T S Eliot in a Nutshell • Biographical detail Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965), most commonly known as T.S Eliot is a towering figure of the twentieth century who has taken up various roles in his literary career as an essayist, playwright, publisher as well as a literary and social critic in English literary field. To add an extra feather to his literary achievement, Eliot was awarded the Order of Merit and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 for his immense innovation and contribution to modern day poetry. Though he was an American by birth born in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the members of an old New England family, Eliot declined his citizenship and settled in Britain where he became a British citizen in 1927. He died on 4th January 1965, at his home in Kensington in London and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. • Works The Waste Land (1922), The Hollow Men (1925), Ash Wednesday (1930) and Four Quartets are some of his well known poems. He has also written seven plays of which Murder in the Cathedral had grabbed special attention. • Eliot’s view on poetry Innovator by heart and method, Eliot was a dominant figure of the twentieth century poetry who took extra and daring strides in the poetic field by not compromising his ideals for the general interest of the public as well as with the language he used. He strongly believed that poetry should reflect the complexities of modern civilization which can at times be difficult in