In this Companion, an international team of leading T. S. Eliot scholars contribute studies of different facets of the writer’s work to build up a carefully co-ordinated and fully rounded introduction. Five chapters give a complete account of Eliot’s poems and plays from several distinct points of view. The major aspects and issues of his life and thought are assessed: his American origins and his becoming English; his position as a philosopher; his literary, social, and political criticism; and the evolution of his religious sense. Later chapters place his work in a number of historical perspectives; and the final chapter provides an expert review of the whole field of Eliot studies and is supplemented by a listing of the most significant publications. There is a useful chronological outline. Taken as a whole, the Companion comprises an essential handbook for students and other readers of Eliot.

 An essential introduction and handbook to our century’s premier poet  The only book to provide a full introductory critical survey by experts  Also an essential library purchase because of reference material including a full review of Eliot studies

Contents
List of contributors; Preface; Chronology of Eliot’s life and works; Abbreviations; 1. Where is the real T. S. Eliot? or the life of the poet James Olney; 2. Eliot as a product of America Eric Sigg; 3. Eliot as philosopher Richard Shusterman; 4. T. S. Eliot’s critical programme Timothy Matherer; 5. The social critic and his discontents Peter Dale Scott; 6. Religion, literature and society in the work of T. S. Eliot Cleo McNelly Kearns; 7. ‘England and nowhere’ Alan Marshall; 8. Early poems: from Prufrock to ‘Gerontion’ J. C. Mays; 9. Improper desire: reading The Waste Land Harriet Davidson; 10. Ash-Wednesday: a poetry of verification John Kwan-Terry; 11. Four Quartets: music word meaning and value A. David Moody; 12. Pereira and after: the cures of Eliot’s theatre Robin Grove; 13. ‘Mature poets steal’: Eliot’s allusive practice James Longenbach; 14. Eliot’s impact on Anglo-American poetry Charles Altieri; 15. Tradition and T. S. Eliot Jean-Michel Rabaté; 16. Eliot: modernism, postmodernism and after Bernard Sharratt; 17. Eliot studies: a review and a select booklist Jewel Spears Brooker; Index.