These years span World War II and they also follow Eliot's conversion to the Church of England and his naturalization as a British subject. These poems are the work of an older, more mature, spiritually attuned poet, facing a world torn by war and increasingly neglectful of the past. ... The beginning of this poem is very unique but we have to note that Eliot was "the master of right beginnings" (Thompson 86). ... Certainly the garden, "our first world", references the Garden of Eden. ... At this point, we have to note that, as Thompson pointed out: The "rose garden" is not the spe...

• Word Count: 2598
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Dust here is a metaphor for the speaker's relationship to the natural world and for the fact that he may soon be a corpse. ... The relationship between the speaker and the natural world is very close, even harmonious. ... Dust here is a metaphor for both the speaker's status as a corpse and for his relationship to the natural world. ... It's not that England and Italy were fighting yet (that didn't happen really until World War II). ... There are a few things to note about this guy, since he's pretty revealing in the way he goes about this poem. ...

• Word Count: 3268
• Approx Pages: 13
• Grade Level: High School

Years later he declared, "Missouri and the Mississippi have made a deeper impression on me than any part of the world." ... When World War I broke out, he transferred to Merton College, Oxford, and studied with a disciple of F. ... In an attempt to keep poetry alive he gave the world extraordinary works of literature. ... His vast knowledge of world literature, especially those in ancient Sanskrit, was instrumental in providing him with universal thought process. ... Pound, who met Eliot during the second month of the war,  arranged to have "Prufrock" published in  Poetry in June of 1915. ...

• Word Count: 4134
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School