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
Dante
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
In medias res: East Coker 3
This is the middle movement of Eliot’s second quartet, “East Coker” and, as we know by now, Eliot is exquisitely aware of his—and our—present existence as being the midpoint between past and future. My fellow blogger John Timpane spoke of this when he wrote about the idea of Immanence in his post last week. This … Continue reading In medias res: East Coker 3
