ThomasStearnsEliot艾略特.docx

Thomas Stearns Eliot(1888------1965)1.General Introduction to T. S. Eliot .Occupation: Poet, dramatist, literary critic. Citizenship: American by birth, British from 1927Education: A.B. in philosophy. Alma mater(母校): Harvard University. Literary movement: Modernism. Spouse(s): Vivienne Haigh-Wood (1915–1947); Esmé Valerie Fletcher (1957–1965)Notable awards: Nobel Prize for Literature (1948), Order of Merit (1948)Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM （Order of Merit 英国功劳勋章） (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965) was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably（可论证地） the most important English-language poet of the 20th century.The poem that made his name, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock—started in 1910 and published in Chicago in 1915—is regarded as a masterpiece of the modernist movement.He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Eliot was born into the Eliot family, a bourgeois family originally from New England（New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.）, who had moved to St. Louis, Missouri. His mother, Charlotte Champe Stearns (1843–1929), wrote poetry and was a social worker, a new profession in the early 20th century. Eliot was the last of six surviving children; his parents were both 44 years old when he was born. From 1898 to 1905, Eliot attended Smith Academy, where his studies included Latin, Ancient Greek, French, and German. He studied philosophy at Harvard from 1906 to 1909, earning his bachelor's degree after three years, instead of the usual four. After working as a philosophy assistant at Harvard from 1909–1910, Eliot moved to Paris, where from 1910–1911, he studied philosophy at the Sorbonne.From 1911–1914, he was back at Harvard studying Indian philosophy and Sanskrit（梵文）. By 1916, he had completed a PhD dissertation for Harvard on Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F. H. Bradley, but he failed to return for the viva voce exam(口试).Thayer introduced Eliot to Vivienne Haigh-Wood, a Cambridge governess. They were married at Hampstead Register Office on June 26, 1915.After leaving Merton, Eliot worked as a schoolteacher, most notably at Highgate School, a private school in London, where he taught French and Latin.To earn extra money, he wrote book reviews and lectured at evening extension courses. In 1917, he took a position at Lloyds Bank in London, working on foreign accounts.On a trip to Paris in August 1920, he met the writer James Joyce. Eliot said he found Joyce arrogant—Joyce doubted Eliot's ability as a poet at the time—but the two soon became friends, with Eliot's visiting Joyce whenever he was in Paris.On June 29, 1927 Eliot converted to Anglicanism(英国国教) from Unitarianism(唯一神教派),and in November that year he took British citizenship. By 1932, Eliot had been contemplating a separation from his wife for some time. When Harvard offered him the Charles Eliot Norton professorship for the 1932-1933 academic year, he accepted and left Vivienne in England. On January 10, 1957, Eliot at the age of 68 married Esmé Valerie Fletcher, who was 32. In contrast to his first marriage, Eliot knew Fletcher well, as she had been his secretary.Since Eliot's death, Valerie has dedicated her time to preserving his legacy.Eliot died of emphysema(肺气肿) in London on January 4, 1965. For many years he had had health problems caused by his heavy smoking, and had often been laid low with bronchitis(支气管炎) or tachycardia(心跳过速 ). 2. Representative WorksPoetry Prufrock and Other Observations (1917) 《普鲁弗洛克及其他》 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 《J.阿尔弗雷德• 普鲁弗洛克的情歌》 Portrait of a Lady (poem) 《一位夫人的画像》Aunt Helen Poems (1920) Gerontion 《小老头 》The Waste Land (1922)《荒原》The Hollow Men (1925)《空心人》Ash Wednesday 《圣灰星期三》Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats Four Quartets (1945)《四个四重奏》PlaysMurder in the Cathedral 大教堂谋杀案》The Family Reunion 《家庭团聚》The Cocktail Party 《鸡尾酒会》NonfictionTradition and the Individual Talent (1920) 《传统与个人才能 》The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism (1920) 《圣林》" Hamlet and His Problems"Homage to John Dryden (1924) 《向约翰·德莱顿致敬》For Lancelot Andrewes (1928) 《纪念兰斯洛特·安德鲁斯 》The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism (1933) Elizabethan Essays (1934)Essays Ancient and Modern (1936) On Poetry and Poets (1957) To Criticize the Critic (1965)3.The Waste Land （荒原）It revealed the spiritual crisis of postwar Europe. It reads like the manifesto of the “lost generation” and established Eliot’s position as the leader not only of American poetry, but of a whole generation of writers later to be identified as “Waste Land Painters" like Hemingway and Faulkner. It consists of five discontinuous segments, each composed of fragments incorporating multiple voices and characters, literary and historical allusions, bits and pieces of contemporary life, myths and legends. The central theme---desperation Although it gestured toward religio。