T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot

Born in St. Louis in 1888, T. S. Eliot became one of the defining writers of literary modernism. He studied at Harvard, spent formative periods in Europe, and eventually settled in England, where his poetry, essays, and plays helped reshape English-language literature.

His best-known works include The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, and Four Quartets. Alongside his poetry, he was an important critic and editor, and his writing had a lasting effect on how readers and writers thought about tradition, language, and modern life.

Eliot received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 for his pioneering contribution to present-day poetry. He died in 1965, but his work remains widely read for its intensity, musical language, and searching view of the modern world.