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T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born September 26, 1888, in St. Louis, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River, and later spoke of his background as, variously, Southwestern or Midwestern (not very precise terms);

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Featured Poem

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2<author>
3  <person id="3574" sex="1" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>T. S. (Thomas Stearns)</firstname>
6      <lastname>Eliot</lastname>
7    </name>
8    <life-events>
9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1888</date>
10      <date ty="death" circa="false" suffix="ad">1965</date>
11      <text-value>(1888–1965)</text-value>
12    </life-events>
13    <biography>y</biography>
14  </person>
15</author>
16

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Poets Book of Days

September 26

George Santayana died, 1952

View Calendar of Days

Poetry Trivia

Question:

What medical condition allowed Percy Bysshe Shelley's heart, upon its failing to catch fire, to be grabbed from the funeral pyre, given to Mary Shelley, and eventually buried 67 years later with their son?

Answer

According to a 1955 article by Arthur Norman in the Journal of Historical Medicine, Shelley may have suffered from a progressively calcifying heart, which would have kept it from burning with the rest of his remains.

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