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
night oysters talking
Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats 5 Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question … 10 Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit. In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo.
talking sawdust rooms
In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.
loneliness thinking talking
Everyone's alone - or so it seems to me. They make noises, and think they are talking to each other; They make faces, and think they understand each other. And I'm sure they don't. Is that a delusion?
questions steel surgeon wounded
The wounded surgeon plies the steel / That questions the distempered part.
edge river sea within
The river is within us, the sea is all about us; The sea is the land's edge also
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.
further
And we must think no further of you.
birth hour pray
Pray for us now and at the hour of our birth.
entertainment joke listen lonesome medium millions people permits radio remain
Radio is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome
bright daughter feet moon mrs porter soda wash
O the moon shone bright on Mrs Porter / And on her daughter / They wash their feet in soda water.
act falls motion reality
Between the idea / And the reality / Between the motion / And the act / Falls the Shadow.
brain brains dry thoughts
Tenants of the house, / Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season.
below saw second shape turned turning twisted
At the first turning of the second stair / I turned and saw below / The same shape twisted on the banister.
family finds light lived looked love vocabulary within
There's no vocabulary For love within a family, love that's lived in But not looked at, love within the light of which All else is seen, the love within which All other love finds speech. This love is silent.