Eliot's title for his poem is The Waste Land, three capitalized words. In a letter to Ezra Pound dated August 30, 1922 he wrote:
I received a letter from your friend Watson most amiable in tone ... offering $150 for the "Waste Land" (not "Waste Land", please, but "The Waste Land", and (in strictest confidence) the award for virtue also. ... )
James Sibley Watson Jr. was the co-owner and co-editor of The Dial, the American magazine that got permission to publish The Waste Land (without the notes) prior to the Boni and Liveright book publication. The "award for virtue" was The Dial's annual award for "service to letters" that brought Eliot an additional $2,000 of income beyond the $150 he received from The Dial for the publication rights to the poem.
Source:
Letters
p. 567.
Exploring The Waste Land
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Url: http://world.std.com/~raparker/exploring/thewasteland/xqtwl3words.html File date: Sunday, September 29, 2002