T. S. Eliot, The Cultivation of Christmas Trees

William Baker (Northern Illinois University) ; Katie Wales (University of Nottingham)

Ed. by Chris Baldick, Goldsmiths College, University of London
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication Oct 1954

Places

England (Country of Origin; Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Poem

Resources

Ariel Poems (Works)

The Cultivation of Christmas Trees (1954) is a free-verse poem of 34 lines by T. S. Eliot. First drafted in 1952 and subsequently revised, it first appeared in October 1954 as a small pamphlet with an inscription and illustration by David Jones; an American edition with the same verse text but decorated by a different illustrator, Enrico Arno, followed two years later (October 1956). Eliot included this poem in his Collected Poems 1909-1962 (1963) as the last of his “Ariel Poems”.

Eliot himself expressed unease over his poem, writing to Richard Aldington shortly after its publication “that he did not consider it very well executed but that he thought the idea a right one” (Timmerman: 135)…

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1622 words

Citation: Baker, William, Katie Wales. "The Cultivation of Christmas Trees". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40475, accessed 07 February 2023.]

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