:T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, read by Jeremy Irons: II. East Coker (extracts of)

Jeremy Irons read for BBC 4 a number of T.S. Eliot poems. All episodes available here:
jeremyirons.net/2017/01/20/je...
Music used:
0:00 Maya Beiser - David Lang's World To Come IV
3:30 Fabrizio Paterlini - After the rain there will always be the sun
6:25 Niall Byrne - Bray Promenade, from album The Promenade (2017)
1631recordings.bandcamp.com/a...
10:30 Henry Madin's Grand Motet 'Diligam te Domine' HM 22, IV. Commota Est
Painting by Ivan Trush

[@dldwiggins]

Eliot's ashes are buried in the parish church in the village of East Coker in the county of Somerset. Eliot's ancestors had left this beautiful patch of rural England to emigrate to America. On the Church wall a very simple plaque the simple details are inscribed: Of your charity Pray for the repose Of the soul of Thomas Stearns Eliot Poet 26th September 1888 - 4th January 1965 Above them, on the simple stone, these words are quoted: "in my beginning is my end" And beneath: "in my end is my beginning"

[@bartsanders1553]

Who would have guessed that one of the finest Englishmen would be born in Kansas?

[@poemsbystephanie1]

His voice can melt your heart

[@milianighaib2421]

You are absolutely right...hhhh but you know what is funny.!!! Is that a 99 %of my friends said that when I talk I sound like this guy talking.

[@SilhSe]

🥺🥺❤🍫💜🍷

[@nonbeliever3745]

The moment of ‘oh dark, dark, dark, they all go into the dark’ is quite something in this arrangement. It feels like we are slipping into a deep truth.

[@barbarawerner7445]

loving this beautiful poetry and his voice together!

[@DuartMaclean]

The Four Quartets are the most beautiful and profound study. Read it. Read it once, or twice, or three, of four times.... You will feel the genius of T.S. Eliot.

[@matthewstokes1608]

400 times

[@oliverbird6914]

It is genius . Would it be fair to say that the man felt death very close in a way that others don't but professed it to be everyone's concern. Sone people, til the day they die, are in THIS world and not obsessed with futility and fear

[@jeffreykent5271]

this is the most awesome thing i have ever heard

[@SilhSe]

Ikr 🥺🥺😭

[@Anonymous-gt4uh]

Whether to call this recitation an epiphany or purgatory? Or just a pure meditation! It is 1.45 am and I put on my earphones and closed my eyes and that's all I remember. And lost totally lost.

[@soleaguirre100]

Jeremy has a beautiful voice!💫💫💫💫💫💫🌷

[@agentzangel70]

Enlightened all due to TS and his splendid works. Confirms a sacred miracle that leaves us to pray for ourselves before the death of us.

[@simonesmith7877]

His voice is heartwarming and soothing.

[@Humanophage]

Turned it on and went to bed. Relaxed for a minute and got into the mood. Then out of nowhere loud commercial music and some nonsense. KZbin slapped an ad in the middle of this, with no yellow warning on the timeline. It's probably time to move to a different platform like VK, this is getting unbearable, need to babysit every video. It only has 30k views and not even 500 like, and Google already feels compelled to deface it this way.

[@Argha07Chakraborty]

Jeremy Irons and Eliot is perhaps the best combination to receive a new year. To say Welcome, the brave new year.

[@kjohnsson56]

Loving this today, March 28th, 2020....

[@SilhSe]

Omggg yes

[@mauricebendrix]

Continuing to continue my return to it on 28 March 2021.

[@hymetttus]

Excellent selection of music & sound work. Thank you so much. If only you could do the same with the rest of the 4 Quartets... (A T.S.Eliot fan)

[@actenglishwithpriyanka7281]

Same here.

[@sumayadarwish1075]

His voice makes me feel like I’m floating

[@Kazhrei]

His voice is so god damned delicious.

[@mariatamayo109]

Like music to our ears

[@MKokalari]

I could listen to this all day long.

[@LMedlock33]

Nothing like being transfixed by the beauty of this to be interrupted by a commercial

[@a.karamazov4710]

a great poem, a great reader, and great music at the right time; thanks!

[@kinawinkelstrahle2431]

Extraordinary! Thank You! 😀💕

[@lisawanderess]

Yes, please say it again 💗

[@paraaapara]

...If perfection could be a voice

[@alokasrinivasan5005]

Incredible!!

[@DataJuggler]

The greatest narrator of my lifetime.

[@JayJa8]

I like ur voice stay reading poems for my fav T.S.Eliot , and others such as Thomas Hardy, Lord Bayron , B.B.Shilly , William Wordsworth ....etc.

[@manaspanda3480]

Keeping time, Keeping the rhythm in their dancing...

[@jeffreykent5271]

this is rock and roll for intellectuals i love it

[@K_F_fox]

"Dark Academia"

[@DuskAndHerEmbrace13]

@@K_F_fox No.

[@giovannadimaria7397]

What a wonderful voice!

[@TreceLunas]

"The whole world is our hospital Endowed by the ruined millionaire Wherein, if we do well We shall die of the absolute paternal care That will not leave us But prevents us everywhere"

[@ygb_]

This makes my heart hurt.

[@davidlynnjohnson6132]

Sublime...

[@monkeyman8297]

really love these videos you made. would love to see more if you have time?

[@1978rharris]

My brain isn’t built for poetry. In the same way someone is anhedonic if they’re unable to feel joy, I’m anpoetic. It does nothing for my brain or feelings. That kinda makes me feel sad after I read the comments on here, cos this means a lot to many of you. I wish I could share this with you. I’ve tried. I even went to see this very poem read by Ralph Fiennes in person…. ….nothing. 🤷‍♂️

[@solomonkamara866]

Reminds me of the book of the way.

[@michelgaillard8057]

An unsurpassed rendering

[@NoOne-tg9tk]

This Sublime is and with Beethoven s Symphonies and Shakespeare s Plays

[@hillyplays29]

T. S. Elliot was one of Lena Duchannes’s favorite poet. If you know what I referenced, drop a comment or a like❤️

[@r.dwight3744]

I miss Gatlin

[@michelgaillard8057]

Men also Can feel thé throb whilst listening to this entrancing mâle voici. Can you hear me, Anita Debska. ?

[@ahlaambhika9956]

Please do the entire four quartets with your selection of music..

[@user-fn5dq9wv3u]

it would be terrific..

[@amirmsafyari246]

nice

[@Arouete]

What a pity the Audible rendition lacks a table of contents. Deal killer! Irons should be miffed!

[@mouhdz2158]

يمكن كتابة كل اشعار. ت س اليوت على هامش سفر الامثال و سفر الجامعة و سفر ايوب ...ولم ياخذ اليوت من جيمس فريزر وهوميروس الا القشرة الاصطلاحية التي ظن انها قد تجعله اذكى من ان يكون راهبا فسيسا مبشرا

[@giovannadimaria7397]

Beside being a great actor, Jeremy Irons may read even an address book

[@kevingrozav2089]

Two and two, necessary conjunction.

[@victoriaw7436]

5:30

[@wallflower6290]

9:45

[@johngault6218]

Ayn, please find me. I am 74 almost.

[@barakabtf]

I wish he read the full writing, not extracts... a few key words are missing. Other than that, it is superb!

[@waisehell]

He did. There's a link in the description. I didn't use the full reading for this video.

[@barakabtf]

Thank you!

[@mouhdz2158]

يوحنا اكل الجراد مع الشامبانيا ...يوحنا السموكينغ والرودنجوت ....يوحنا في دور سانشو بانزا الموعود بكل سراب الحضارة ....نعم ...اصغر مائة مرة من دون كيشوت و اصغر مليون مرة من ايوب ...لكن يكفينا انه على مقاس تمثال ( المفكر ) للنحات رووودان

[@dudleydevine8264]

No music please. The human voice is more than enough. I am a poet and a musician and enjoy both. In real poetry and in the power of Jeremy Irons the deed is done well without editing. You've mashed it. Shame. But continue.

[@waisehell]

The version without music is freely available, if you wish to listen to it.

[@Lazarus-zf2sw]

Great poem ruined by intrusive music.

[@connorveach5986]

Who’s predicting, me or the cake? I half gathered asphodel and weeping women, it’s incorrigible. Dirt

[@edwardmclaughlin7935]

The voice should be left to do its work here, without that dreadful music in the background.

[@waisehell]

Available on Jeremy's website. Link in the description.

[@edwardmclaughlin7935]

@@waisehell Thank you.

[@lustigalooken1110]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYvKpKGlratgbcU The music for Hollow Men is something else

[@aureliande2659]

A great poem, masterfully read. But ... must there be music? Can't you rely on the power of the words? do you really need pseudo-meditational elevator muzak? What for? It's the excuse for the faint of heart, an expression of doubt in the merits of what is being presented, a distraction. And isn't distraction -- and our civilisation's senseless reliance on distraction - one of the motifs in Eliots 4 Quartets? What a shame. Some people seem to like the music but I had to stop listening. I'll listen to Eliot's version instead.

[@waisehell]

Well, this is the version with music. It's up to you if you find the connection of rhythm and atmosphere between music and poem. If you don't, it's a distraction. That's just as well. The poem-only version is easily found online. Jeremy Irons' website has it free to listen to. I don't see what civilization's reliance on distraction has to do with this. It's more about attention in this case. Why would anyone want to be distracted from the poem and listen to this for that purpose? They could just listen to the music. It follows that most people are not distracted but find the music complementary. Of course, one could also make an argument about KZbin itself being a distraction, and that you found your way here by distraction...

[@aureliande2659]

@@waisehell Thank you for pointing me to the 'naked' version. Well, KZbin itself can be a distraction unless you use it for a particular purpose. I confess that even so I get distracted by 10 superfluous videos when I'm trying to find the one I was originally looking for. I didn't find my way here by distraction, though, I found it in spite of distraction. As for attention, distraction is all about attention, don't you think so? Distraction divides your attention. A bit like multitasking. Research has shown that multitasking is detrimental to both (or more) jobs at hand. In the same way, any attention you pay for the music will take away attention that could advance your understanding of or pleasure in the poem. Necessarily. The exceptions are works of art such as opera or cinema that can achieve a synergy of a variety of media. I didn't find such synergy here. Maybe others can find it.

[@metamathematical]

I appreciate your thoughtful insights, @aureliande2659, and respect your perspective. Indeed, distraction can potentially divide attention and dilute one's experience. However, I would like to add some nuance to our discussion, particularly with regard to the marriage of music and poetry in this instance. The pairing of music with spoken word, in this case, a poetry reading, is not inherently distracting. In fact, numerous scholars, poets, and musicians alike have extolled the deep symbiosis between these two art forms. Poet Ezra Pound called poetry "a composition of words set to music," and T.S. Eliot himself observed that poetry can communicate before it is understood, much like music.The synergy between poetry and music doesn't necessarily aim to divide our attention, but rather to augment and deepen the emotional and intellectual resonance of the experience. This is akin to cinema or opera, as you've mentioned, where sound and visual come together to create a more immersive experience. Furthermore, cognitive research suggests that music can enhance our cognitive processes and may even facilitate comprehension and memory recall. Neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks, in his book "Musicophilia," expounds upon the idea that music can have a profound impact on our emotions, creativity, and cognition. The musical backdrop in this poetry reading, to some, may not be a distraction but rather an enhancer, providing an emotional context and evoking a mood that complements the spoken words. This isn't to say that one cannot appreciate the poem in its 'naked' form - Eliot's work surely stands on its own. However, the additional layer of music may create a rich tapestry of sensory experience for others. Ultimately, the beauty of art lies in its subjectivity - what may be a distraction to one may be an enhancer to another. This is one of the reasons why both versions exist - to cater to different tastes and preferences. In this regard, the music isn't a commentary on the civilization's reliance on distraction, but rather a testament to our diverse ways of experiencing and interpreting art. Nonetheless, I respect and value your perspective. It's these sorts of dialogues that deepen our appreciation and understanding of art in its many forms.