Eliot through his classicism and emphasis upon tradition, and also studied the poetry of Dante, who would prove to be a lifelong source of enthusiasm and inspiration.’ (Literature)While at Harvard, Eliot studied philosophy, and literature. He received his B.A. in 1909, and stayed at Harvard to earn a Masters Degree in English Literature. In the fall of 1910, he spent a year in Paris, taking courses at the Sorbonne. When he returned to America, he went back to Harvard, where he took up graduate studies in philosophy, and he also became a teaching assistant. ‘He was awarded a traveling fellowship for the 1914-1915 academic year, and he intended to study in Germany, but the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 forced him to leave the country after only several weeks.’ (Literature)In 1915, he met Vivienne Haigh-Wood. He liked her very much, because she had such different interest than he did. They got married after being together for two months. Around the time that he was married, he met Ezra Pound. Ezra became a life-long friend, and an important literary influence. In 1933 Eliot and his wife separated, because she had a mental breakdown, and had to be confined to many different asylums from 1933, until the time of her death in 1947. The emotional difficulties caused by his marriage led him to write some intense passages in some of his later poetry.In 1917, he left his job as a teacher’s assistant, and began working at Lloyd’s Bank. Even though he was working in a bank, he continued to write poetry. His first important poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” was released during this time. On the narrator of Prufrock:‘The speaker of this ironic monologue is a modern, urban man who, like many of his kind, feels isolated and incapable of decisive action. Irony is apparent from the title, for this is not a conventional love song. Prufrock would like to speak of love to a woman,...
