The Essential T.S. Eliot: Career-Spanning Poetry from a Major Twentieth-Century Writer

by T.S. Eliot

A selection of the most significant and enduring poems from one of the twentieth century’s major writers, chosen and introduced by Vijay Seshadri

T.S. Eliot was a towering figure in twentieth century literature, a renowned poet, playwright, and critic whose work—including “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915), The Waste Land (1922), Four Quartets (1943), and Murder in the Cathedral (1935)—continues to be among the most-read and influential in the canon of American literature.

The Essential T.S. Eliot collects Eliot’s most lasting and important poetry in one career-spanning volume, now with an introduction from Vijay Seshadri, one of our foremost poets.

Genres: Poetry, Audiobook, Classics, Literature

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2006

About the author

Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, dramatist and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry." He wrote the poems The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, and Four Quartets; the plays Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party; and the essay Tradition and the Individual Talent. Eliot was born an American, moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 (at the age of 25), and became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39.

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.S._Eliot

Reviews

[Brittany McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. I see a lot of complaints that the poems lack commentary. I loved that this was pure poetry without being bogged down by afterthought commentary and dissections. The poems are meant to be just that. Poems. Of course, an author always has a meaning or a thought in mind when a poem is written, but the beauty in poetry is that the reader gets to take away from the poem however it affected them personally.

Overall, I thought this was great, and I didn't realize how many T.S. Eliot poems I had already heard or was a fan of.

This is great for fans of poetry that don't need half a book to talk about the poems. This book lets the poems speak for themselves as they were intended.

4 Stars.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

No notes, translations, explanations of any kind? Balderdash, I say. I respect Eliot's poetry very much, but you really ought to give the reader more to hang on to than just that.

Here's me saying it a little more fully: https://www.the-american-interest.com...

[Maddie Pearson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good bare bones introduction to Eliot’s notable works. I do wish there was so commentary on specifically The Waste Land as well as Prufrock, but I understand the opposition to that for an introduction to Eliot. Very enjoyable as an audiobook!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library | Meh | I only knew a handful of Eliot's poems before picking this up, and knew a few random things about him as a person. I don't want commentary or analysis in poetry collections, so I'm fine with this not including any. I see the technical quality of the work, I just didn't like most of it, and I thought the readings were mostly pretty bad. A few were presented as if they were Dr Seuss, and most flattened the impact of the words.

[Justine Cucchi-Dietlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I enjoyed Eliot in high school and thought this would be a nice audiobook to listen to on the trip to a conference.

[Tom Walsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the Title Says: Essential

This collection provides an excellent assortment of Eliot’s most important works enhanced by the reading of the poems by some of our best Poets. As with any group of artists, some do a better job of interpretation than others but overall the quality of the readings is quite good. Very enjoyable. Five Stars. *****

[Leah Cotterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a reminder of the density of poetry. Worthy of far more study than I can devote. A few passages made it all worth it, but certainly not good for someone not in a positive mindset. Elliot is quite dark, yet I enjoyed his perspective on the concept of time.

[Dollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading poetry and had never read any T. S. Eliot, so this short book with nineteen of his poems and an essay was the perfect starter for me. Before I read it, I did some research on Eliot and I’m glad I did, because his poetry made more sense to me and I was also aware that he wrote a “different type” of poetry than what had come before. He certainly did. I enjoyed his word usage and the way he structured his poems. Some of them were almost like music and I felt compelled to read them aloud, which is what I do when I REALLY enjoy a poem. I will be searching for more of Eliot’s work in the future (which is time present and time past). This has made me want to read more poetry, so I’m going to try to find poetry by my reading buddy, Lisa’s, favorite poet, Robert Service. My personal favorite poet is Portland’s own, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (how I love The Children’s Hour!)

[Carol Bakker]

I'm not giving stars on this one. Not qualified.

I snatched this from my public library. I was, in a phrase, an Eliot virgin. I popped the CD into the car stereo and drove across our pastoral valley ... thoroughly baffled. Listening to The Wasteland? It's a trip! While a phrase grabbed me here and there I honestly could make NO sense of it.

Today, I found all the poems online and listened/read along, even reading a bit of commentary. Well, I'm still bewildered. But people wiser than I say Eliot is an honorable man. Perhaps this is the Jackson Pollock of poetry?

I view this as my first attempt.

Eliot (1888-1965) reads his own work on this CD. If you've been to poetry readings, you'll understand it when I say he reads with a 'poetry voice,' where the pitch seems forever suspended above normal speaking range.

I was *thrilled* to get most of the references from "Difficulties of a Statesman" from Coriolan. I just read Shakespeare's Coriolanus three days ago. Hashtag 'readingintersection'. Booyah!

The most accessible and frolicsome poem was "Macavity: the Mystery Cat" If you've seen Andrew Lloyd Weber's musical "Cats" (I haven't) you know it. The recording was live and it was fun to hear the audience's snickers and guffaws.

[MQ Gem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally don't make a fuss about literature not having commentary, but in this case, I think these poems could've benefited from some degree of explanation given their overarching density. It goes without saying that T.S. Eliot is not an easy poet to read- what with his complex allusions, heavy symbolism, and various modernist tenets. I had trouble relating to much of his writing, especially the back and forth dialogues (taken from his play excerpts like Sweeney Agonistes and such). That being said, I did have strong takeaways from some of his pieces, including "Rhapsody on a Windy Night" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Also who could forget "The Wasteland," which many consider to be the magnum opus to accentuate? I had the audiobook version of this downloaded, and it was great to hear Willem Dafoe read that poem aloud! It was somewhat interesting to have the collection end on "Tradition and the Individual Talent" which is memorable literary criticism from Eliot. One sentence I loved from this essay: "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from those things."

[Frank Haug · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this on audiobook, so I would have to listen to the readings, then look up the poem and read it, read some commentary, and then listen to the poems again. That seemed to work pretty well, though it made me miss being in college and being able to have classes and professors walk through the poems and the context, etc. I think that the sort of high-browness and convoluted nature puts me off a little but, but at the same time is intriguing. I am not sure how I feel about his comments in the essay on talent about a poet having to divest themselves of personality, and to be sort of a channel for history, but at the same time, I found myself nodding along to much of what he was saying. I think I need to probably get a book that has better guidance or reviews and criticism, because these poems are sort of hard to just listen to and follow without probably listening and knowing the context. Need to invest some more time into these to get more out of them I suppose.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somebody was complaining that this book didn't have commentary. Maybe if i paid for the book I'd be annoyed, but this was exactly what i was looking for, a collection of just the poetry. A lot of Eliot's stuff does not resonate with me. Like the repetitive back and forth dialogues. But the famous lines are definitely still cool. And some new ones to me as well, like Little Gidding -

"You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid. And prayer is more
Than an order of words, the conscious occupation
Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying."

Problem with poetry is you can never get the full experience the first time through. So I'll have to revisit later.

[Ciara Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the span of 14 months — and I’m really glad I took my time! I get tempted to rush through, but even in reading 1-2 poems a sitting, I still know I missed an absurd amount. This is the first TS Eliot I’ve ever read, and I will say, this stuff is DENSE. Or maybe I am just a lousy reader. Nonetheless, there’s so much to unpack here — at times it reads like a philosophy text in song. Beautiful beautiful stuff

[Natty S]

As with the Neuruda, I will definitely be listening to this over and over again (indeed I cannot count the number of times I've listened to Paul Scholfield read The Waste Land & Four Quartets). What else is there to say? Tom Eliot may have been a pretentious, racist little anti-semite but damn was he fucking amazing poet.

[Rochelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction by Vijay Seshadri was comprehensive and for me, a newcomer to Eliot, it was much needed insight into the literary giant. I found Eliot's poetry extremely difficult to understand, although the language was beautiful. I found the last and only essay in the book, Tradition and the Individual Talent, clever and more easily grasped than the poems.

[James G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something about this books seems wholly unnecessary. I mean, who doesn’t know all the Eliot enough? But then he writes of time, and you think maybe he’s a bodhisattva? With all the pettiness, hate and antisemitism that makes men human, as a burden. Maybe he is my gateway to the East, to being at the End of Days and embracing it like a child, with wonder, new words & unknowing.

[Beckiezra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried listening to this at normal speed to honor the intent of all the different performers reading Elliot’s poems but that just meant I never finished it before the library took it back. I waited 5-6 months for this book to be available from the library, really no chance I’ll be getting it back to finish the second half of it.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like poetry, then I couldn’t see you not loving or appreciating this collection of T. S. Eliot. It’s simply superb. I have read a few questionable poetry books, but this isn’t one of them. It’s a literal masterpiece. Eliot was a magnificent poet and this book puts that onto display!

[Laurie Sand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, the best part of this collection was the essay at the very end, in which Eliot argues that packaging poetry by poet rather than content has the tendency to strip the poetry of its contextual significance. Sorry dude, your fame is ruining your poetry.

[Hannah]

**Listened to as an audiobook**

Already a fan of Eliot’s work and have read most of these poems many times, but I do want to shout out the production team for this audiobook as most of the readers were really excellent. I particularly enjoyed the readings of “The Wasteland” and “The Four Quartets”

[Joe Newbry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I don’t understand the genius of T.S. Eliot. But some words ring true:

Thou hast not youth not age
But as it were after a dinner sleep
Dreaming of both

[p]

idk if i can give this a rating.... i hate poetry but i keep trying to get myself to try it and it just never works out RIP. i skim read it so

[Kent Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I completely agree with all the selections . . .

[Ashley Chang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could read Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock over and over again.

bruggy bruggy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

[Em (Makenna) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will definitely be rereading some of these poems!

[A.B. Cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Commentary, would have been very useful for this book.
The only suggestion I could make is move “Tradition and the Individual Talent” essay after the introduction in the beginning of the book.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of these are lifelong favorites and a few I'm not sure what to make of (looking at you Sweeney Agonistes)

[Elias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Choruses from the rock almost made me a religious man

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are lots of literary allusions in Eliot's poetry. Explanatory footnotes would have been helpful as would translations of Greek, Latin, and other foreign phrases.

[Aariz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating for edition, not poems + essay