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Which writers helped T.S. Eliot develop his poetic style?
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T.S. Eliot
T.S. Eliot working on his play The Cocktail Party in his office at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, 1948. The letters of the alphabet in his diagram represent characters in the play. The Greek letters represent characters yet to be invented.
T.S. Eliot’s development of his unique poetic style was shaped by a diverse range of literary influences, including both historical figures and his contemporaries.
Key Influences
- Historical Poets and Writers: Eliot’s study of the poetry of Dante Alighieri, the English dramatist John Webster, and the poet John Donne was instrumental in helping him define his own voice. Additionally, he was influenced by the French Symbolist poet Jules Laforgue.1
- Philosophical and Academic Mentors: At Harvard, Eliot was significantly influenced by the philosopher and poet George Santayana and the critic Irving Babbitt. From Babbitt, he adopted an anti-Romantic stance that was further reinforced by his reading of British philosophers F.H. Bradley and T.E. Hulme.1
- Ezra Pound: A pivotal figure in Eliot's career, Ezra Pound provided crucial support and collaboration starting in 1914, helping to launch Eliot's career as a poet and critic.12
Through these influences, Eliot sought to move away from conventional, "literary" verse, instead striving to create new rhythms based on contemporary speech that were neither pedantic nor vulgar.3