Best known for his poem 'The Waste Land', American poet, essayist, literary critic TS Eliot aka Thomas Stearns Eliot lived a colourful life.
Born to a Boston Brahmin [elite class of Boston] family in 1888, the playwright has always attracted widespread attention for his work. He is considered to be a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.
Eliot moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle there and became a British citizen by 1927 and later renounced his American citizenship.
TS Eliot's work
Since his poem 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock' came out in 1915, he attracted widespread attention because his poetry was considered outlandish. His contributions earned him a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 for his 'outstanding, pioneer contribution' to present-day poetry.
He also greatly contributed to the world of literary criticism that a new school titled 'New Criticism' was established.
Eliot's Death
The literary legend's life came to an end in 1965 when he was merely 59-years old.
Eliot had died of emphysema at his home in London's Kensington area on January 4 in 1965. Unlike usual burial, he was cremated and later his ashes were taken to St Michael and All Angels' Church, East Coker, the village in Somerset from where his ancestors emigrated to America.
A plaque in the church commemorates the deceased poet with his poem's quotation titled 'East Coker' which says, "In my beginning is my end. In my end is my beginning."
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