The Essential T.S. Eliot

by T. S. Eliot

Overview

A selection of the most significant and enduring poems from one of the twentieth century’s major writers, chosen and introduced by Vijay Seshadri

T.S. Eliot was a towering figure in twentieth century literature, a renowned poet, playwright, and critic whose work—including “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915), The Waste Land (1922), Four Quartets (1943), and Murder in the Cathedral (1935)—continues to be among the most-read and influential in the canon of American literature.

The Essential T.S. Eliot collects Eliot’s most lasting and important poetry in one career-spanning volume, now with an introduction from Vijay Seshadri, one of our foremost poets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062978110
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/14/2020
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,054,001
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

THOMAS STEARNS ELIOT was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1888. He moved to England in 1914 and published his first book of poems in 1917. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Eliot died in 1965.

Table of Contents

Introduction Vijay Seshadri vii

La Figlia che Piange 1

Portrait of a Lady 3

Preludes 10

Rhapsody on a Windy Night 14

Mr. Apotlinax 18

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 20

Gerontion 27

Dans le Restaurant 31

Whispers of Immortality 33

The Waste Land 35

The Hollow Men 57

Ash-Wednesday 64

Journey of the Magi 78

Marina 80

Coriolan 83

Choruses from "The Rock": I, III, IV, VII 89

Old Deuteronomy 105

Sweeney Agonistes 108

From Four Quartets: Burnt Norton; Little Gidding 127

Tradition and the Individual Talent 153

Editorial Reviews

"Vijay Seshadri’s Introduction to Eliot is one of the best things that I’ve ever read on Eliot.  Maybe the best—an astonishment, after a lifetime of reading about Eliot.  Sample: “‘The Waste Land’ is overpowering in its sense of the isolation of the spirit trapped in violent materiality.” I don’t know of another essay that so compellingly sets out how unique, how bold the poems are, how radical." — Frank Bidart

From the Publisher

"Vijay Seshadri’s Introduction to Eliot is one of the best things that I’ve ever read on Eliot.  Maybe the best—an astonishment, after a lifetime of reading about Eliot.  Sample: “‘The Waste Land’ is overpowering in its sense of the isolation of the spirit trapped in violent materiality.” I don’t know of another essay that so compellingly sets out how unique, how bold the poems are, how radical."

Frank Bidart

An all-star cast of poets reads poet and critic Vijay Seshadri's selection of T.S. Eliot's most important and interesting works. Seshadri delivers his own fine introduction, which looks at why Eliot, in particular, is so important to the poets who came after him. The narrators—who include Joy Harjo, Eileen Myles, Natalie Diaz, and Jorie Graham—are acknowledging personal debts to the poems they deliver, and they read as fellow poets, not actors (except, of course, for Dafoe, who played Eliot in the film TOM & VIV). Eliot's poetic voice changed over his career, but not as much as the varied voices in this audiobook, which also includes one seminal essay and excerpts from the plays. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2020 - AudioFile

An all-star cast of poets reads poet and critic Vijay Seshadri's selection of T.S. Eliot's most important and interesting works. Seshadri delivers his own fine introduction, which looks at why Eliot, in particular, is so important to the poets who came after him. The narrators—who include Joy Harjo, Eileen Myles, Natalie Diaz, and Jorie Graham—are acknowledging personal debts to the poems they deliver, and they read as fellow poets, not actors (except, of course, for Dafoe, who played Eliot in the film TOM & VIV). Eliot's poetic voice changed over his career, but not as much as the varied voices in this audiobook, which also includes one seminal essay and excerpts from the plays. D.M.H. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

JUNE 2020 - AudioFile