I'm a huge fan of the very controversial figure we meet in this movement of this fourth and final quartet in Eliot's great poem: Dante. (Controversy? Well, we'll get to that in a moment.) We begin with a kind of verbal a descent, into what again we do not know, for what's to come is … Continue reading The ghost of poetry past: Little Gidding 2
Author: jeffreyvamos
Eliot in the bardo
A few weeks ago, I preached a sermon about Four Quartets in which I made the point that Eliot is writing about an experience that is impossible to write about (thank you Anita) with the shabby equipment of words. But in attempting to write about that experience, he's trying to evoke that very same experience in the … Continue reading Eliot in the bardo
Hit by a book: East Coker 4
What amazing luck. Or misfortune. For the lot to fall to me, the coincidence, to get to comment on this particular movement of this our second Quartet. Me, a preacher (again), me a Calvinist. It seems like a tee shot here. What do I mean? Well, this is Eliot in a way finally being a … Continue reading Hit by a book: East Coker 4
That Is Not It, at All: Burnt Norton 5
This final section of the first quartet (appropriately enough, section five!) is a deep dive into the impossible—and hopefully it’s not a dry pool. (Would Thomas Stearns Eliot appreciate the humor? I do indeed think we need some, after all this hifalutin language and metaphysics…. But alas, already I digress.) We dive into the impossible—and … Continue reading That Is Not It, at All: Burnt Norton 5
