T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot

Born in St. Louis in 1888, T. S. Eliot became one of the defining writers of the 20th century. He studied in the United States and Europe, settled in England, and built a career not only as a poet but also as an essayist, editor, and playwright.

Eliot helped shape literary modernism, bringing a new intensity and fragmentation to poetry that matched the anxieties of the modern world. Among his best-known works are The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, and Four Quartets, as well as the poetry collection Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, which later inspired the musical Cats.

In 1948 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his outstanding contribution to contemporary poetry. His influence on English-language writing has been enormous, and his work still invites readers to slow down, listen carefully, and discover new meanings each time they return to it.