Call Number:

C0686

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

14 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); T.S. Eliot Letters to Emily Hale, Box and Folder Number; Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1931-1940 (bulk) and 1895-1965 (inclusive)

Creator:

Eliot, T.S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965 and Hale, Emily, 1891-1969

Form:

Love letters.

Abstract:

Consists mostly of letters from British-American poet T.S. Eliot to Emily Hale (1891-1969), a teacher, actress, and close friend of Eliot's. Also included are copies of typescripts by Eliot, photographs, ephemera, and a brief narrative of the relationship between the two penned by Hale.

T.S. Eliot, the noted modern poet, dramatist, and literary critic, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned a master's degree from Harvard University, which is when he met Emily Hale in 1913. The two formed a close bond, and when Eliot moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 to begin his PhD studies (eventually becoming a British subject in 1927) they remained in contact, establishing a robust correspondence that would continue intermittenly for years. In addition to his writing, Eliot worked as a schoolteacher and a bank accounts manager before joining the publishing firm of Faber and Gwyer (later Faber and Faber) in 1925, where he worked for the remainder of his career. Best known for such poems as The Waste Land, The Hollow Men, and Four Quartets, Eliot was the recipient of the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Emily Hale was born on October 27, 1891. She was an actress and stage director, and taught drama and voice instruction at Simmons College, Milwaukee-Downer College in Wisconsin, Scripps College, and Abbott Academy. She met the poet T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) while he was at pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard, and maintained a lifelong and close friendship with the poet, corresponding with him and routinely visiting him over several decades. Out of his reminiscing of their former relationship, Eliot composed "Burnt Norton" published as the last poem in his Collected Poems 1909-1935 (1936). Hale died in 1969.

The collection consists primarily of letters by poet, dramatist, and literary critic T.S. Eliot to Emily Hale (1891-1969), a teacher, actress, and lifelong friend of Eliot's. Also included are a small portion of correspondence between Hale and others, as well as some photographs, ephemera, clippings, copies of typescript material by Eliot, and a brief narrative of the relationship between the two penned by Hale.

Emily Hale and T.S. Eliot first met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while Eliot was working towards a graduate degree in philosophy. They struck up a friendship, and Eliot expressed a romantic interest in Hale soon after. Though Hale did not initially share that interest, they remained friends and stayed in close contact after Eliot moved abroad, corresponding frequently for decades. The bulk of the letters were written during the 1930s and provide a detailed account of their intimate friendship, as well as Eliot's work and personal life.

Eliot often enclosed other materials in his letters to Hale, such as photographs and letters he had received from friends and contemporaries (including literary peers such as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound). In a letter from December 29, 1930, Eliot addressed this practice, writing "I shall from time to time slip in a note or letter to me from my acquaintances, as these do I think to help make one's life seem more real to another person." A number of the letters also include handwritten annotations and corrections.

Emily Hale's friendship with former Princeton professor and literary critic Willard Thorp and his wife Margaret is also evident from letters between the three included with the correspondence. It was partially at the urging of Professor Thorp that Hale wrote a short explaination her relationship with Eliot to be included with the collection when it came to Princeton. It was also because of Emily Hale's relationship with the Thorps and their connection to Princeton that she chose to donate the letters to the University. T.S. Eliot was not initially pleased with this decision, and his opinions regarding this are discussed in letters to Hale between 1956 and 1957.

Collection is arranged chronologically by type.