Reading T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets | Reading Group July 2024

[@thomassimmons1950]

The test of great literature is in the reading, re-reading and reading again of it. This is certainly true for Four Quartets. Once, I finally got round to it, I never left it. It's true of the King James, Shakespeare, Whitman, Dickinson, Hopkins and Beckett. At 66 they all still surprise me. Thanks again for your work. I share these with friends, and they are widely appreciated. Cheers!

[@closereadingpoetry]

I whole-heartedly concur! Thanks for sharing!

[@billstewart9132]

“We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.” ― T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets I can honestly say that these lines have greatly influenced me as far as understanding my past and how it has influenced my present. Indeed it was the main reason I returned to the place I spent my youth, in order to arrive where I started and to really comprehend where I began and what I can learn from my beginnings. Eliot is difficult, but worth the effort.

[@user-yq1ky3hn8t]

Engaging and enjoyable video! You should make Eliot's poetry a series, like Preludes, Rhapsody, Hollow Men and Magi - would definitely be interested in watching and learning more about those!

[@markcianciolo9384]

For those who have eyes to see and fingers to feel, rejoice. You have struck gold.

[@user-yq1ky3hn8t]

Engaging video! You should do a series on this with more of Eliot's work such as Preludes, Rhapsody, Hollow Men and Journey of the Magi, would love to watch them

[@Cath38639]

I am so excited to follow this diverse program in 2025! Thank you so much for what you do!

[@LasVegas89148]

I work in Computer Science and know almost nothing about poetry, but I loved this!

[@stephengontis1517]

One of my very favorite poems.

[@jackoborkian]

I have literally discovered you today and have binge watched your videos for about 7 hours today. Wow, I could listen to you all day and night. Impressive !

[@farahsays-u777]

yess i can relate

[@jamessgian7691]

Adam, You look almost exactly as I did at your age. I have pictures of myself in my early twenties when I had glasses just like yours as well. I do not know what kind of childhood you had or what choices you have made that led to you living the life I might have lived if other doors had been chosen by me. As it was, I was married at 18 with a child on the way, married and left University where I was beginning my studies of literature and poetry. And I love all the poems you are sharing and have so much in common with how you read and your perspectives; it is a bit alarming at times to see just how much we have in common. I am 52 now and my children grown and their mother and I no longer together, with similarities in my life with Eliot’s concerning his marriage and its ending. In my thirties, cancer led me back to the Catholicism of my youth - another shared experience I have with Eliot. As you can imagine, The Four Quartets is among my favorite poems, and it relates to my life so intimately. This video is a remarkable exploration of what my life has been, where it went and why, and where else it might have gone if I had finished my studies and taught poetry as you are doing to many. Of course, we did not have KZbin back then, but I bless you for having it and using it well. Carry on, young man, and may the mermaids keep singing to thee.

[@SplashyCannonBall]

My favorite TSE quote. “I am old…I am Old. I wear the bottom of my trousers rolled.

[@Khatoon170]

Thank you for your wonderful cultural literary channel mr Adam. I gathered main theme of poems and poet biography you mentioned briefly here it’s Thomas Stevens Eliot t. S Eliot ( 1888 - 1965) he was poet , essayist, playwright. He is considered to be one of 20 th century greatest poets , as well as centural figure in English language modernist poetry. His use of language, writing style , verse structures reinvigorated English poetry . He is also noted for his critical essays which often reevaluated long held cultural beliefs. His notable works love song of j , aflerd pruflock , waste land , hollow men , murder in cathedral , four quartets . Notable awards Nobel prize in literature, order of merit . Main features of t. S Eliot poetry his style is lengthy, laden with literary devices of one sort or another. He considered as father of modern poetry . He wrote four quartets over period of six years beginning in 1936 and ending in 1042 . Four quartets poet endeavors to answer deepest questions of human experience, question of time , purpose , futility and meanings, that while there are no simple answers, there are is hope , purpose in coming restoration made possible by mysterious incarnation of Christ . Time of publishing poems during world war 11 , Eliot life was distributed by events of war , poems are linked loosely about relationships between people and divine . However modern scholars tend to consider it Eliot last great work of poetry . First poem is called ( burnt Norton ) , it’s meditative poem on nature of time . Second poem is ( east Coker ) which mimics style of themes of burnt Norton , thought was written in several years later . Third poem ( dry salvages ) was written during air raids in Britain . Final poem is little bidding in contrast to many images of water in dry salvages . Speaker ends poem with argument that sacrifice always endeed in order to reach enlightenment and salvation.

[@SplashyCannonBall]

Another great quote by TSE is something like, I have seen mornings, evenings and afternoons. I remember my time with coffee spoons. I can’t remember it’s been so long. Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;

[@farahsays-u777]

Adam your voice and frequency are very wise and vast i really wanna ask you to make videos commenting on oedipus rex as i have an exam about it soon or like a video about drama in general i would really be grateful . God bless you.

[@wasteland01]

Thank you, Professor. I am hoping you might close read "The Wasteland" someday. It is one of my favorite poems of TSE. Also, maybe some Ezra Pound? Again, thank you, sir, for your work.

[@daveg4036]

Looking forward to delving deep into the four quartets after listening to this

[@user-yx6ox7us9v]

Hello, Adam. Have you considered visiting T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland? That poem was completely impenetrable for me, and a line-by-line reading of it would be helpful to many, I'm sure!

[@abooswalehmosafeer173]

Thank you.

[@ThomasSimmons-u5x]

Top shelf, mate!

[@juliecovington2477]

This is so great! Thank you 🙏

[@mysticmouse7261]

What a treat.

[@katewinslet8764]

Can you do " morning at the window by t.s elliot

[@JeffRebornNow]

Adam, I have read the 4 Quartets many times over, and I've listened to Eliot recite them many time over, and, sad to say, I've found them all but impenetrable. I've also listened, here on KZbin, to several lectures on them by qualified academics, and none of these has brought me any closer to understanding the poems. The first 10 lines of Burnt Norton is the easiest section of the poem. What these introductory lines state seems self-evident almost to the point of redundancy; but after this ... well -- it's a complete no-go as far as I'm concerned. Can you recommend a critical essay (or book) that dissects in a minute way the meaning of these poems? Has anyone given them the Cleanth Brooks treatment and pinned down precisely what they mean? Point me in that direction if you can. Thank you.

[@charliewest1221]

Hello, Jeff, I have found Thomas Howard's "Dove Descending: A Journey in T.S. Eliot's Four quartets" very useful. You may also access Professor Howard's video on KZbin.

[@JeffRebornNow]

@@charliewest1221 Thank you.

[@charliewest1221]

@@JeffRebornNow You are welcome. With best wishes on your journey.

[@JeffRebornNow]

@@charliewest1221 Charlie, I love the sound of the Quartets, and I am no novice when it comes to deciphering difficult verse. (Academically, I have what Eliot had: a B.A. in Philosophy.) I've read horribly difficult tomes such as Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" and Sartre's "Being and Nothingness," so I believe I have the intellectual equipment to understand the Quartets -- but is there anything there to "understand'? Doesn't Eliot say somewhere that he's trying to achieve in the Quartets what Beethoven achieved in his late string quartets? Perhaps one is mostly meant to feel his 4 poems rather than understand them in any strictly verbal (or at least literal) way? As you can see, I'm confused.

[@charliewest1221]

@@JeffRebornNow Dear Jeff, firstly, I admire your candour in admitting your confusion. Secondly, I commend your courage in attempting and scaling 'Mount Kant' and 'Mount Sartre'. Formidable indeed. I can merely look on from a distance. I believe that you and I may be kindred folk with specific reference to FQ. I am a retired academic and teacher (66 years old) with a strong inclination towards the pre-Modernist canon (Ph.D on the novels of Dickens and M.A. on the poetry of Emily Dickinson). I struggled through fire and brimstone with Eliot and undertook to return to his poetry and prose after retirement without the pressures of exams and papers. Well, here I am. Having finally made sense of "The Waste Land", I am trying to explore the Quartets as I believe that there's an organic relationship here, that one is germane to the other. Although I am reading the poems in conjunction with Howard's book, the light struggles to break through the chinks of my fragile understanding. Like you, I marvel at the musicality of the lines but am unable to catch an illuminating ray that would open up vistas of meaning and new windows of understanding. It seems to me, at this stage at least, that the four poems merely pulsate with circular motion. Yet, I continue to feel that there is something deeper to be discovered. I am exploring the possiblity that Eliot, in the context of his conversion, is meditating upon the interconnectedness of all things in the universe. Howard has drawn my attention to "the still point of the turning world" and "the dance" (Burnt Norton). This seems to me to be key at this stage?? We shall see as I persist. You are welcome to contact me ([e-mail]) to share more ideas. Keep well.

[@stuartmortimer3922]

Ease is the cause of wonder, therefore speak

[@marc-stevenjean-louis245]

Will the lectures be put on KZbin after?

[@closereadingpoetry]

This is the only lecture, so no. I'm running this group like a college seminar rather than a lecture-based course. Readers come for a guided discussion and a collaborative close-reading after having read the poem before the meeting. Maybe I'll do some close reading lectures on it in the future.

[@mattfraser9108]

Just ordered a copy. 🫡