The 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded Thomas Stearns Eliot "for his outstanding, pioneer contribution to present-day poetry."

Laureate

T.S. Eliot was a highly influential innovator of twentieth century poetry known for works such as ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the Octob ...

'' (1922) and ''

Four Quartets ''Four Quartets'' is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published over a six-year period. The first poem, ''Burnt Norton'', was published with a collection of his early works (1936's ''Collected Poems 1909–1935''). After a f ...

'' (1940). He also wrote essays and plays such as ''

Murder in the Cathedral ''Murder in the Cathedral'' is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935, that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writin ...

'' (1935).

Nominations

T.S. Eliot was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature on seven occasions, the first time in 1945. In 1948 three nominations for Eliot were submitted. In total the Nobel committee received 45 nominations for 31 individuals in 1948, including the future Nobel Laureates Halldór Kiljan Laxness,

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokov and Samuel Joseph Agnon. Other nominated included Angelos Sikelianos,

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( , ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and Minister of Culture (France), minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (Man's Fate) (1933) won the Prix Go ...

Georges Duhamel Georges Duhamel (; ; 30 June 1884 – 13 April 1966) was a French author, born in Paris. Duhamel trained as a doctor, and during World War I was attached to the French Army. In 1920, he published '' Confession de minuit'', the first of a serie ...

Marie Under Marie Under ( – 25 September 1980) was one of the greatest Estonian poets. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 12 separate years. Early life Under was born in Reval (now Tallinn), Estonia to school teachers ...

and

Arnulf Øverland Ole Peter Arnulf Øverland (27 April 1889 – 25 March 1968) was a Norwegian poet and artist. He is principally known for his poetry which served to inspire the Norwegian resistance movement during the German occupation of Norway during Wor ...

. Nominations this year also included

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

, the Nobel Prize Laureate in 1929, unconventionally nominated for a second prize by two members of the Swedish Academy.

Award ceremony speech

In his award ceremony speech on 10 December 1948, Anders Österling, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said of Eliot: "His career is remarkable in that, from an extremely exclusive and consciously isolated position, he has gradually come to exercise a very far-reaching influence. At the outset he appeared to address himself to but a small circle of initiates, but this circle slowly widened, without his appearing to will it himself. Thus in Eliot’s verse and prose there was quite a special accent, which compelled attention just in our own time, a capacity to cut into the consciousness of our generation with the sharpness of a diamond."Award Ceremony speech 1948
nobelprize.org

References

{{Reflist

External links

Award Ceremony speech
nobelprize.org
List of all nominations for the 1948 Nobel Prize in Literature
nobelprize.org Nobel Prize in Literature T. S. Eliot