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T. S. EliotA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot (1915)
Eliot’s first published poem, this is a dramatic monologue spoken by a middle-aged man, Prufrock, who is acutely aware of the futility, pointlessness, and superficiality of his existence. He would like to change his life, to discover some meaning and purpose to it, but he is chronically indecisive and too timid to try for something better. He knows all this and speaks of himself in a self-deprecating way. Unlike the speaker in Ash Wednesday, he does not reach out to religion to cure his malaise. Many early readers were baffled by the poem but it soon became recognized as a significant Modernist work, reflecting the themes of alienation and purposelessness that were common in the poetry of the time.
“Little Gidding” by T. S. Eliot (1942)
This is the last of Eliot’s Four Quartets, and it can also be read as an individual poem. Like Ash Wednesday, it seeks to trace a path beyond the suffering of the world into a timeless reality in which “All shall be well / And all manner of thing shall be well.” Little Gidding is a village in England with a long history.
By T. S. Eliot
East Coker
East Coker
T. S. Eliot
Four Quartets
Four Quartets
T. S. Eliot
Journey of the Magi
Journey of the Magi
T. S. Eliot
Little Gidding
Little Gidding
T. S. Eliot
Mr. Mistoffelees
Mr. Mistoffelees
T. S. Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral
T. S. Eliot
Portrait of a Lady
Portrait of a Lady
T. S. Eliot
Preludes
Preludes
T. S. Eliot
Rhapsody On A Windy Night
Rhapsody On A Windy Night
T. S. Eliot
The Cocktail Party
The Cocktail Party
T. S. Eliot
The Hollow Men
The Hollow Men
T. S. Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T. S. Eliot
The Song of the Jellicles
The Song of the Jellicles
T. S. Eliot
The Waste Land
The Waste Land
T. S. Eliot
Tradition and the Individual Talent
Tradition and the Individual Talent
T. S. Eliot