Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot

Common card · No. 256044

Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot (also Vivien, born Vivienne Haigh; 28 May 1888 – 22 January 1947) was the first wife of American-British poet T. S. Eliot, whom she married in 1915, less than three months after their introduction by mutual friends, when Vivienne was a governess in Cambridge and Eliot was studying at Oxford. Vivienne had many serious health problems, beginning with tuberculosis of the arm as a child, and the marriage appeared to exacerbate her mental health issues. Eliot would not consider divorce, but formally separated from Vivienne in 1933. She was later committed to an asylum by her brother, against her will, eventually dying there apparently from a heart attack, but possibly by deliberate overdose. When told via a phone call from the asylum that Vivienne had died unexpectedly during the night, Eliot is said to have buried his face in his hands and cried out "Oh God, oh God". Both Vivienne and T. S. Eliot stated that Ezra Pound had encouraged Vivienne to marry Eliot as a pretext...

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