Four Quartets

T. S. Eliot

Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1888. He came to England in 1914 and published his first book of poems in 1917. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Eliot died in 1965.

Mark Oakley: The name suggests the work aspires to music more than narrative, to experienced metaphor more than explained fact. The Modernist experimentation and Christian resilience make for a heart-rending melody.

Jennie Hogan: A poem to live with, crafted to get under the skin.

Toby Hole: After discovering the Four Quartets at university, I have a carried a copy with me ever since. As a solicitor I would read it whilst on the way to court, as a vicar it has been my constant companion. Reading the poems gives me a sense of peace and transcendence that help me face the duties of the day with greater faith and determination.

Richard Harries: Four Quartets draws into itself the whole Christian mystical tradition, from The Cloud of Unknowing onwards, and it is unrelenting in what is required of us in the way of self-knowledge.