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 * == T.S. Eliot  ==

||> Thomas Stearns Eliot was born on September 26, 1888. He was the youngest of seven children. He lived 18 years before moving from St. Louis to attend Harvard University. There he earned an M.A. in English literature and also studied philosophy. It was in December of 1908 when a book by the title of Arthur Symons's //The Symbolist Movement in Literature// changed his life. It introduced him into the world of poetry, and sparked the transformation from bank clerk to famous poet, critic, and editor. In the summer of 1915, Eliot married Vivien Haigh-Wood. Together, they lived in London; Vivien's unwillingness to cross the Atlantic is partly to blame. They had no children, but in an effort to support himself he taught at Highgate Junior School. Finally finding steady income working in the foreign section of Lloyds Bank, he was able to turn again to his love for poetry. He suffered a severe writer's block due to family issues, but conquered it and finished an extensive poem titled "[|The Waste Land]." From there, he was free to write. Eliot used the people around him as inspiration, with poems such as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," a poem dedicated to a medical student he befriended while living in Paris, and "Aunt Helen," which was (no surprise) about his beloved aunt that passed away. After a fulfilling life of passionate writing, Thomas Eliot passed away on January 4th, 1965. His poems will live forever. ||

Poetry links
||>  ||
 * * [|Morning at the Window]
 * [|Cousin Nancy]
 * [|The Rum Tum Tugger]
 * [|The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock]
 * [|Ash Wednesday]

. ==The poem "Aunt Helen" was written in 1917 by T.S. Eliot. "Aunt Helen" is written about Eliot's favorite aunt. He describes her death and how the world seemed to go quiet when she died. Eliot seems to tell the reader that he loved his aunt very much, and when she died, the people around his aunt had in some way "died" also. He tells about how although she dies, the rest of their lives must still go on. Now everyone will remember his dear aunt Helen Slingsby. ==


==In the beginning of the poem Eliot introduces Miss Slingsby, his aunt that was never married. She was cared for by four servants in a little house and when she died it was as if everything else around her, even heaven above, stopped in silence. Eliot goes on to say that the shutters of the house were drawn in after the undertaker took care of the dead body and cleaned up after himself, as he had done many times before. The dogs continued to be taken care of, but the parrot passed on shortly after aunt Helen. He concludes by saying the clock still continues to tick, just as life goes on, and the servant holds the housemaid who had always done her job when aunt Helen lived. ==

== "Aunt Helen" by T.S. Eliot, certainly is not a rhyming or rythmic-type poem. In fact, there is no rhyming at all. This poem does not have many literary devices such as alliteration or metaphors. What it does have is great visuals. Throughout the poem, T.S. entertains us with his whirlpool of words demonstrating a story in our minds, kind of like a movie on a TV except this movie is in words. How does he do it? ==


==The theme of this poem  is the acceptance of death. Eliot shows us in this poem how life is different yet similar when his aunt dies. He shows us how even though his parrot dies and his life seems gloomy, others still are acting as if she had never died. Whether or not this is acceptance or denial is a different story. ==


==This poem is very eerie. It's not a poem that is particularly good but one that takes a certain literature mindset. The point of this story was not very clear besides the fact he loved his aunt and it may have impacted others but it did not impact me. Almost all of the stanzas were gray and unentertaining but some how it caught my eye. This story relates to everyday lives on how bad things can happen and the world can still run smoothly. ==


==My personal feelings about the poem were that it was sad and miserable. Eliot wrote the poem in a way that makes the reader think about his or her family, and how things would react if one of their family members died. I personally liked the poem because it showed a lot of feelings and painted a vivid picture in my mind of Eliot's Aunt Helen. After reading the poem, It made me wonder how close the author was with his aunt before she died. I could tell they must have been close friends from the way he talked about her. This poem wasn't very fascinating, but wasn't trite either. It was in the middle. The poem didn't draw my attention to much, yet wasn't boring. "Aunt Helen" was in a way, foreign to me because no one in my family has died since I have been alive. I dont know what it is like to lose a family member. I can't relate one hundred percent to the poem, because it doesn't quite pertain to me. ==

=="Aunt Helen" is a good-quality poem, one of which shows character and meaning. The poem is simple, straightforward, and uncomplicated. This poem isn't like some poems that use nine to descirbe on idea. It gets right to the point and is fun to read. "Aunt Helen" is a some what random poem that doesn't contain a motive. It is simple yet interesting. ==

Sources
Walther, Russell B. "T.S. Eliot." __www.Poets.org__. 20 Jan. 2003. 17 Nov. 2008 <http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/18> Smallings, K. T. "Poems by T.S. Eliot." __Black Cat Poems__. 7 Dec. 2008 <http://www.blackcatpoems.com/e/t_s_eliot.html>. Garraty, John A., and Mark C. Carnes. __American National Biography__. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 9 Dec. 2008 <http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/life.htm>