Four Quartets

The last major verse written by Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot, considered by Eliot himself to be his finest work Four Quartets is a rich composition that expands the spiritual vision introduced in “The Waste Land.” Here, in four linked poems (“Burnt Norton,” “East Coker,” “The Dry Salvages,” and “Little Gidding”), spiritual, philosophical, and personal themes emerge through symbolic allusions and literary and religious references from both Eastern and Western thought. It is the culminating achievement by a man considered the greatest poet of the twentieth century and one of the seminal figures in the evolution of modernism.

This book of annotations to Four Quartets provides unparalleled, page by page insights into the thoughts and background material behind the poem. It will be a unique asset for any reader who wants help in navigating the extraordinary complexities of T.S. Eliots final masterpiece. Carol Simpson Stern, Professor, Department of Performance Studies and Poetry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

This exploration of T. S. Eliot's last major poem, Four Quartets, examines the poem's potential to transform readers' faith journeys. Kramer shows that the power of Four Quartets is its ability to create a dynamic interaction between the poem and the reader that promotes a genuine connection with the natural world, with others, and with the Divine.

Why Read Four Quartets? is offered to encourage readers unfamiliar with T. S. Eliot's masterpiece to "take up, read, and inwardly digest" these beautiful and sacred poems. Commentary is offered to hopefully make the poems more accessible to a general reader. Most critics and commentators do not seem to take Eliot's own spirituality seriously, or at least they don't choose to comment on it. Literary analysis is often emphasized to the exclusion of viewing the quartets in a personal or biographical manner. In sharp contrast to these typical studies, this book endeavors to show that the quartets, along with his earlier post-1927 poetry (Ariel Poems and Ash Wednesday), can be read as the story of Eliot's own mystical journey to the Divine.

This book, first published in 1991, supplies a neglected cultural context for T. S. Eliot’s writings of the 1930s and 1940s, particularly Four Quartets, and attempts to disprove the widespread belief in Eliot’s unproblematic commitment to England, and the ‘Englishness’. The book traces Eliot’s classicism not only in linguistic and formalist terms but also in his construction of England in the Quartets and Quartets-related essays. His practice is related to the vigorous polemic concerning the definition of England found in the 1930s and 1940s, in material as diverse as landscape painting, advertising, travel literature and the detective novel. This original and provocative text will not only be of interest to students and teachers of Eliot, but to those interested in representations of nationality.

T.S. Eliot is widely considered the most important and most influential poet of the 20th century. Many consider Four Quartets to be the finest of his poems and his greatest achievement. In this masterful journey into the beauties and depths of Eliot's masterpiece, the bestselling author, professor and critic Thomas Howard unravels the complexities of the sublime poem with such adept adroitness that even its most difficult passages spring to life. During his long years as a professor teaching English and Literature, Howard taught this poem often, and developed what he calls "a reading" approach to the concepts of this masterpiee to render its meaning more lucid for the reader. Therefore, this is not a "scholarly" work, but rather the brilliant insights of a master teacher and writer whose understanding of this profound poem and his deep love for the writing of Eliot are shared here for the great benefit of the reader.

Criticism of Eliot has ignored the public dimension of his life and work. His poetry is often seen as the private record of an internal spiritual struggle. Professor Cooper shows how Eliot deliberately addressed a North Atlantic 'mandarinate' fearful of social disintegration during the politically turbulent 1930s. Almost immediately following publication, Four Quartets was accorded canonical status as a work that promised a personal harmony divorced from the painful disharmonies of the emerging postwar world. Cooper connects Eliot's careers as banker, director and editor to a much wider cultural agenda. He aimed to reinforce established social structures during a period of painful political transition. This powerful and original study re-establishes the public context in which Eliot's work was received and understood. It will become an essential reference work for all interested in a wider understanding of Eliot and of Anglo-American cultural relations.