T.S. Eliot : the making of an American poet, 1888-1922 / James E. Miller, Jr.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 427-449) and index.

1888-1906: Origins -- 1902-1914: Early influences -- 1906-1911: Harvard: out from under -- 1906-1910: Harvard influences: teachers, texts, temptations -- 1910-1911: T.S. Eliot in Paris -- 1911-1914: Eliot absorbed in philosophical studies -- 1914-1915: American chaos versus English tradition -- 1915: An inexplicable marriage and the consequences -- 1916: Making do, finding means, expanding connections -- 1917-1918: T.S. Eliot: Banker, lecturer, editor, poet, almost soldier -- 1919-1920: Up the ladder, glimpsing the top -- 1919-1921: Notable achievements, domestic disasters, intimate friends -- 1922: Over the top -- A glance ahead: the making of an American poet.

"Miller challenges long-held assumptions about Eliot's poetry and his life. Eliot himself always maintained that his poems were not based on personal experience, and thus should not be read as personal poems. But Miller combines a reading of the early work - from his earliest poems through 1922, the year The Waste Land was published - with careful analysis of surviving early correspondence, accounts from Eliot's friends and acquaintances, and new scholarship that delves into Eliot's Harvard years. Ultimately, Miller demonstrates that Eliot's poetry is filled with reflections of his personal experiences; his relationships with family and friends; his marriage; his sexuality; his intellectual and social development; his influences."--Jacket.