T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot OMwas an American-born British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". He moved to England in 1914 at age 25, settling, working and marrying there. He was eventually naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39, renouncing his American citizenship...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth26 September 1888
CountryUnited States of America
beyond communication dead death fire language speech
And what the dead had no speech for, when living, they can tell you, being dead: the communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
fall men fire
In my beginning is my end. In succession Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended, Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass. Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires, Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth Which is already flesh, fur and faeces, Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.
flames fire rose
Quick now, here, now, always- A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded Into the crowned knot of fire And the fire and the rose are one.
death communication fire
The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living.
hope lying fire
The only hope, or else despair Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre - To be redeemed from fire by fire.
british-author failure fear man ought purpose sees
The only failure a man ought to fear is failure in cleaving to the purpose he sees to be best.
cat except until wind
When a Cat adopts you there is nothing to be done about it except put up with it until the wind changes.
hair hear latest pole transmit
To hear the latest Pole / transmit the Preludes, through his hair and fingertips.
act falls motion reality
Between the idea / And the reality / Between the motion / And the act / Falls the Shadow.
active atmosphere attending believe concentration finally great happen neither nor number passive poet practical resulting seem unite
We must believe that ''emotion recollected in tranquillity'' is an inexact formula. For it is neither emotion, nor recollection, nor without distortion of meaning, tranquillity. It is a concentration, and a new thing resulting from the concentration of a very great number of experiences which to the practical and active person would not seem to be experiences at all; it is a concentration which does not happen consciously or of deliberation. These experiences are not ''recollected'' and they finally unite in an atmosphere which is ''tranquil'' only in that it is a passive attending upon the event.
far possibly risk
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
assurance hat low silk whom
One of the low on whom assurance sits / As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire.
bottoms grow shall trousers wear
I grow old . . . I grow old . . . / I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
editors failed suppose
I suppose some editors are failed writers; but so are most writers.