26/09/2026
“I am happiest with the Woolfs” – T.S. Eliot
Happy Birthday to T.S. Eliot! The famous poet and playwright was a regular visitor to Monk’s House and close friend of Leonard and Virginia Woolf. Their relationship began as one of complexity and slight tumult, but evolved into a close and loyal friendship. 🍃
Text adapted from three brilliant blogs:
1) T.S.Eliot.com, ‘Virginia and Leonard Woolf - People in His Life’: https://tseliot.com/people-in-his-life/the-woolfs
2) Lyndall Gordon, 1922, ‘How Virginia Woolf Shunned - and Then Embraced - T.S. Eliot’, Literary Hub: https://lithub.com/how-virginia-woolf-shunned-and-then-embraced-t-s-eliot/
3) Megan Quigley, 2021, ‘What If?: New Insight into the Friendship of Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot’, Los Angeles Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/what-if-new-insight-into-the-friendship-of-virginia-woolf-and-t-s-eliot/
Photographs:
1) T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf by Lady Ottoline Morrell, vintage snapshot print, June 1924 NPG Ax141646 © National Portrait Gallery, London.
2) T.S. Eliot sits in front of the fireplace in Charleston Farmhouse, undated. Inscription: Tom Eliot. © Harvard Album III, page 69.
3) E.M. Forster and T.S. Eliot sit next to each other in a room. Monk's House (Sussex, England), undated. Inscription on verso: EMF / TSE. © Harvard Album.
4) T.S. Eliot eating a meal at Monk’s House, undated. Inscription: Tom Eliot. © Harvard Album III, page 36.
5) T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf stand next to a ladder propped on the exterior of Monk's House (Sussex, England), undated. Inscription on verso: TSE / VW / MH.
6) T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf and Vivienne Eliot stand outdoors, 1932. © Harvard Album III, page 30.
