[No surviving envelope]

T. S.Eliot
EmilyHale
TS
B-11 Eliot House
14 March 1933
Dearest Lady,

I don’t suppose I shall hear from you for another ten days, if then, if ever; but I incline to go on writing. I dare say that you are too busy to have time to think whether anybody is worrying about you or not. I had hoped to hear from the Perkins’s any news that you gave them by night letter; but either they didn’t get the news, or it wasn’t fit to tell me, for I have not heard. I wish you had a Guggenhelm Fellowship just to write letters and to keep away from earthquake zones. I was grateful to get your wire, though in the circumstances as it was collect I think you need not have been so terse, and what were you doing in Pasadena I wonder. It arrived late Sunday afternoon. I have had two ‘busy’ days since then. OnMilton Academy, BostonTSE on revisiting;a1 MondayField, Dr William Lusk;a2 afternoon Bill Field called for me and took me out to Milton to see the school and have tea with the masters and their wives and the prefects; and I took the prefects upstairs in Forbes House to see my old room, which I finally identified (it was inhabited by a youth named Keppel, an odd name to find out of England, studying in a sweater) and the prefects peered about to see if I had carved my name anywhere, and it was not to be found so I promised to come back on Graduates Day and carve it, and I showed them how the bath room used to be and tried one of the beds to see if they turned over as easily as ever, and they all ‘sir’d’ me; there seems to be a nice lot of boys there. Afterwards I dined with the Fields and a selection of masters. IField, Dr William Luskand TSE's Milton Commemoration Address;a3 really felt quite happy there; andMilton Academy, BostonTSE's Commencement Address for;a2 Field begs me to consider delivering the Commemoration or whatever it is Address in June. To-dayYeats, William Butler ('W. B.')TSE lectures on;a4 IHarvard UniversityEnglish 26 (Modern English Literature);a7on Yeats;a8 lectured on Yeats at 9, lunched early and went to the First National Bank in Boston (I find I can now transfer money to London again) andDyer, Peterwhere TSE visits him;a2 so out to Charlestown.1 They were expecting me. The prison is a ghastly place. I got finally into a large cage with steep bars like a flying aviary, in which were seated people each talking to a man in shabby grey – the prisoners. Some were negroes. Finally in came in shabby grey my Peter Dyer, and I sat and talked to him for an hour and a half. It was not nearly so trying as some visits that I have had to pay to institutions. He is I think a little unbalanced, but not enough to account for him before the law, perhaps not more than I am; and he put me at my ease. He plunged into talk about poetry at once, said he had had a very feverish life (he was an interior decorator with five children) and was now trying to take advantage of the comparative calm of prison life. To go into a prison is like going out of life, into another life; you feel (this is me talking) that this is the centre of life for the people in it, and nothing outside is so real as what is inside; you have to readjust yourself in an odd way. It has an odd analogy to a monastery. There are just as many people, he said in his strange inconsequent but continuous way, walking about the streets who are are [sc. as] much in prison as I am. That is very true, I said. And he talked about my poetry, about his own, about other peoples; kept pulling out of his pockets books, and letters; several people have visited him; perhaps he feels more important now than he ever did as an interior decorator, I thought. He is rather an egoist. Or is he just making the best of it. One grows a shell, he said. Yes, I said, but the shell is stiff and makes sores on one’s skin underneath, and he seemed to agree to that. I am still confused about my impressions; but I shall think of that prison.2 ThenGlessners, the;a1 to dinner at the Glessners (daughterSluder, Ella Cochran;a1 of Ella (Cochran) Sluder who was staying with them[)] – Ella is a St. Louis antique.3 Glessner Jewish, instructor in English. Mixed feelings. InBynner, Harold Witter;a1 between had been visited by Witter Bynner (a poet from Santa Fe)4 and Jack Clement to know about getting into Eliot House: I mean, two separate and consecutive visits. Tomorrow I have my teaparty andWomen's City Club, BostonTSE reads poetry to;a1 read poetry to the Women’s City Club.5 Until the end of this month I shall have no rest; and not much then until the middle of May. I have just received another Litt.D.; this time from Wisconsin; but there is nothing to be done about it.6 MustCharles Eliot Norton Lectures (afterwards The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism)'The Modern Mind';c3as yet unfinished;a1 finish my lecture for Friday; the last Norton but one. OnLambs, the;a1 Sunday (did I write Sunday or when) to tea at the Lambs withGrant, Robert;a1 a jam of people; AdaSheffields, the;b3, & Sheff came with me; Judge Grant7 andCram, Ralph Adams;a1 R. A. Gram the architect (and Mrs. Gram I liked)8 andSims, Admiral William Sowden;a1 Admiral & Mrs. Sims (Mrs. Sims was an old friend of Margaret’s).9 ThenEliot HouseTSE reads poetry to;b5 read poetry to Eliot House in the evening; onlySpencer, Theodore;b6 Theodore Spencer didn’t get the alarum clock to alarum in time at the end. But, I think, a success.

I must get to Mass in the morning, as I did not to-day. Je vous prie, Madame, de recevoir l’assurance de ma consideration la plus parfaite. Dans l’attente de tes nouvelles, et dans un inquietude extreme, je me soussigne, ton serviteur fidele10

I am really very anxious.

Tom

1.Charlestown State Prison. Opened in 1805, it was considerably extended over the years, and eventually closed in 1955: the site is now occupied by Bunker Hill Community College.

2.Cf. The Waste Land, 411–14:

Dayadhvam: I have heard the key

Turn in the door once and turn once only

We think of the key, each in his prison

Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison

3.EllaSluder, Ella Cochran Cochran Sluder (1872–1951), resident of St. Louis, Missouri; widow of Dr Greenfield Sluder (1865–1928), a renowned specialist in nose and throat diseases; director of the Department of Laryngology at the Washington University Medical School. Her daughter Martha Sluder (1908–78) was married to John Jacob Glessner, Instructor in English, Harvard.

4.HaroldBynner, Harold Witter Witter Bynner (1881–1968), Harvard graduate; poet and translator; long resident in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he associated with literary figures including D. H. Lawrence.

5.‘Women’s City Club’, Boston Herald, 15 Mar. 1933, 2: ‘The Women’s City Club will have T. S. Eliot, Anglo-American poet and editor of “The Criterion,” as its guest at a dinner in the clubhouse at 6:30 o’clock tonight. Mr Eliot will read from his own poetry and that of other poets in a discussion of “Some Tendencies of Modern Poetry.”’

6.‘Rum Tum Tugger’:

YesOld Possum’s Book of Practical Cats'The Rum Tum Tugger';e7 the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat –

And there isn’t any use for you to doubt it:

For he will do

As he will do

And there’s no doing anything about it!

A favourite phrase – virtually a tenet of TSE’s philosophy – signifying that there’s no point in repining over something that cannot be changed. Used fairly often in his letters, as in this letter to Polly Tandy, 9 Deccatsthe adopting of;a2n. 1937: ‘When a Cat adopts you, and I am not superstitious at all I don’t mean only Black cats, there is nothing to be done about it except to put up with it and wait until the wind changes, and perhaps he will go away of his own accord and never be heard of again; but as I say there is nothing you can do about it.’

7.RobertGrant, Robert Grant (1852–1940), popular novelist and probate court judge, 1893–1923 (a graduate of Harvard, he obtained the first PhD in English awarded in 1876, and subsequently took a law degree in 1879). He served too as an Overseer of Harvard University, 1896–1921.

8.RalphCram, Ralph Adams Adams Cram (sic; 1863–1942), Boston architect, specialising in collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings in Gothic Revival style. Anglo-Catholic. Married to Elizabeth.

9.AdmiralSims, Admiral William Sowden William Sowden Sims (1858–1936) had been in command of all US naval forces in Europe during WW1. His wife Anne Erwin Hitchcock (m. 1905) was 23 years his junior.

10.‘Please, Madam, receive the assurance of my highest consideration. Looking forward to hearing from you, and in extreme concern, I am your faithful servant’

Bynner, Harold Witter,

4.HaroldBynner, Harold Witter Witter Bynner (1881–1968), Harvard graduate; poet and translator; long resident in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he associated with literary figures including D. H. Lawrence.

cats, the Eliots' Persian, the adopting of, possible abduction of Janes's pet, Cat Morgan,
Charles Eliot Norton Lectures (afterwards The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism), weekend spent meditating, a task for Lent, contemplated, stimulated by Mirsky, preoccupying TSE, hard-going, outlined, TSE yet to begin, unsatisfactory, 'The Relation of Criticism and Poetry' (afterwards 'Introduction'), TSE preparing, and the Charles Norton references, hard-going, a week's toil over, TSE on giving the lecture, EH promised copy, 'Poetry and Criticism in the Time of Elizabeth' (afterwards 'Apology for the Countess of Pembroke'), so far promising, finished, TSE on giving the lecture, 'The Classical Tradition: Dryden on Johnson' (afterwards 'The Age of Dryden'), TSE on the lecture itself, 'The Theories of Coleridge and Wordsworth' (afterwards 'Wordsworth and Coleridge'), TSE immersed in, TSE wonders at audience for, finished, TSE's jokes lost on audience, 'The practice of Shelley and Keats' (afterwards 'Shelley and Keats'), TSE on giving the lecture, 'Arnold and the Academic Mind' (afterwards 'Matthew Arnold'), unprepared with less than two weeks, completed the morning of lecture, 'The Modern Mind', as yet unfinished, TSE on giving the lecture, 'Conclusion', TSE on giving the lecture, TSE's immediate reflections on, being revised for publication, improved by Sheff's criticisms, in proof, copy inscribed to EH, Maritain on, seem intemperate on further reflection,
see also Charles Eliot Norton Professorship of Poetry
Cram, Ralph Adams,

8.RalphCram, Ralph Adams Adams Cram (sic; 1863–1942), Boston architect, specialising in collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings in Gothic Revival style. Anglo-Catholic. Married to Elizabeth.

Dyer, Peter, writes to TSE from prison, where TSE visits him,
Eliot House, TSE offered suite in, possesses telephone, TSE offered more peaceful suite in, oppressively luxurious compared to Oxbridge, TSE moved to B-11, TSE takes up residence in, its library, conspicuous lack of teapots, TSE suffers company over breakfast, TSE's compeers at, TSE's tea-parties in, obscene limericks over dinner at, TSE reads poetry to, TSE's cello-playing neighbour, repository for Eliotana, its chaotic mealtimes, noisy,
Field, Dr William Lusk, meets TSE again, and TSE's Milton Commemoration Address, which satisfies him,

4.DrField, Dr William Lusk William Lusk Field (1876–1963), a graduate of Harvard, taught Natural Sciences at Milton Academy from 1902; Headmaster, 1917–42.

Glessners, the,
Grant, Robert,

7.RobertGrant, Robert Grant (1852–1940), popular novelist and probate court judge, 1893–1923 (a graduate of Harvard, he obtained the first PhD in English awarded in 1876, and subsequently took a law degree in 1879). He served too as an Overseer of Harvard University, 1896–1921.

Harvard University, rumours of TSE defecting to, TSE's student days at, makes TSE feel inadequate, Annenberg Hall disparaged, its society, English 26 (Modern English Literature), class described, on Shaw and Chesterton, on Hardy, positive feedback on, on Yeats, on modern poetry, on Joyce contra Lawrence, final lecture, compared architecturally to Yale, hockey match, compared to Princeton, produces Murder, TSE's student cooking at, engages MacNeice at TSE's instance, TSE's election to Phi Beta Kappa Society, where TSE's writers' cramp began, Harvard calendar given to TSE, TSE's student bodybuilding regime at, speaking engagement at, poetry reading at, confers honorary degree on TSE, stages Murder at Germanic Museum, Theodore Spencer Memorial Lecture, produces Murder again, Class Reunion at, which TSE gets out of, possible deposit for Hale letters,
Lambs, the, accompany TSE to Family Reunion, host TSE for Milton visit,

5.AiméeLamb, Aimée LambLambs, theLamb, AiméeLambs, the (1893–1989) shared a home with her sister Rosamond (1898–1989) at 310 Berkeley Street, Boston. ‘A very Cranford atmosphere,’ noted E. Martin Browne of their home life (E. Martin Browne and Henzie Browne, Two in One [1981], 206).

Milton Academy, Boston, TSE on revisiting, TSE's Commencement Address for, stages Murder, TSE's War Memorial Lecture for,
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, conceived as money-spinner, written as jeu d'esprit, individual poems sent to EH, early fragment of 'Rumpuscat', as outlined to GCF, and 'the Heaviside layer', TSE despairs of finishing, provisionally Mr Eliot's Book of Pollicle Dogs and Jellicle Cats and Other Birds & Beasts, as advertised by GCF, delayed by Milton and Byron essays, written to relieve political gloom, written in tours de force, written occasionally, and Children's Hour, TSE asked to recite, TSE at leisure to write, Hodgson promises to illustrate, Hodgson as 'the Man in White Spats', to appear autumn 1939, TSE to design cover, published, read in the Roberts household, sent to EH, reception, selling strongly, being reprinted, published in America, EH receives, the illustrations, the original Cat Morgan, read to the Roberts children, 'Bustopher Jones: The St. James's Street Cat', 'Gus: The Theatre Cat', 'Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs', 'Old Deuteronomy', 'Song of the Jellicles', 'The Naming of Cats', 'The Old Gumbie Cat', 'The Practical Cat', 'The Rum Tum Tugger',
Sheffields, the, TSE feels able to confide in, save TSE from homesickness, discuss marriage to VHE with TSE, Radcliffe Club paper rehearsed with, Norton Lectures practised on, source of TSE's happiness in Cambridge, Mass., too polite, and the Eliot family Randolph holiday, compared to Marion as confidants, their marriage analysed, on second Randolph family holiday, and TSE's view of FDR, sound on American politics, to receive TSE's South India pamphlet,
Sims, Admiral William Sowden,

9.AdmiralSims, Admiral William Sowden William Sowden Sims (1858–1936) had been in command of all US naval forces in Europe during WW1. His wife Anne Erwin Hitchcock (m. 1905) was 23 years his junior.

Sluder, Ella Cochran,

3.EllaSluder, Ella Cochran Cochran Sluder (1872–1951), resident of St. Louis, Missouri; widow of Dr Greenfield Sluder (1865–1928), a renowned specialist in nose and throat diseases; director of the Department of Laryngology at the Washington University Medical School. Her daughter Martha Sluder (1908–78) was married to John Jacob Glessner, Instructor in English, Harvard.

Spencer, Theodore, offers TSE suite in Eliot House, looks after TSE, shares whisky and conversation with TSE, talks poetry till late, appears deaf during first Norton lecture, hosts TSE after the first Norton lecture, and English 26, learns to tie tie from TSE, and Matthiessen co-direct Dekker, TSE shares homosexual experiences with, hails Burnt Norton, worth discussing American politics with, speaks with EH, and TSE's honorary Harvard degree, dies of heart attack,
see also Spencers, the

2.TheodoreSpencer, Theodore Spencer (1902–48), writer, poet and critic, taught at Harvard, 1927–49: see Biographical Register.

Women's City Club, Boston, TSE reads poetry to,
Yeats, William Butler ('W. B.'), known to TSE from 1916, at OM's tea-party, TSE to lunch with, TSE lectures on, gets away with more 'poetic' prose, discusses theatre companies, and abortive Mercury Theatre season, on Sweeney Agonistes, on Rupert Doone, TSE loyal to despite Doone, who records antipathy between TSE and, Murder copied out for, meeting up with TSE, and TSE discuss 'modern' poetry, presses Dorothy Wellesley on TSE, defended at UCD, qua writer of prose, in TSE's view, yet to master dramatic verse, TSE wonders how to mourn, stimulates East Coker, and 'Yeats', TSE unveils Woburn Walk plaque, At the Hawk's Well, Purgatory, Resurrection,

4.W. B. YeatsYeats, William Butler ('W. B.') (1865–1939), Irish poet and playwright: see Biographical Register.