CRITICAL COMPANION TO T. S. Eliot i-x_Eliot-fm.indd i 9/5/07 11:34:07 AM i-x_Eliot-fm.indd ii 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM CRITICAL COMPANION TO T. S. Eliot A Literary Reference to His Life and Work RUSSELL ELLIOTT MURPHY i-x_Eliot-fm.indd iii 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM Critical Companion to T. S. Eliot Copyright © 2007 by Russell Elliott Murphy All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Facts On File, Inc. An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Murphy, Russell E. (Russell Elliott) Critical companion to T. S. Eliot: a literary reference to his life and work / Russell Elliott Murphy. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6183-9 (acid-free paper) 1. Eliot T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888–1965—Encyclopedias. 2. Poets, American—20th century—Biography—Encyclopedias. I. Title. PS3509.L43Z7887 2007 821′.912—dc22—[B] 2006034076 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by Erika K. Arroyo Cover design by Cathy Rincon/Anastasia Plé Printed in the United States of America VB Hermitage 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is printed on acid-free paper. i-x_Eliot-fm.indd iv 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM CONTENTS Acknowledgments vii Introduction ix Part I: Biography 1 Part II: Works A to Z 31 Part III: Related People, Places, and Topics 495 Part IV: Appendices 575 1. T. S. Eliot Chronology 577 2. Significant Publications by T. S. Eliot 583 3. Selected Bibliography of Secondary Sources 585 Index 590 i-x_Eliot-fm.indd v 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM i-x_Eliot-fm.indd vi 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ven in the age of Google, one cannot approach indeed, there is any purpose to what we in literary Ean exhaustive treatment of a poet as erudite studies do, it is to influence and inspire each other and well-read as T. S. Eliot without virtually con- in the same ways that we have been influenced stant recourse to one of the several works of stellar and inspired in the classroom and the library. So, scholarship that the poet’s achievement has gener- then, if at any point I seem to be echoing the ated. In particular, I must single out Grover Smith’s thoughts or feelings of others who have “said it remarkable T. S. Eliot’s Poetry and Plays: A Study much better,” I can honestly say that I was in no in Sources and Meanings, a classic of its kind. Peter way mindful of the borrowing either at the time of Ackroyd’s T. S. Eliot: A Life is a veritable font of my writing or subsequently, and I must therefore data and anecdote detailing the poet’s day-to-day be left to hope that others will be satisfied with the experiences and was another welcome source of flattery supplied by my unconscious imitation, if bibliographical as well as biographical information, not tribute. as was Christopher Rick’s T. S. Eliot: Inventions of Still, let it be known that the major influences the March Hare, Poems 1909–1917, a truly indis- on my own understanding of Eliot, whatever that pensable reference for anyone interested in the may mean, are most certainly Cleanth Brooks, Eliz- poet’s early career. Finally, there is Jewel Spears abeth Drew, Helen Gardner, F. O. Matthiessen, and Brooker’s recent and valuable T. S. Eliot: The Con- Hugh Kenner . always Hugh Kenner. temporary Reviews to be noted as well. I would also like to take this opportunity to I have been reading, studying, reading about, thank Jerry Weist and Dana Hawkes of Eastern writing about, and teaching the poetry and criti- Point in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the present cism of T. S. Eliot for going on four decades now. owners of the Eliots’ one-time summer home there, It is impossible for me, by now, to distinguish for graciously allowing us to photograph its exterior neatly and honestly among my own most original and interior. thoughts and feelings regarding Eliot’s work and I will close by acknowledging that all transla- significance and those thoughts and feelings that tions of Dante are mine, as is the translation of took shape in me thanks only to my exposure to Hadrian’s “Animula” and anything else that may the ideas of other teachers, scholars, and critics. If, have required translating. vii i-x_Eliot-fm.indd vii 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM i-x_Eliot-fm.indd viii 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM INTRODUCTION his book is not a shortcut to an apprecia- scholarship and authentic interpretation. This vol- Ttion and understanding of the writing of T. ume hopes to add to the impressive and extensive S. Eliot for the simple reason that there can be no quantity of scholarship and criticism that Eliot’s life shortcut to the inner workings of such a complex and work have inspired virtually from the begin- literary achievement as his. Rather, this book is ning of his literary career with the publication of as comprehensive a guide to Eliot as has yet been Prufrock and Other Observations in 1917. published. To discuss Eliot’s work requires the recogni- That is no small claim, nor is this a small book. tion of genuine limitations. Although students all Eliot is one of the more difficult poets of the 20th too often imagine that the way to come to grips century, perhaps of all time. Doc Ock, a charac- with the “meaning” of a particular Eliot poem is to ter in the movie Spider-Man 2, put it well. Dur- decode the meaning of every single line, such an ing a conversation with young Peter Parker, alias attempt often provides just the illusion of clarifica- Spider-Man, when the good doctor has not yet tion at the expense of admitting complexity. Any morphed into a supervillain and is still only just so-called meaning in a line of Eliot’s can often be Dr. Otto Octavius, he relates how his future wife, refuted by the next line. And then there are all the a literature student when they met in college, various allusions to deal with as well—to mythol- learned science for his sake and how he in turn ogy and to literature, to the Bible and to other reli- attempted to learn literature for hers. His future gious texts, to operatic pieces, to ragtime music, wife had been much more successful at mastering and to much more. Many an academic career has his field of study than he had been at mastering been made and unmade in the effort to explain hers. “She was studying T. S. Eliot,” he explains Eliot’s allusions, many of which are not even in to Parker, “and, compared to science, Eliot is very English. complicated.” The truth is, Eliot’s style of poetry, very much That admission of Dr. Octavius’s is a fact: Eliot unintelligible at times, is often intentionally that is very complicated, and there is no easy way to way. The poet of “The Love Song of J. Alfred understand his work. Nonetheless, this book is Prufrock” and The Waste Land, “Gerontion” and designed to assist the student in doing so. While “The Hollow Men,” to cite but a few of the titles the entries in this volume on Eliot’s poetry, verse for which he is best known, was never one to drama, and literary and social criticism recognize make his readers’ lives easier. So, then, it would and address the complexity of Eliot’s thought and be both unfair to the poet and unwise for his technique, they are written with an aim toward readers to expect any teacher or book to make trying to defuse rather than compound that com- Eliot’s poetry so readily accessible that no ques- plexity, although never at the expense of sound tions remain. ix i-x_Eliot-fm.indd ix 9/5/07 11:34:08 AM x Critical Companion to T. S. Eliot The commentaries in this book recognize and major influences and developments in Eliot’s life in respect Eliot’s complexity by seeking constantly to narrative fashion. Part II offers extensive treatment interpret and to contextualize, but they also aim to of Eliot’s individual poems, plays, and major works provide readers with as much detailed background of prose. Entries on all these works are arranged in and peripheral information as can be gathered, all alphabetical order. Part III provides detailed entries in the hopes that readers can then judge those on individuals, places, and works by others that interpretations for themselves, in good Eliot fash- helped shape the poet’s interests and writing. Part ion. They may even be inspired to come up with IV contains a chronology and an extensive bibliog- interpretations of their own. raphy of works by and about Eliot. To indicate a cross-reference, any name or How to Use This Book term that appears as an entry in Part III is printed This book is divided into four principal sections.