Thomas Stearns Eliot, (1888 - 1965) was a British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and "one of the twentieth century's major poets". He moved from his native United States to England in 1914 at the age of 25, settling, working and marrying there. He eventually became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39, renouncing his American citizenship.

Eliot attracted widespread attention for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), which was seen as a masterpiece of the Modernist movement. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including "The Waste Land" (1922), "The Hollow Men" (1925), "Ash Wednesday" (1930), and "Four Quartets" (1943). He was also known for his seven plays, particularly "Murder in the Cathedral" (1935) and "The Cocktail Party" (1949). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry".