T.S. Eliot’s (88-1965) "Morning at the Window"

T. S. Eliot

· An essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic, editor and "one of the twentieth century's major poets".

· Immigrated to England in 1914 (at age 25), settling, working and marrying there.

· Eventually naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39, renouncing his American citizenship (American by birth; British from 1927).

· His poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915) is seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement.

Ex.

Identify the original text of the following extracts and comment on them with special reference to theme, techniques and language.

“They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,

And along the trampled edges of the street

I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids

Sprouting despondently at area gates.”

Kingdoms rise and fall, lifetimes come and go.

Are any of us here long enough to even make a difference?

One Man’s Dream—Nadun