[240 Crescent St., Northampton, Mass.]
At last, it seems as if I had not written to you since my return to England, it is so long since I had the opportunity to sit down for a quiet evening at the typewriter with nothing else to do. The last ten days have been very full. You know that when I have an engagement to speak I am a cat on hot bricks, and can’t settle to anything until it is over – and I have had three in the last ten days, this being the season. LastCambridge Literary SocietyTSE's lecture to;a3 FridayCorpus Christi College, CambridgeTSE twice guest at;a9 week I had to go to the English Club at Cambridge – dined with a selection of mixed young people first – lectured to them – answered questions or tried to – attended a party of them afterwards – andPickthorn, Kenneth;a5 spent the night at Corpus as the guest of Kenneth Pickthorn, whom I only saw at breakfast the next morning, andDavies, Hugh Sykes;a6 then was driven back to town by Sykes Davies. I didn’t feel very satisfied with this – I talked about ‘The Idiom of Modern Verse’, but the reception was very cordial, and I have had five letters since which I have not had time to answer. ThenBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)'The Need for Poetic Drama';a8 as'Need for Poetic Drama, The'delivered then revamped;a1 soon as I got back I had to set to work preparing a broadcast talk on ‘Modern Poetic Drama’, one of a course by various people intended for the Sixth Forms of Schools, at 3.30 last Friday, and that had to be rehearsed too. I think that went pretty well; if it comes out in ‘The Listener’ on Wednesday I will send it to you, if not I will send the script.1 ThenSt. Catherine's College, CambridgeTSE's Shirley Society address;a3 when that was done I had to re-vamp it as a talk to the Shirley Society at St. Catherine’s College, Cambridge, last night. IHenn, T. R.;a1 went down yesterday afternoon, and again staid with Pickthorn at Corpus, but dined at Catharane’s [sic] with a don named Henn ( ! an Irishman).2 I had hoped for an informal gathering of fifteen or twenty boys, but the Hall (a small one to be sure) was filled with undergraduates of both sexes. But although my matter had not been very formally prepared, it was fresh in my mind, and fairly concrete and easy to deal with in itself, and I thought the talk went off very well. Then more questions, and the rest of the evening in Henn’s rooms with a select three undergraduates and one who had been at Harvard for two years as a travelling scholar, andDane, Barbara (née Welch, later Sturtevant);a3 said he had heard of me there from a Mrs. Dane – apparently Barbara’s daughter. And back to London this morning. CambridgeHutchinson, St. Johnabducts TSE for tea;a5 very foggy and cold – onanti-Semitism;b8 the platform last night I ran into St John Hutchinson, who carried me off to tea (on my way to Corpus) atHutchinson, Barbaraand Victor Rothschild in Cambridge;a5 MertonRothschild, Victor;a3 Hall with Barbara Rothschild (his daughter) and her husband Victor. Barbara very charming, Victor as heavily Jewish as ever.
AndTatlow, Canon Tissingtonobliged with poetry reading;a1 now I feel very free! Nothing more serious on hand than a reading of verse to Canon Tissington Tatlow’s students next Sunday evening,3 andMorleys, thetheir Thanksgiving parties;b2 ThanksgivingKennerleys, theat Morleys' Thanksgiving Day party;a4 Day dinner at the Morleys (withFabers, theat Morleys' Thanksgiving Day party;d1 the Fabers and the Kennerleys). OnFabers, thesail model boats with TSE;d2 Saturday afternoon I went for a sail in Regents Park with the Fabers and Tom (the other children have not returned from school, and Tom is only with them because he has been ill) – they have some small sailing boats for hire on the pond there, but it takes careful steering because the space is so cramped and there are so many rowing boats – and Tom is reported to have said afterwards proudly that he had (under my tuition) ‘nearly mastered the art of sailing, but needed a great deal of practice’. So'Introduction' (to Revelation);a1 IFamily Reunion, Theprogress stalled;a4 am waiting to hear whether I must write that essay on Revelation4 before I start to grinding my wits over a new play. ‘MurderMurder in the Cathedral1937 Duchess Theatre West End transfer;e8royalties;a5’ seems to be just keeping its head above water, and will be paying me some royalties.5
ForeignSpanish Civil Wardivisions of English public opinion on;a1 affairs (and certain domestic politics too, as you may know from American papers) are very worrying at the present time. Public opinion is very divided, I believe, about Spain: too divided for any united action unless there is some crisis (which God forbid) that will affect our interests. Those people who are naturally Liberal, try to think of the Spanish Government as Liberals; those who are naturally Conservative, think of the Rebels as the Saviours of Order. The smaller number of people who think, do not find it so easy to make up their minds. My feelings, on the whole, are against the Rebels, but not strongly enough to make me want England to take sides.6 I certainly sympathise with the people of Catalonia, and with the Basques, both of whom are apparently united amongst themselves: thecommunismas against fascism;a7 formerChristianitypolitics;c5Christianity versus Fascism and Communism;a5 arefascismand the Spanish Civil War;a9 syndicalists, the latter Catholics, and neither likely to put up willingly with either a Fascist or a Communist regime. Both systems involve a centralisation which would be quite unnatural to a country so diverse as Spain – or to a country so diverse as any country ought to be. I think that fascism is as great an enemy, because more insidious, to Christianity as communism. And I cannot see that it is ever right to use black or brown or yellow mercenaries against one’s fellow-countrymen. Meanwhile England is distracted by theories of the right and wrong of war. Pacifism, not necessarily wrong in principle, tends to become wrong in fact, because it tends to assemble people who object to war for quite different reasons, not all of which can be right; and therefore tends to be degraded to the lowest motive.
IRoosevelt, Franklin D.TSE's views on;a4 should like to explain my views about Roosevelt. TheySheffields, theand TSE's view of FDR;c3 were formed before IconservatismLandon distinguished from Roosevelt;a3 came to America in September, and were certainly not moulded by the Sheffields: I make no claim to originality, because I think that similar views are held by most people here and are pretty well voiced by the press. Ieconomicsand FDR;a7 have very grave doubts about Roosevelt: I do not see how he can go on fitting his positive programme of helping those whom the economic system has depressed, with his practice of borrowing money from the banks. His notions of currency seem to be conventional. I cannot see how his policy of the last four years, unless he improves his financial ideas, can lead to anything but chaos. But it is possible, that under the pressure of circumstances he may be driven to be more radical in monetary policy. On the other hand, I cannot see that the return of Landon could have led to anything but disaster much quicker. One felt of course that Roosevelt was an individual, a responsible person for what he did; while Landon seemed to be nothing but a puppet of a very stupid conservatism. A Landon administration would have had either to continue the policy of Roosevelt, while declaring that it was reversing it, or else have reduced the country to general disorder and rebellion within a few months. In short, I only say that however bad Roosevelt may be, Landon would have been much worse. If everybody had known how large Roosevelt’s majority was to be, it would have been smaller, because I am sure that a great many people who might have preferred to vote for Thomas or Lemke voted for Roosevelt because they were afraid that Landon might get in. TheSheffields, thesound on American politics;c4Sheffield, Alfred Dwight ('Shef' or 'Sheff')
ThereBell, Bernard Iddings;a4 now. I hope you met Iddings Bell, who is rather a Bull in a China Shop but a good man and no heretic. Old bruises do I know begin to ache unexpectedly. IChapman, Dom John, OSBSpiritual Letters;a4 have sent for Dom Chapman’s Spiritual Letters,8 to read and send on to you if I like them. I must go to the post with this – but I hope to write again, more briefly, tomorrow night, but not for the same boat, so you will not receive it at the same time – and should like to tell you how I think of you – and especially when I wake up in the morning – and how I long for you – and how I imagine meeting you in the next July. In Christ always your
ThereOld Possum’s Book of Practical Catsand Children's Hour;b7 is a possibility of Uncle Possum getting a job on the wireless for the Children’s Hour.
1.‘The Need for Poetic Drama’, Listener 16 (25 Nov. 1936), 994–5: CProse 5, 401–6.
2.T. R. HennHenn, T. R. (1901–74), Fellow and then President of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, 1926–61; Judith Wilson Lecturer in Poetry and Drama, 1961–5. Works include The Lonely Tower (1950), The Harvest of Tragedy (1959) and The Bible as Literature (1970).
3.TissingtonTatlow, Canon Tissington Tatlow (1876–1957), Rector of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London, 1926–37; Hon. Chaplain to the Student Christian Movement of Great Britain and Ireland (of which he was founder and general secretary, 1903–29).
4.‘I by T. S. Eliot’, Revelation, ed. John Baillie and Hugh Martin (F&F, 1937).
5.DuchessMurder in the Cathedral1937 Duchess Theatre West End transfer;e8royalties;a5 Theatre receipts for Murder in the Cathedral for Dec. 1936 amounted to £1,940. 17. 2, yielding a royalty for TSE of £77. 12. 8. (ca. £500 in today’s values).
6.See Authors Take Sides on the Spanish War (Left Review, 1937):
‘The Question’ …
This is the question we are asking you:
Are you for, or against, the legal Government and the People of Republican Spain?
Are you for, or against, Franco and Fascism?
For it is impossible any longer to take no side.
Writers and Poets, we wish to print your answers. We wish the world to know what you, writers and poets, who are amongst the most sensitive instruments of a nation, feel.
TSE’s answer was placed in the category of ‘Neutral?’: ‘While I am naturally sympathetic, I still feel convinced that it is best that at least a few men of letters should remain isolated, and take no part in these collective activities.’ Reprinted in Spanish Front: Writers on the Civil War, ed. Valentine Cunningham (1986), 56.
See too TSE’s ‘Commentary’, Criterion, Jan. 1937: ‘Now an ideally unprejudiced person, with an intimate knowledge of Spain, its history, its racial characteristics, and its contemporary personalities, might be in a position to come to the conclusion that he should, in the longest view that could be seen, support one side rather than the other. But so long as we are not compelled in our own interest to take sides, I do not see why we should do so on insufficient knowledge: and even any eventual partisanship should be held with reservations, humility and misgiving. That balance of mind which a few highly-civilized individuals, such as Arjuna, the hero of the Bhagavad Gita, can maintain in action, is difficult for most of us even as observers, and, as I say, is not encouraged by the greater part of the Press.’
7.WilliamO'Connell, Cardinal William Henry Henry O’Connell (1859–1944), Catholic priest; Archbishop of Boston from 1907; appointed cardinal in 1911.
8.DomChapman, Dom John, OSB John Chapman, OSB (1865–1933), Spiritual Letters (1935). A posthumous publication.
3.BernardBell, Bernard Iddings Iddings Bell, DD (1886–1958), American Episcopal priest, author and cultural commentator; Warden of Bard College, 1919–33. In his last years he was made Canon of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Chicago, and a William Vaughn Lecturer at the University of Chicago.
8.DomChapman, Dom John, OSB John Chapman, OSB (1865–1933), Spiritual Letters (1935). A posthumous publication.
1.HughDavies, Hugh Sykes Sykes Davies (1909–84), author and critic; Fellow of St John’s College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register
6.MargaretEliot, Margaret Dawes (TSE's sister) Dawes Eliot (1871–1956), TSE's second-oldest sister sister, resident in Cambridge, Mass. In an undated letter (1952) to his Harvard friend Leon M. Little, TSE wrote: ‘Margaret is 83, deaf, eccentric, recluse (I don’t think she has bought any new clothes since 1900).’
1.Marian/MarionEliot, Marion Cushing (TSE's sister) Cushing Eliot (1877–1964), fourth child of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Eliot: see Biographical Register.
2.T. R. HennHenn, T. R. (1901–74), Fellow and then President of St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, 1926–61; Judith Wilson Lecturer in Poetry and Drama, 1961–5. Works include The Lonely Tower (1950), The Harvest of Tragedy (1959) and The Bible as Literature (1970).
7.F. O. MatthiessenMatthiessen, Francis Otto ('F. O.') (1902–50) taught for 21 years in the English Department at Harvard, where he specialised in American literature and Shakespeare, becoming Professor of History and Literature in 1942. The first Senior Tutor at Eliot House, he was a Resident Tutor, 1933–9. Works include The Achievement of T. S. Eliot (1935) and American Renaissance (1941).
3.RogerMerriman, Roger Bigelow Bigelow Merriman (1876–1945), the first Master of Eliot House, Harvard, which was opened in 1931. Born in Boston and educated at Harvard (PhD, 1902), he studied also at Balliol College, Oxford, and in Berlin. He was appointed Professor of History at Harvard in 1918. His writings include Life and Letters of Thomas Cromwell (1902), Rise of the Spanish Empire (4 vols, 1918–34) and Suleiman the Magnificent (1944). He was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a vice-president of the Massachusetts Historical Society; and he received honorary degrees from Oxford, Glasgow and Cambridge. Robert Speaight was to say of him, in The Property Basket: Recollections of a Divided Life (1970), 187: ‘A ripe character and erudite historian of the Spanish Empire, Merriman was Balliol to the backbone. At Oxford he was known as “Lumps” and at Harvard he was known as “Frisky”, and while his appearance suggested the first his ebullience did not contradict the second.’
10.CharlesNorton, Charles Eliot Eliot Norton (1827–1908), author, social critic and translator; friend of artists and writers including Carlyle, Ruskin and Leslie Stephen; Professor of the History of Art, Harvard.
7.WilliamO'Connell, Cardinal William Henry Henry O’Connell (1859–1944), Catholic priest; Archbishop of Boston from 1907; appointed cardinal in 1911.
8.KennethPickthorn, Kenneth Pickthorn (1892–1975), historian and politician; Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: see Biographical Register.
1.TheRothschild, Victor Hutchinsons’ daughter Barbara was engaged to be married, on 28 Dec. 1933, to Victor Rothschild (1910–90), who would become a Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge, 1935–9. In 1937 he was to succeed his uncle as 3rd Baron Rothschild.
2.TheodoreSpencer, Theodore Spencer (1902–48), writer, poet and critic, taught at Harvard, 1927–49: see Biographical Register.
3.TissingtonTatlow, Canon Tissington Tatlow (1876–1957), Rector of All Hallows, Lombard Street, London, 1926–37; Hon. Chaplain to the Student Christian Movement of Great Britain and Ireland (of which he was founder and general secretary, 1903–29).