Which British poet and playwright is known for 'The Waste Land'?

The British poet and playwright known for The Waste Land is T. S. Eliot.

First published in 1922, The Waste Land is a 434-line poem and one of the defining works of literary modernism. It moves abruptly among speakers, places, languages, literary traditions, and cultural references, creating a fragmented portrait of spiritual exhaustion in the aftermath of the First World War.

Eliot was born Thomas Stearns Eliot in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1888. He moved to England in 1914, became a British subject in 1927, and spent most of his working life in Britain. His career extended beyond poetry: he was also an essayist, literary critic, publisher, and playwright. His plays include Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party.

Ezra Pound is a common mix-up because he edited Eliot’s lengthy manuscript and helped shape the published poem. Pound is credited in the dedication, but Eliot is the author. Eliot later received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, recognising his major contribution to modern poetry.