An American who became the defining voice of British Modernism, Eliot's The Waste Land (1922) diagnosed post-war Western civilisation as a spiritual wasteland with a collage of languages, voices, and literary allusions that shattered conventional poetic form. As editor at Faber and critic of vast influence, he shaped what the 20th century considered great literature. He won the Nobel Prize in 1948.

• Nationality: GB
• Roles: poet