Editing T. S. Eliot (section)

===Marriage===
[[File:Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot 1920.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot]], passport photograph from 1920]]
Before leaving the US, Eliot had told Emily Hale that he was in love with her. He exchanged letters with her from Oxford during 1914 and 1915, but they did not meet again until 1927.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.princeton.edu/manuscripts/2017/05/16/sealed-treasure-t-s-eliot-letters-to-emily-hale/|title=Sealed Treasure: T. S. Eliot Letters to Emily Hale|last=Skemer|first=Don|date=16 May 2017|website=PUL Manuscripts News|language=en-US|access-date=6 January 2020}}</ref> In a letter to Aiken late in December 1914, Eliot, aged 26, wrote: "I am very dependent upon women (I mean female society)."<ref>Eliot, T. S. ''The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1, 1898–1922''. p. 75.</ref> Less than four months later, Thayer introduced Eliot to [[Vivienne Haigh-Wood]], a Cambridge [[governess]]. They were married at Hampstead Register Office on 26 June 1915.<ref>[[John Richardson (art historian)|Richardson, John]], ''Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters''. Random House, 2001, p. 20.</ref>

After a short visit, alone, to his family in the United States, Eliot returned to London and took several teaching jobs, such as lecturing at [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]], [[University of London]]. The philosopher [[Bertrand Russell]] took an interest in Vivienne while the newlyweds stayed in his flat. Some scholars have suggested that she and Russell had an affair, but the allegations were never confirmed.<ref>Seymour-Jones, Carole. ''Painted Shadow: A Life of Vivienne Eliot''. Knopf Publishing Group, 2001, p. 17.</ref>

The marriage seems to have been markedly unhappy, in part because of Vivienne's health problems. In a letter addressed to Ezra Pound, she covers an extensive list of her symptoms, which included a habitually high temperature, [[fatigue (medical)|fatigue]], [[insomnia]], [[migraine]]s, and [[colitis]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Letters of T.S. Eliot: Volume 1, 1898–1922|year=1988|publisher=[[Faber & Faber]]|location=London|page=533}}</ref> This, coupled with apparent mental instability, meant that she was often sent away by Eliot and her doctors for extended periods in the hope of improving her health. As time went on, he became increasingly detached from her.
According to witnesses, both Eliots were frequent complainers of illness, physical and mental, while Eliot would drink excessively and Vivienne is said to have developed a liking for opium and ether, drugs prescribed for medical issues. It is claimed that the couple's wearying behaviour caused some visitors to vow never to spend another evening in the company of both together.<ref name="In the Hyacinth Garden">{{cite journal | url=https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n07/richard-poirier/in-the-hyacinth-garden | title=In the Hyacinth Garden | journal=London Review of Books | date=3 April 2003 | volume=25 | issue=7 | last1=Poirier | first1=Richard }}</ref>
The couple separated in 1932 and formally separated in 1933, and in 1938 Vivienne's brother, Maurice, had her committed to a mental hospital, against her will, where she remained until her death of heart disease in 1947. When told via a phone call from the asylum that Vivienne had died unexpectedly during the night, Eliot is said to have buried his face in his hands and cried out 'Oh God, oh God.'<ref name="In the Hyacinth Garden"/>

Their relationship became the subject of a 1984 play ''[[Tom & Viv (play)|Tom & Viv]]'', which in 1994 was adapted as a [[Tom & Viv|film of the same name]].

In a private paper written in his sixties, Eliot confessed: "I came to persuade myself that I was in love with Vivienne simply because I wanted to burn my boats and commit myself to staying in England. And she persuaded herself (also under the influence of [Ezra] Pound) that she would save the poet by keeping him in England. To her, the marriage brought no happiness. To me, it brought the state of mind out of which came ''The Waste Land''."<ref>Eliot, T. S. ''The Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 1, 1898–1922.'' London: Faber & Faber. 1988. p. xvii.</ref>