T.S. Eliot RSS feed

The best books of the year

2009-11-19T12:55:23Z

Our reviewers name the titles that have meant the most to them over the past 12 months

Our writers are allowed to pick a pocket or two

2009-11-13T08:25:12Z

You can lay many faults at the door of Sir Andrew Motion but plagiarism is not among them

The wasteland that was T.S Eliot's first marriage

2009-11-05T08:19:58Z

It was a young and tragic marriage. T.S. Eliot's first wife Vivien Haigh-Wood suffered from a severe hormonal illness that required constant medical treatment, exacerbating an already hysterical nature

London can still party with the best

2009-09-04T07:28:15Z

London knows how to party even when the chips are down, and we Brits know how to shake our booty with the best of them

Return of the summer smoker

2009-07-20T08:11:55Z

Oh, the guilty pleasure of sweet, al fresco cigarette smoke on a balmy summer evening. Nick Curtis reminisces.

TS Eliot widow exults in his poetry reading

2009-07-01T07:34:04Z

In a rare public appearance, TS Eliot's widow Valerie attended a reading of her husband's poems last night at London University

A poetic masterpiece that must be heard

2009-06-30T07:30:49Z

Language "caught alive" is an intoxicating experience in all poetry - the sound is "the gold in the ore", said Robert Frost - and most particularly so with the poems of TS Eliot

Let's face it, Toon halfwits deserve the drop under smug Alan Shearer

2009-05-22T10:22:58Z

Football: Entrusting Newcastle�s survival to a smug ingenue was a work of mesmerising imbecility. Other managers could have rescued the club

Praise poets and pass the exploding sugar

2009-04-03T09:54:51Z

"Look," the novelist standing next to the buffet said, pointing down the room at the new winner of the 2008 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. "He's on his third helping." He sniggered. "That's poets for you."

The sign of a great writer: quit while you�re ahead

2009-04-03T09:49:20Z

It's been announced that Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez is "laying down his pen". At 82, he won't be writing anything else, his agent says.

Four Quartets audience held in rapt silence

2009-01-16T00:00:00Z

Stephen Dillane delivers a performance of riveting purity, under Katie Mitchell�s inspired direction in Four Quartets.

Warfare � ideal for all timewasters

2009-01-16T08:47:18Z

"All things can tempt me from this craft of verse," said WB Yeats. "There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall," judged Cyril Connolly. "Distracted from distraction by distraction," wrote TS Eliot. Boy, oh boy, did they have a handle on the freelance life.

Newcomer wins �15,000 poetry prize after tragic death of rival

2009-01-13T09:13:41Z

A newcomer has beaten favourites Glyn Maxwell and Mick Imlah to take one of the most prestigious prizes in poetry

My secret shame in the airing cupboard

2009-01-09T08:46:21Z

The night before last I got home at midnight after seeing the Donmar's magnificent production of TS Eliot's The Family Reunion to be confronted by ... flood, pestilence and woe

Amusing chatter in The Cocktail Party

2008-12-18T00:00:00Z

TS Eliot's The Cocktail Party shifts with mesmerising stealth into terrain of suffering and death.

Wilton casts her spell in The Family Reunion

2008-11-26T00:00:00Z

The Donmar launches its T S Eliot season by reminding us what a magical, entrancing experience The Family Reunion can be.

I have found the first gap in my store of knowledge

2008-10-17T07:58:37Z

I live with books. As a child a book was my reward for not screaming in protest at having my hair cut, a book was what I wanted for Christmas and my birthday, and a book was my transport to wilder shores than those of the Isle of Wight. In the army, books saved my sanity far more than cigarettes and alcohol; as a student they were my seducers, my mentors tuning the engineering of my mind, and as a traveller they have been perfect companions on my magic carpets. Books have shut out noise and nuisance, hunger and fatigue, have kept me awake and put me to sleep, have been my companions at breakfast and in bed, on trains and planes and ferries.

Poetry in motion for TS Eliot Festival

2008-10-14T23:00:00Z

The celebration of the work of modernist poet, playwright and critic TS Eliot is ambitious even by the Donmar's standards.

Insights into old masters at Proms

2008-09-03T23:00:00Z

A mark of great performances is that they enable one to see things in a new light. The Berlin Philharmonic offered two such revelations.

Rodgers� catalogue going for �113m song

2008-09-03T10:27:13Z

Rodgers & Hammerstein�s back catalogue of music and shows, including The Sound of Music and Annie Get Your Gun, are up for sale with a likely price tag of at least $200 million (�112.8 million).

Wyndham Lewis was Poet Painter

2008-08-28T23:00:00Z

Had Wyndham Lewis left writing alone and concentrated on his art, he could have become one of the most influential artists this country has ever produced.

How romance blossomed among the silent readers

2008-04-22T08:04:06Z

Lady Antonia Fraser complains that the British Library Reading Room has become overrun by undergraduates who are hogging all the desks. Her fellow historian Tristram Hunt bemoans the fact it is now a "groovy place" to meet for a frappuccino. Many feared that when the old Reading Room closed, the British Library would lose its charm. Far from it. It has become more fashionable than ever as a social venue

Hollow England need more than Becks running on empty

2008-03-28T10:55:48Z

I've witnessed octogenarian amputees moving faster to catch bendy buses on the Uxbridge Road than Becks did in Paris

Donnie Darko's follow-up torture

2007-12-06T00:00:00Z

To see Southland Tales again would be pure torture and made our critic wonder whether so much energy has ever been expended to so little effect.

Still Frisch and incendiary

2007-11-07T00:00:00Z

Max Frisch's The Arsonists is a thrilling classic but in this lethargic production the play never really catches fire, says Nicholas de Jongh.

Striking old-fashioned notes

2007-09-19T23:00:00Z

A modern take on Sophocles's Antigone is restrained and overly stylised, the required heat isn't present in this tepid performance.

A solitary Walker

2007-04-25T23:00:00Z

Stephen Kijak's tribute film contains rare interviews with the modest poet and songwriter Scott Walker, the influential hero of people like Bowie, Radiohead and Brian Eno.

Critics' choice: top five plays

2006-10-03T12:01:34Z

Book now for highlights including Oz prequel Wicked, Derek Jacobi's brilliant performance in A Voyage Round My Father and a last chance to see Rabbit.

Poet's plot to leave wife in wasteland

2006-09-24T23:00:00Z

Tom and Viv, a tragi-comedy of pre-war manners and morals, has not lost its high-level impact, even two decades after its London premiere, says Nicholas de Jongh.

Domestic wordplay

2006-09-12T11:48:02Z

Stage actor Will Keen speaks to Claire Allfree about exploring the multiple personae of poet TS Eliot for his latest role, in Tom And Viv.