The Silenced Muse

Book excerpt: The first full-length biography of the longtime secret love of the celebrated poet T. S. Eliot, Emily Hale, called "heartbreaking" by Publishers Weekly. In January 2020, the largest and most eagerly awaited cache of new materials written by the Nobel-Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot was finally opened: the 1,131 letters he sent Emily Hale, his little-known American love. But even as Eliot scholars explore Hale’s impact on Eliot’s work, a tantalizing question has not been fully answered: who was Emily Hale? Sara Fitzgerald’s The Silenced Muse: Emily Hale, T. S. Eliot, and the Role of a Lifetime is the first full-length biography devoted to Hale, telling her side of a complicated relationship. Based on the embargoed letters and Fitzgerald’s extensive research into Hale’s life and times, this book brings to light that Hale was much more than just a muse to a literary celebrity. Hale overcame personal hardship to pursue a career as a professor of speech and drama at prominent American women’s colleges and schools. She was a talented amateur actress and director, sharing the stage with others who went on to notable professional careers. Behind the scenes, she also guided Eliot as he began to explore playwriting with works such as Murder in the Cathedral. Hale’s story is challenging to wholly uncover because the Boston clergyman’s daughter was by nature reticent and humble. More critically, Eliot arranged for nearly all of her letters to be destroyed. The Silenced Muse finally reveals that Hale’s story is not that of a lover scorned, but rather a woman who was herself gifted and celebrated by her students and peers.