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The influence of Emily Hale on T. S. Eliot’s life and literary works has long been a matter of speculation—until this January. On 2 January 2020, the 1,131 letters from Eliot to Hale were finally unveiled to the public. The letters, written between 1930 and 1956, had remained sealed at Princeton University since 1956, and were much anticipated as both Eliot and Hale had kept silent about their relationship during their lifetimes. While there being a relationship has not been disputed, the extent or depth of their relationship, or whether Hale had ever been Eliot’s muse or not has often been called into question. Eliot’s letters exceeded the wildest of speculations, as they were full of his candid thoughts and emotions, driven by a desire to completely bare himself before Hale. Along with his steadily growing thoughts and feelings toward Hale, Eliot shares his daily life and drafts of his plays and poems, and also points to poems that present his emotions for Hale. These letters leave little question that Hale had indeed been a significant influence on the life and literary works of Eliot. There is a need, however, to rethink what it means to be a muse. Is it appropriate to call a living person a muse that gives inspiration but never speaks? Hale certainly did not remain as a silent, benevolent muse during the 26 years of her correspondence with Eliot, but destroying all of Hale’s letters, Eliot effectively relegates her to the position of a muse. By silencing her thus, Eliot ironically immortalizes Hale as his silent muse whom he calls out to for almost three decades. In Eliot’s poetry, Hale similarly moves from the realm of the temporal to that of the virtual as potential in the lineage of Aristotle. In “Cooking Egg” (1919), which Eliot mentions in his letters to show his initial feelings for Hale, the poet strongly expresses his wish to be united with his lady in a paradoxical manner, but the fleeting moment of joy and happiness remains firmly in the temporal past. In Burnt Norton (1936) written 5 years after the two begin to correspond, Eliot and Hale finally reach the virtual realm of potential together, but Eliot does not allow Hale to cross the threshold of the virtual to actualize a future together. While Hale inspires Eliot to write Burnt Norton, she ironically becomes a muse who loses her voice, confined to the virtual rose garden of Burnt Norton.
