... was often isolated, his love of literature developed. Once he learned to read, the young boy immediately became obsessed with books and was completely absorbed in tales depicting savages, the Wild West, or Mark Twain's thrill-seeking Tom Sawyer. Eliot grew up within the family's tradition of service to religion, community, and education. Years later he declared, "Missouri and the Mississippi have made ... were the main source of material for this great work. Eliot's poem loosely follows the legend of the Holy Grail and the Fisher King combined with vignettes of the contemporary social...

• Word Count: 4134
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School