T.S. Eliot: His Life and Works 1930-1965 Quiz

Answer: Esmé Valerie Fletcher

Eliot and Vivienne separated in 1933, and she was admitted to a psychiatric ward in 1938, apparently committed by her brother Maurice. She lived out the rest of her days there, dying in 1947. Eliot remarried in 1957, with Esmé. Although his time with Vivienne was miserable, he never considered divorce because of his Anglican beliefs.

Answer: Collin Brooks

Collin Brooks (CB) (1893-1959) was a journalist, writer and broadcaster with an enormous circle of friends. Eliot - a long-time family friend - spoke at his memorial service in 1959.

Answer: Four Quartets

Eliot received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. He considered "Four Quartets" his masterpiece and was convinced that it brought him the award. It contains the pieces "Burnt Norton" (1936), "East Coker" (1940), "The Dry Salvages" (1941), and "Little Gidding" (1942).

Answer: John Davy Hayward

Eliot and Hayward were good friends, and during these years, Hayward was in charge of Eliot's pieces. Upon their separation, Hayward kept some of the pieces and bequeathed them to the University of Cambridge in 1965, on his death from muscular dystrophy, which was only a few months after Eliot's.

Answer: Knowledge and Experience in the Philosophy of F. H. Bradley

Submitted in 1916, the dissertation was approved but Eliot didn't get his Ph.D at that time because he failed to be present to defend it. "On Poetry and Poets" (1957), "Notes Toward the Definition of Culture" (1948), and "The Idea of a Christian Society" (1939) were all publications of his throughout his life.

Answer: Eliot received all of these awards

Eliot received the Order of Merit in 1948. This award may only be granted by the Monarch, and the basis upon receiving it is outstanding service in the armed forces, and outstanding work and skills in literature literature, science, and art. Eliot received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.

This award may only be given by the President of the US. It was given to Eliot by John F. Kennedy. It has a rival award that is considered to be just as honorable given by Congress. This rival award is known as the Congressional Gold Medal. Eliot accepted his medal and was brought into the Order of the Legion d'Honneur in 1951 as an Officer.

This order originated in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Answer: 22 cents

Eliot was placed on a 22 cent stamp in the US in 1986. Eliot would have been 98 years old at this time. The 15 cent stamp was the cost in 1980, the 25 cent stamp in 1990, and the 29 cent stamp in 1994.

Answer: Little Gidding

Published in 1942, "Little Gidding" is the last of the four pieces, which represents fire. "Burnt Norton" (1935) represents air, and it is the first of the four pieces. Following that, "East Coker" (1940) represents earth, and the third of the series is "The Dry Salvages" (1941), which represents water.

Answer: The Elder Statesman

Published in 1959, the play "The Elder Statesman" was the last of Eliot's pieces (six years prior to his death). Despite this, Eliot had two posthumous publications (a facsimile edition of "The Waste Land" (1974) and "Inventions of the March Hare" (1996)).

Answer: The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs and Billy M'Caw: The Remarkable Parrot

Published in 1939, "The Queen's Book of the Red Cross" featured numbers of famous authors, and was intended to help the Red Cross during World War II. It was promoted by queen Elizabeth. "After Strange Gods' (1934) and "Elizabethan Essays" (1934) were nonfictional pieces by Eliot. "Coriolan" (1931) was a poem by Eliot.

Answer: Gerald Kelly

Sir Gerald Kelly (1879-1972) was a noted portrait artist (and president of the Royal Academy) who was over 80 at the time and rather ill so the last sittings had to be cancelled. Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) was a Canadian born British humourist and painter, a friend of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, and painted Eliot in 1930 and 1949. Patrick Heron (1920-1999) was an English painter and designer whose abstract expressionist painting of Eliot was used on the 150th National Gallery commemorative stamp (1 of 10) issued on 18 July 2006. Powys Evans (1899-1981) was a caricaturist (known as "Quiz") who produced cartoons of many famous people including Eliot.

Answer: Sir Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness (1914-2000) was a celebrated stage and movie actor. He had already achieved some notable successes both on stage and on screen as well as serving in the Royal Navy during World War 2, where he commanded a landing craft during the invasion of Sicily.

Answer: Alan Rawsthorne

Alan Rawsthorne (1905-1971) was a British composer he wrote the music for "Practical Cats" in 1954, an overture and six of the poems, voiced by Robert Donat, is available and much preferable to the laboriously inept musical it spawned.

Answer: Harry, Lord Monchensey

Harry, Lord Monchensey is a character in Eliot's "The Family Reunion" which had a short run in the West End in March of 1939, but was revived to some acclaim by the Royal Shakespeare Company (with Greg Hicks as Harry) in 1999. "The Confidential Clerk" was a "drawing room comedy" of mistaken identity where Denholm Elliot took the leading role of Colby Simkins in 1953, which played for nearly a year at the Duke of York theatre in Drury Lane.

Answer: East Coker

"In my beginning is my end. In my end is my beginning" are the lines along with "Of your charity pray for the repose of the soul of Thomas Sterns Eliot, Poet 26 September 1888 - 4 January 1965". The church of St. Michaels is in East Coker, Somerset, England."

Answer: Logan's Run

"The Naming of Cats" (in an abridged version) from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" is quoted by "The Old Man" played by Peter Ustinov.

Answer: "Because I know that time is always time."

"Because I know that time is always time" is from "Ash Wednesday" published in 1930. "All time is unredeemable" is from "Burn Norton", "We are only undefeated/Because we have gone on trying," is from "Dry Salvages", "History is now and England" is from "Little Gidding".

Answer: Willem Dafoe

Willem Dafoe plays Tom Eliot to Miranda Richardson's Viv; Tim Dutton plays Maurice Haigh-Wood (her brother); Nickolas Grace plays Bertrand Russell and John Savident plays Sir Frederick Lamb.

Answer: "Give me the bonus of laughter/As I lose hold"

"Give me the bonus of laughter/As I lose hold" is from "A nip in the air" by Eliot's former student John Betjeman; "My sight may be failing, but yet I confess" is from "Old Deuteronomy" from "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"; "Rose of memory/rose of forgetfulness" is from "Ash Wednesday"; "It is worth while dying, to find out what life is." is from act III of "The Elder Statesman".

Answer: Emphysema

Eliot was a heavy smoker, and he was diagnosed with bronchitis several times throughout his life because of it. Finally, he contracted emphysema which ended his life on 4 January 1965. His body was cremated and he was taken to St. Michael's Church in East Coker.