The wartime admissions of T.S. Eliot

The wartime admissions of T.S. Eliot

In 1944, T.S. Eliot is 56 years old. He seems older: “I am getting to be a wambling old codger.” He is war-worn: “I have taken, when in London, to sleeping in my teeth.” As a fire-watcher sharing shifts, his sleep is hampered by understandable pudeur: “I haven’t got enough phlegm to undress completely, and I think it best to sleep in my truss, in case of sudden blasting, which is not very comfortable.” He knows, too, that his letters are dull. T…