Four Quartets

Four Quartets is the name given to four related poems by T. S. Eliot, collected and republished in book form in 1943 (ISBN 0156332256). They had been published individually from 1935 to 1942. Their titles are Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages, and Little Gidding.

Related Topics:
T. S. Eliot - 1943 - 1935 - 1942

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The Four Quartets are considered to be his masterpiece. It draws upon his study, over three decades, of mysticism and philosophy. Christian imagery and symbolism in the poems is abundant: he had converted to Anglicanism in 1927, and was a devout Christian. There are also numerous references to Hindu symbols and traditions, with which he had been familiar since his student days.

Related Topics:
Mysticism - Philosophy - Symbolism - Anglicanism - Hindu

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Each of the four poems runs to several hundred lines, is broken into five stanzas. Although they resist easy characterization, they have many things in common. Each begins with a rumination prompted by the geographical location in the title; each meditates on the nature of time in some important respect – theological, historical, physical, and on its relation to the human condition. Also, each is associated with one of the four classical elements: air, earth, water, and fire. A reflective early reading suggests an inexact systematicity among them; as if they were verse essays, they approach the same ideas in varying but overlapping ways, and do not necessarily exhaust their questions.

Related Topics:
Stanza - Classical elements - Essays

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Part IV of Little Gidding was set to music by Igor Stravinsky in Anthem: The Dove Descending Breaks the Air (1962). Later Sofia Gubaidulina wrote a Homage à T.S. Eliot (1985) which quotes from three of the poems.

Related Topics:
Igor Stravinsky - Sofia Gubaidulina

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