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we speak student is this thing on? My name is J. Alfred Prufrock and I wrote a poem it's [man speaking on stage]

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very mature and nothing what angsty teenagers write in their diaries my poem is all about

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emasculation depression doubt second guessing like decisions I see you point anyway it's [man shows scribbles of paper]

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not about me today I'm here to tell you about the famous poet T. S. Eliot well Thomas Stearns

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Eliot was born in America in 1888 even though he lived in England and eventually became [Eliot in front of British flag]

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a British citizen guess not everybody appreciates a country that supersizes everything Eliot [fat man in front of huge burger]

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father was a businessman and his mother was a social worker who wrote poetry on the side

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he went to the best schools graduating from Harvard in three years using his fourth for [old print of Harvard]

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a masters degree and you thought your B in biology was impressive after graduating he

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went to Paris for a year to study and the Sorbon which is like the Harvard of France [picture of french university]

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because one Harvard wasn't enough for Tommy boy there all right in 1911 he returned to

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Harvard the American one for his doctorate in philosophy well his studies included ancient

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languages like sans script and poli which found their way into his later poems and soon

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after he got a scholarship to study at Oxford in England he didn't care for the school but

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fell in love with the country or the fish and chips we can't be sure well in England [Eliot on ship to England]

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Eliot met Ezra Pound which became one of his life long friends I feel it's my obligation

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to mention your life long college friend will rarely be Ezra Pound and will often be Ezra

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Pounded dude man he also met a governess named Vivienne Haigh-Wood whom he married after [picture of Vivienne]

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only a few months I'm not the only one who acts like a teenager sometimes Eliot soon

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realized that he'd married his wife more out of the love for England than for her how can

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a woman be expected to live up to a country anyway but Eliot always held down a full time

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job because he didn't think writing poetry was a way to make a living and he's probably

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right ask the people who work here at Shmoop Eliot taught for a year but then went to work

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at Lloyd's Bank in London well Eliot's co-workers were all depressed people who had seen their

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dreams slip away with the passing of time this along with his own feelings led him to

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write his first great poem a love song of J. Alfred Prufrock that's right the love song

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of me not gonna lie I thought it was pretty catchy I'm hoping it ends up being sampled

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by Skrillex someday but keep in mind he wrote at the tender age of 22 pretty impressive

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eh but the love song J. Alfred Prufrock covered many modernist themes war cities boredom and [view of sky scrapers]

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fear to name a few highlights or not highlights but you get my gist by 1921 stuck in a boring

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job in a crummy marriage Eliot had a bit of a mental breakdown and had to take a leave

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of absence all around him Eliot saw people struggling to deal with the horrors of WWI

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he felt like society had come to an unprecedented level of despair and lost hold of tradition [pictures of people in poverty]

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though in 1922 he published a five part epic poem that journeyed through a ruined and desolate

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world he called it The Wasteland and because life is super sucky didn't quite have the

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same ring to it not everyone loved The Wasteland it was a tough poem to read not only because

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of it's obscure references and lapses into different languages but also because of it's

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bleak outlook if you're looking for fun poems you might want to choose Cat in the Hat instead

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but if you want honesty Eliot's your man well in 1925 Eliot left his job at the bank and

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took a job at the publishing house called Faber and Faber out of the frying pan into

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the fires they say here this time he wrote a poem called The Hollow Men which has since [Eliot's head jumps from pan into fire]

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been quoted in movies music and other prose also by that one pretentious friend who is

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so over mainstream culture today in 1927 Eliot officially became a British citizen and no

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his teeth did not immediately turn yellow he went back to America for a year to teach

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at Harvard in 1932 but eventually returned back to England and legally separated from

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his wife Vivienne she apparently wasn't doing so well and was committed to a mental institution

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not long after and she died in 1947 at least Eliot's true love England was still kickin [Vivienne in a straight jacket]

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it in 1939 Germany invaded Poland and England declared war London was bombed heavily while

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monitoring the sky for German war planes Eliot worked on a series of poems called The Four

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Quartets but luckily Eliot didn't have to monitor the sky for too long the war eventually

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ended in 1945 but you already knew that I hope in Eliot's later years he wrote a plays

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among the The Tony award winning play The Cocktail Party he also wrote a whimsical set

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of poems about his cats named Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats which later became [kittens]

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the basis for the musical Cats so uh you can thank Eliot for Memory [cat singing]

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and also the cats dangling from the curtains of YouTube in 1948 Eliot was awarded the Nobel

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Prize in Literature in his acceptance speech he talked about how poetry can unite people

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across languages and cultures in 1957 Eliot married his secretary Esme Valerie Fletcher

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who was 37 years younger than him and just a couple thousand years younger than England [map of sad England]

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poor England but newly wed Eliot was already ill with emphysema after years of smoking

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and he died in 1965 at the age of 76 that's right even Harvard men are susceptible to

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the dangers of tabacco and if you're wondering why any of this was important take note we

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still read Eliot today because he created a unique style of poetry that marked the coming

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of a modern age and was able to capture both the ugliness and beauty of the post war world

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you wanna see the echo boom effect read The Road and he also inspired Cats no man can

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be perfect

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