Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot
An item at American Writers Museum
An American who spent much of his life in England, Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot is best known for his epic poem The Waste Land (1922), an articulation of the disillusionment of the post-World War I generation (the "Lost" generation). A modernist, he rejected Victorian poetic conventions in favor of a more fragmented approach.
A midlife conversion to the Anglican Church led to a shift in the tone of his work, marked by the poem "Ash-Wednesday" (1930). His final major work, The Four Quartets, was published in 1943. In 1948, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
AMERICAN VOICES
An exhibit at American Writers Museum
American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.
This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.