Murder in the Cathedral is a verse drama by T. S. Eliot, first performed in 1935. The play portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral during the reign of Henry II in 1170. Eliot drew heavily on the writing of Edward Grim, a clerk who was an eyewitness to the event.
Thirteenth-century manuscript illumination depicting Becket's assassination
Movie poster for Murder in the Cathedral
Thomas Stearns Eliot was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. He is considered to be one of the 20th century's greatest poets, as well as a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. His use of language, writing style, and verse structure reinvigorated English poetry. He is also noted for his critical essays, which often reevaluated long-held cultural beliefs.
Eliot in 1934
Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, passport photograph from 1920
A plaque at SOAS's Faber Building, 24 Russell Square, London
The Faber and Faber building where Eliot worked from 1925 to 1965; the commemorative plaque is under the right-hand arch.