T.S. Eliot: the making of an American poet, 1888-1922

Abstract

Contents Preface Note on Sources Introduction Part 1. 1888-1906: Origins 1. Eliot's Louis and Head of the 2. Sons and Lovers: and Satan 3. Frail Youth, a Bookish Boy 4. Early Landscapes, Later Poems Part 2. 1902-1914: Early Influences 1. Eliot at Fourteen: Atheistical, Despairing, Gloomy 2. Poetic Beginnings: Merry Friars and Pleading Lovers 3. Missourian, New Englander: Double Identity 4. Soul's Paralysis: Denying the Importunity of the Blood Part 3. 1906-1911: Harvard: from Under 1. Prologue: Problematic Student 2. Bohemian Boston at the Turn of the Century 3. Bohemian and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Mrs. Jack) 4. Fellow Poet: Conrad Aiken 5. A Very Gay Companion: Harold Peters 6. Practicing to Be a Poet: From Omar's Atheism to Laforgue's Masks 7. Poems Written 1906-1910 Part 4. 1906-1910: Influences: Teachers, Texts, Temptations Teachers: 1. Irving Babbitt: Human Imperfectability 2. Barrett Wendell: The Inexperience of America 3. George Santayana: Philosopher of Reason 4. William Allan Neilson: Poetic Theorist Texts: 5. Dante and Eliot's Persistent Concern with Sex 6. Petronius's Satyricon: Serene Unmorality 7. Symons/Laforgue: The Ironic Mask 8. Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion 9. John Donne: Thought as Experience Temptations: 10. The Lure of Europe: Brooks's The Wine of the Puritans 11. S. Eliot, the Quintessence of Harvard Part 5. 1910-1911: T. S. Eliot in Paris 1. The Primacy of Paris, 1910-1911 2. Jean Verdenal: Mon Meilleur Ami 3. Matthew Prichard: Blurred 4. Henri Bergson: Brief Conversion 5. Charles Maurras: The Action Francaise 6. Finding the Personal in the Poem: Drafts of Portrait and Prufrock 7. Poems Written 1911-1914 Part 6. 1911-1914: Eliot Absorbed in Philosophical Studies 1. Prologue: The Rise of Harvard's Philosophy Department and the Santayana Controversy 2. The Decline and Fall of Philosophy in Eliot's Day and After 3. Eliot and Oriental Philosophies and Religions 4. Psychology as Philosophical, Religion as Psychological, Mysticism as Magical 5. Eliot and the Elusive Absolute 6. Epilogue: The Eliot Controversy, Part 7. 1914-1915: American Chaos versus English Tradition 1. Philosophy in Marburg, War in Europe 2. London Interlude: Pound and Russell 3. Oxford, 1914-1915: Reconsidering Philosophy 4. New Friends and Old: Culpin, Blanshard, Pound, Lewis 5. The Mystery of Emily Hale: Aspern Papers in Reverse Part 8. 1915: Inexplicable Marriage and the Consequences 1. Sudden Marriage at the Registry Office 2. Who Was Vivien? 3. Flurry of Correspondence, a Day of Decision 4. Unhappy Visit Home (Gloucester, July 24-September 4), a Disastrous Honeymoon (Eastbourne, September 4-10) 5. Bertie Russell's Friendship 6. What I Want Is MONEY!$!GBP !! We are hard up! War! 7. Hallucinations, Heavenly and Hellish Poetic Visions: St. Sebastian and St. Narcissus 8. Poems Written 1914-1915 Part 9. 1916: Making Do, Finding Means, Expanding Connections 1. Most Awful Nightmare of Anxiety Pegasus in Harness 2. The Triumph of Poetry over Philosophy 3. Reviews and Essays, Teaching and Lecturing: Total Immersion 4. Widening Circle of Friends and Associates, Writers and Artists Part 10. 1917-1918: T. S. Eliot: Banker, Lecturer, Editor, Poet, Almost Soldier 1. Eliot the Banker: March 19, 1917-November 1925 2. Eliot the Extension Lecturer 3. Eliot as Eeldrop 4. Eliot the Assistant Editor: June 1917-December 1919, 5. Eliot the Poet, 6. America Enters War: April 6, 1917-Armistice Day, November 11, 1918 7. Writing . . . Again: The French and Quatrain Poems 8. Poems Written 1917-1918 Part 11. 1919-1920: Up the Ladder, Glimpsing the Top 1. Death of a Father 2. Banking, Teaching, Editing, Writing: Money and Power 3. Friendships and Relationships: Deeper and Wider 4. Voice from the Past An Encounter of Titans Moving Again 5. Three New Books: Poetry and Prose 6. Gerontion: Return of Fitzgerald's Omar 7. Poems Written 1918-1920 Part 12. 1919-1921: Notable Achievements, Domestic Disasters, Intimate Friends 1. Prologue: Paris and the Pension Casaubon, Paris Again in the Spring 2. A Long Poem . . . on my Mind for a Long Time 3. Family Visit: Mother, Brother, Sister-Wife 4. Room of One's Own, Wearing Makeup, Confidante Virginia Woolf 5. Roommates, Renowned Pederasts: Kitchin, Senhouse, Ritchie Part 13. 1922: Over the Top 1. Uranian Muse, The Waste Land, and il miglior fabbro 2. Publication of The Waste Land 3. Out into the World: The Waste Land Reviewed 4. Pound's Financial Scheme for Eliot: Bel Esprit 5. Birth of The Criterion Part 14. Glance Ahead: The Making of an American Poet 1. T. S. Eliot and Walt Whitman 2. American Poet Discovers His American-ness References to Works by T. S. Eliot References to Works by Other Authors Index