Remembering T.S. Eliot

"T.S. Eliot, who died today in 1965, was one of the greatest poets writing in English in the 20th century, if not the greatest. Born in America, he moved to Britain when he was 25 and became a British citizen a few years later. His work profoundly influenced the life and thought of his time and fed the spirits of countless readers....Eliot was also a committed Christian, becoming an Anglican in 1927. He said of himself that he had "a Catholic cast of mind, a Calvinist heritage, and a Puritanical temperament". Many of his poems and other writings explore themes of faith and belief" (from Christianity Today).

I don't know what made me think of him tonight, but T.S. Eliot popped into my head. I took an English course in modern literature during the summer after my sophomore year. It was hot that summer in Rochester, NY. The classroom air was always sticky, but Dr. Spenko had a way to make the time go by quickly. We read T.S. Eliot. I forgot most of what I learned, but I remember being moved by his work.

I found this quote from Choruses from the Rock:

The endless cycle of idea and action,
Endless invention, endless experiment,
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;
Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.