develop a strong historical sense in order to judge literature from a proper perspective, and that the poet must be impersonal in the creative exercise of the craft. As founder and editor of The Criterion from 1922 to 1939, he provided a literary forum for many prominent contemporary writers. In the collection of essays For Lancelot Andrewes (1928), he describes his position as that of a classicist in literature, a royalist in politics, and an Anglo-Catholic in religion.Beginning in the 1930s the qualities of serenity and religious humility became paramount in Eliot's poetry, notably in Ash Wednesday (1930), The Rock (1934), and his long verse play, Murder in the Cathedral (1935), based on the 12th-century martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Four Quartets (1943), considered by many critics his finest work, expresses in moving verse a transcendental sense of time. He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1948 and the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.Eliot's fame as a playwright dates from the successful production of The Cocktail Party (1949), which explored the theme of salvation in a context of modern drawing-room comedy. Other dramatic presentations of religious and moral themes are The Confidential Clerk (1954) and The Elder Statesman (1958). Among his other works are Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (1939) a book of verse for children, which was adapted for the musical theater stage and began running in 1981; the plays Sweeney Agonistes (1932) and The Family Reunion (1939); and the prose works The Idea of a Christian Society (1940) and Notes Toward a Definition of Culture (1948).In looking at the works of Emily Dickinson as well as T.S. Eliot it is clear to see that many factors influence the style and focus of an authors works. Religion seems to have played a major part in the writings of poets at this time. It is clear that family, religion, and personal experience help shape the poetry of many authors...
