Selling poetry by the Pound: T.S. Eliot and The Waste Land brand

Although the battle between culture and commerce isn't over, the conflict has entered a new phase. Research reveals that elite artists like Picasso, Dalí and Warhol – among others – were canny commercial operators who knew their own worth and weren't reluctant to exploit it. However, we are less well informed of culture and commerce's co-dependency in artistic spheres where money rarely intrudes. This paper examines the marketing activities of T.S. Eliot, perhaps the preeminent poet of the twentieth century and epitome of art-for-art's-sake avant-gardism. It indicates that, aided and abetted by il miglior fabbro, Ezra Pound, Eliot proved to be an adroit authorpreneur. Their marketing of The Waste Land brand was ahead of its time and in tune with our own. Few poets are condemned to fame and fortune. Eliot was an entrepreneurial exception.