ABSTRACT
The author's first contact with the Eliot oeuvre took place on one of the mid-platforms of East Croydon station, after a visit to the Library for purely bibliophilic purposes. This was his poetry, This was what he wanted to have written. Immediately, as happens when a particular book is sampled, he wanted to read everything by T. S. Eliot. Enthusiasm consumed me, and in many ways it has remained undiminished. Reverting to schooldays, it was inevitable that we should communicate our enthusiasms not only to our friends but also to those few masters who might be expected to sympathize. He thinks we were lucky at Whitgift in having some highly competent men placed over us. Three of them were exceptionally gifted persons, though differing totally in character: H. G. Woodgate, A. H. Ewen and John Garrett. All were aware of Eliot's growing fame; but being accustomed to the mono-enthusiasm of youth, they received my ardour in particular with certain reservations.
