have read this book, the "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" will never sound as sweet.

Bangs and Whimpers
700 pages of commonplace minutiae is probably tons more than anyone wants to know about Vivienne Eliot but, even allowing for such proffered particulars as V.E.'s 1934 cockroach problems, the story told by Carole Seymour-Jones is fascininating...and repulsive. If they are ever to pick up The Collected Works again without a shudder, devotees of T. S. Eliot will have to study a juggling denial/avoidance, while those who regard him as little more than a purveyor of era-bogged, clever-dick party pieces, will receive broad permission from this volume to dismissively despise him as an appalling, conniving, cheating, embezzling, slug-under-a-rock. (Of the "Uncollected" works , the less said the better.)


Difficult as it may be to generate sympathy for a person who set up household shrines to Oswald Mosley, Jones leaves us little doubt that Vivienne Eliot was certainly as talented as many another Bloomsburian, disgracefully dealt with--abused--by Eliot and her own family, but simplemindedly, to her captive last, holding out for the theory that Tom was not to blame.


With so much material to deal with, it is not surprising Jones occasionally seems to lose track of precisely what went before (early on she lays it out that TSE at least enabled V's affair with Bertrand Russell, certainly profited by it, possibly connived at it; hundreds of pages later Jones speaks of how hurt Eliot was by her infidelity). Jones' oracular certainty of who-felt-what, who-thought-what, who-did-what-why and her psychological pontificating become irksome to anyone not willing to concede her omniscience.But for a microscopic view of a time-dated literary milieu and its peculiar, self-aggrandizing denizens, and a disturbing look at what intellectual creeps can get up to, this book will reward even the non-trivialists among us. ... Read more