Educated at Harvard University, the Sorbonne and Oxford, Eliot moved to England permanently in 1914. In 1927, he took out British citizenship. He began working as a teacher and, for a time, as a bank clerk before turning to publishing. From 1917 to 1919, he was assistant editor of the Egoist and published his first major poetical work, Prufrock and Other Observations, in 1917. From 1922 to 1939, Eliot edited the Criterion, his own quarterly publication. In 1925, he joined the publishers Faber and Faber, where he continued as a director until his death. Eliot became a very influential critic and produced some excellent critical works such as The Sacred Wood (1920), For Lancelot Andrewes (1928), The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933), Essays Ancient and Modern (1936) and Notes Towards a Definition of Culture (1948). Among the general public, Eliot is perhaps better known for his plays, which included Murder in the Cathedral (1935), The Family Reunion (1939), The Cocktail Party (1950), The Confidential Clerk (1954) and The Elder Statesman (1959). In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His other well-known works include Poems (1920), The Waste Land (1922), Ash Wednesday (1930), Selected Essays 1917-1932 (1932), Elizabethan Essays (1934) and Four Quartets (1935-1942). His book of poetry, Old Possum's Book of Poetical Cats (1939), written for children, formed the basis for Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical, Cats. |
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