Four quartets

quaternity quartets quatern Quartets in the Light of Eliots Critical Theory quaternity Quartets is unitary of the most serious and longest meters of T S Eliot. It is very much(prenominal) philosophical in its t one and only(a) and theme. Eliot considered Four Quartets his masterpiece (Johnston 2005), as it draws upon his companionship of mysticism and philosophy of life. It consists of four long poems, Burnt Norton, eastward Coker, The alter Salvages, and Little Gidding, each in five sections or movements. The five sections argon said to be symbolisationic each(prenominal)y representing particular elements care air, earth, water and onrush and they also suggest Christian holy days Ascension Day, near Friday, the Annunciation and Pentecost respectively (Sexton. 279). Although they resist easy characterisation, they collapse mevery things in common each begins with a reflection on the geographical berth of its title, and each meditates on the nature of duration in so me all principal(prenominal)(predicate) respect-theological, historical, physical, and on its relation to the hu opus condition. Talking to the highest degree the government issue come out of the closetlet of the poem, Rees (64) remarks that the essential focus or unifying idea, of the Four Quartets is describing eternal humans which the poet tries to search through mortal time. He says that Eliot has tried to give a good-natured of philosophic cum artistic summary of his various loving notions and beliefs in these quartets. A reflective earliest reading suggests an inexact doctrinal approach among them they approach the same ideas in varying simply imbrication focusings, although they do not necessarily exhaust their questions. Eliot proclaims that the Four Quartets are straightforward, t senile in the simplest nomenclature potential (Bellin 2003). However, Bellin argues whether the poets claim of simplicity i.e. acceptable or not. He quotes a few other connoisseur s who agree on the maneuver that beca drill the force field matter in the Quartets is not an ordinary thing, so the language utilize to describe such(prenominal) ideas mostly avoids simplicity. Dallas (193) gives her opinion, with special reference to Four Quartets, close Eliots consistency with his poetical standards in the practice of his proclaim meter. She writes that T. S. Eliots in his prose and plays or song has maintained an increasingly bob uped netherstanding and usage of the doctrines that an inseparable association is found t hither among homunculus and substance in his work of art. She has specially written slightly the association between Eliots searing ideals and poetic practice. She compares the cloy and structure of different poems especially of the Quartets and rallys an appropriate correlation in them. The form of a poem develops and takes its experimental condition from the order which is implicit in(p) in the material, or substance of the poe m (Dallas, 194).From various angles this long poem of four sections has been commented upon by critics. Many critics have found the Eliots proclaimed peculiaritys of im dispo layion in the poem. The relationship of mater and form of any poem is considered very fundamental to show artistic expertise objectively. Fussel (212) finds a correlation between the content and the form of this long poem. He says that the structure of Four Quartets as compared to its subject matter is both a innate and expected consequence of techniques and concepts one time employ by Eliot and, at the same time, exceptional not scarcely(prenominal) in Eliots consume poetry save also in the blameless English literary tradition. However Fussel is also of the opinion that in the Quartets, what we are offered to view is not what every individual can perceive on his own besides it is rather the eyes of a single genius that shows us what we see. Even then the critic concludes that such is the expertnes s to develop the theme that a commentator rules himself as the part of the give birth. His poetic whole shebang are a kind of externalization of aesthetic and emotional images conflate in concert with explanation and annotation by the interpreting understanding, a combine of personalised contemplation and open public dialogue (Fussel. 213). He nurture says that the structure of Four Quartets is outcome of the poets deliver, which is artistically developed by perspicacity analysis and the fork oution of emotional state.Fussel also talks about Eliots concept of unification of sensibilities but with mixed comments of achieving it. He says In the Quartets, the mateds of intellect and sensibility, thought and feeling, do achieve union, but the gulf is deepened while the bridge is under construction (214). He means to say that in comparison to Eliots early works, the poem Four Quartets shows a delay resolution of the unifying devices, which the poet does on purpose. He says th at Eliot knows the limitations of the modern man to understand the universal realities not so easily, therefore, counterbalance of all, he had to take to direct interpretation of his spectral thoughts and, then, by describing the concept of incarnation, Eliot achieves the union of the opposites in the Quartets. Dallas (6, 7) writes in detail Eliots make use of of opposite images to describe the opposite universal forces at work. She quotes lines from the different sections of the Quartets, which simultaneously hang life and end, c sure-enough(a) and heat, haze and light, dead, and quick and the seed and the end. All this is to depict neutrally the dual cause of the subtle universal laws. The poet, here, requires the intelligence and ingress of the referee to feel and understand the under tincture of the message of the poem.Written between 1935 and 1942, they mark the end of Eliots major poetic achievement. As a poet, Eliot was by no means prolific. So much greater his mer it of creating, in quite a few great poems, an imaginary world which has preoccupied poetry ever since. If he has not got whole shelves of books to boast of, he is, in exchange, an accomplished master of concentration and ambiguity. We have seen him as an innovator, as a difficult poet, a magician of the understatement. The Four Quartets are his stick out feat of magic (Vianu). The effect is mystifying. Soothing is the first attribute that comes to mind in connection with Eliots Four Quartets (Vianu). If anything, then, these soothing Quartets are first and firstly poems of the mind. Emotion mastered, love reconsidered, sensibility dissected by serene thought. The Quartets have many names for their mystical goal of fellowship outside language settle down point, pattern, love, intelligence (Bellin 2003). The skilled use of language plays very important role in bringing aside the desire meaning in a situation especially describing an abstract phenomenon. According to Bellin, Eliot has nicely apply most of the language tools, which has made it possible for him to pronounce his mental feelings cheerily although, the poet has been denying his mastery over the adequate use of words. Bellin further says that such a paradoxical use of language can well be seen in Burnt Norton-the redemptive power of language and the distaste for language linguistic process move, medication moves unaccompanied in time but that which is only living stool only die. Words, after speech, reach Into the silence. Only by the form, the pattern, Can words or music reach The stillness (li. 137-142) Words strain, catch and sometimes break, under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, put forward not bear in place, Will not stay still. (li. 149-153) Bellin (2003) quotes Hay who comments, One critic proposes that the poem uses a stream-of-consciousness methodthough whose consciousness is a crucial question (Hay 161) and he swiftly proclaims that in the poetry produced at some subsequent stage, the wisdom and consciousness are clearly Eliots own (Hay 161). In case of the Quartets, the poets consciousness and the quality of the Quartets impersonality come under question. Bellin, then, quotes Thompson who suggests finding out a authoritative formula as to read the Quartets impersonally as desired by the poet. Melaney (151) appreciates Eliots mastery over the use of befitting language in Quartets. With particular reference to the Quartets, he says that Eliot usually enjoys adopting a style of expression that facilitates him to sick forward abstract and theoretical proclamations as crystal clear and original truths. The illustration of the time paradoxes in this poem is so h3 that it constitutes a kind of poetics for the young poets especially regarding the use of the appropriate language. Boaz (32), by quoting Ruth Berges, says that Eliot valued to write poetry so transparent that we should not see the poetry, but t hat which we are meant to see through the poetry. And this is possible only through the use and application of a language that should be most befitting to shoot the poet to the readers not only aurally but visually too.Speaking about the start of the poem, chocolate-brown (2003) says that the imagery of the rose garden takes the readers along with the poet. He says that the world created by the poet runs the imagined world of the readers it is all because, the poetry creates the conditions to fulfill its own inter-personal invitation. This is the relation between the poem and the readers, not between the poet and the readers. The poet has to be an reviewer as before the composition of his poem so he has to rest after its composition. This is what is skillfully done by Eliot in his Quartets.To come backward to the late summer of Burnt Norton, the poem goes on with memories of youth conquer by the lullaby of elderly thoughts. There is a trilling cable in the blood, and this bl ood still sings below inveterate scars. But the old wars are long forgotten, or, in Eliots words appeased. A still point is mentioned. It reminds the reader of the prayer to the silent sister in Ash Wednesday give lessons us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still He reiterates, time and again, all is al counselings now, and it cyphers difficult for him to allow what he wants to stymie i.e. the loud lament of the disconsolate fantasy. They are all there in a poem which, though is determined to forget certain things and events (old ideal of Ash-Wednesday), has not yet performed this task of forgetting things. Obstinate recollections of old troubles and excitements enliven it Quick now, here, now, always Ridiculous the waste sad time Stretching before and after It is not only memories that hurt the poet, but also his struggle with the words, which should express them. In Burnt Norton, serene as the tone may be, peace of mind is wishful thinking, and the poets words say a restless mind stressful its hand at relaxation, but Words strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the burden, Under the tension, slip, slide, perish, Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place, Will not stay still. vitamin E Coker (1940), title of the second quartet, is the name of a Somerset shire village. T.S. Eliot desired that, at the time of his death, his body should be cremated, and the ashes buried at East Coker. Which his second wife dutifully accomplished. This place was visited and inhabited by Eliots ancestors also. That is why we find the start and the main theme of the poem as, In my beginning is my end, reversed later into In my end is my beginning. The specifically literary turn over here is that the simple revelry of the imagined rustic men and women is largely rendered in the words and spelling of a probable ancestor of the poet Sir Thomas Elyot (Brown 2003). In daunsing, signifying matrimonie A dignified and commodious sacrament. (178)This observation sho ws that Eliot has tried to present a bygone time or persons in their own typical surroundings. This masterly skill of Eliot has been a great means of success to achieve the impersonal tone in his poetry throughout these fragmented poems.The main piazza of Burnt Norton is, however, the still point of the turning world. Imaginary or not, who cares? fact is that deep below, at the bottom of the poem, stillness and restlessness coexist. The poet has described here his past, his life philosophy, his achievements, his wishes and disappointments. A dynamic view of life has been mentioned in poetic style. A number of universal contrasting ideas have been put together in fantastic antithetical statements. Vianu, speaking of such opposite facts, says, They unhappily go hand in hand, with Eliot inertly watching Words move, music moves Only in time but that which is only living Can only die. A tendency of detachment and aloofness encompasses certain sections in the Four Quartets in East Coke r where Eliot puts the metaphor of Christ, the wounded surgeon, in The Dry Salvages, where he mocks augury, in Little Gidding where he transforms German dive-bombers into the Pentecostal descent of the sacred Spirit. Bottum (1995) confirms this wave of detachment in the quartets and says that this lack of liaison starts off as a final point in Eliots desire to turn his knowledge and experience into metaphorical symbols. The development of the performance of an artist, Eliot wrote when he was younger, is a perpetual extinction of personality. To him the poet is not experiencing his experiences here he is only standing self-consciously outside experience in order to watch himself experience. In the Four Quartets the self- conscious poet stands outside his temporal experiences in order to find in them a metaphor for the temporal facts he has not experienced. The fundamental experience in The Four Quartets that experience to which all other experiences are order as metaphors-Eliot always describes in the conditional or the subjunctive or the future (Bottum1995).And all shall be well and All manner of things shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded Into the crowned knot of sex And the fire and the rose are one.But here the views of Stevens (2004) are slightly different. He says, though, in poems like Prufrock and The Waste Land, Eliot is considerably victorious in applying his system of impersonality, but it is certainly Eliots own voice that we hear in the later poetry such as Four Quartets. Stevens is of the opinion that the poet, in Quartets, has become subjective and speaks personally of his own life experiences. He does not find the element of detachment but rather a h3 presence of the poets personality in the Quartets. Finally, Stevens says that Four Quartets, being a religious affirmation, gives way to certain discursive and expository elements that we do not find in his preliminary poems. Any how according to many other well reputed cr itics, Eliot has, in the Quartets, used the kind of images and symbols that as those in The Waste Land and Prufrock, bring forth the poets inner thoughts in an objective manner. Eliot has shown great skill of using characteristic images to expose very abstract concepts in the Quartets. Rees (65) is of the view that it is the use of images that has helped Eliot unite and yoke together the opposite themes in the quartets. He writes, Dry Salvages provide an excellent illustration of how Eliot presents his two related but contrasted themes in the form of dominant images. He points out to the images of river and sea, which represent the concepts of the temporal mutability and timeless existence respectively.Esty (2003) is of the opinion that Eliots striving after objective style is a successful attempt to bring forth the intend impression of the poem impersonally. He says that the poets effort to make inner voice surrender to outer authorisation paves way for the artistic impersonalit y in his poem. For Esty the poetic techniques of Eliot are a realistic show of his critical canons.Dennis Brown (2003), talking about the psychological effects of the Quartets, experiences, My own feeling is that the most powerful passageways are those which engage the reader in an epiphanic experience which creates a transitional area. He speaks about the readers involvement in feeling the poets thoughts and says that the musical and the therapeutic effects while the description of times work grips of the reader and engages their mind to be one with the poet. Brown calls this Eliots genius. Morris Weitz (1952) opines on the use of several(prenominal) symbols in Eliots poetry. He especially takes the symbol of rose garden and says that Eliot has used the symbol of rose garden at several places in his poetry to depict the temporal experiences, which exhibit the native character of the ultimately real.Foot go think in the memoryDown the passage which we did not takeTowards the do or we never openedInto the rose-garden. My words echoThus, in your mindWeitz is of the opinion that though the critics have defined the symbol of rose garden with different connotations, the essential meaning has the double violation rose garden as an actual place and the symbolical use of the poets worldly experiences and their possible relation with the Absolute. .the rose garden symbolizes those moments that show, much than any others, the meeting of the Eternal and the temporal (Weitz1952)These Quartets are termed as a death and life effort with the words and their meanings. The poetry in them does not expect to matter, at first sight. It does matter a lot, at the deeper level of the poets modal value and spirit of innovation (Vianu). here it is stated that Eliot is not giving gustation to how to say out the things but he is more concerned with what to say. It is really extracting out the emotion from the poets mind in its entirety in the shape of words. In doing so, tho ugh, the poet tries his best to put forward everything in the best possible way, the occasional lack of befitting words must not jam the true expression of the ideas especially in an impersonal way.That was a way of putting it not very satisfactory A periphrastic show in a worn-out poetical fashion, Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle With words and meanings. The poetry does not matter. The irony falls back on the reader who sees nothing but poetry in the poem (Craven 2004). In the above quoted lines of the poem, Eliot seems to be talking modestly of his own genius. His critics are of the view that the Quartets do not exhibit only the sublimity of his poetic thoughts but his technical aspect is also at its heights in the Quartets. Craven further says that the readers are compelled to work through the traditional open frame of disbelief while going through this poem. This again tells us Eliots skill of involving the readers to feel, understand and interpret his poetry i n an objective way. However, according to Roger Bellin (2003), Karl Shapiro and George Orwell hold contrary views. Bellin reports that Shapiro accuses the Quartets of the complete abandonment of poetry (247), and Orwell insists similarly Perhaps what we want is prayer, observance, etc., but you do not make a line of poetry by stringing those words together. Bellin also quotes Thompsons opinion saying that a certain reading of the Quartets utters the poem personalizing the poet as a protagonist in order, in reading, to participate in his struggle (Thompson 83).Talking about the use of adequate images in Four Quartets, Vianu refers to Ash Wednesday and says Ash-Wednesday is not far behind. We feel we are drifting together with the poem on the waves of a odd sea. Our life, like anybodys, is a drifting boat with a slow leakage. Here the learned critic understands the feelings of the poet who is trying to convey his thoughts. He speaks of horrors in a blank voice. We do hear about wa ilings, withering, wreckage, unprayable prayers, failing powers, wastage, primitive terrors, and choppy fury One thing, however, is changed, and this change makes all the difference. Eliot is no longer trying to terrify. He shuns away his anger and revolt. He tries to look resigned (Vianu). Sexton (280) has pointed out Eliots making of Cross in the Quartets. the four quartets respectively concern the way up, the way back, the way forward and the way down as talk of by Eliot in Dry Salvages III. We first see these four directions in Burnt Norton II. With these directions or movements in mind Sexton finds the traces of the making of Christian Cross in the poem. This shows a subtle way of portraying religious images in an objective way upholding the poetic concept of impersonality.Eliot, the literary critic, repeatedly put aside from him the flights of abstruse reasoning. Of course, literary critics will go on dissecting the philosophy of the Quartets. Eliots wish was that poetry shou ld be felt before it was understood. This is one of the reasons why these quartets should be handled carefully. We must learn to protect the fleeting feelings they alright outline. Philosophy may have had a part in these poems, but only as a discipline of mind. The main thing is that these Quartets reveal something unique in Eliots poetry a warm directness. This evidence of affixation to man and life in Eliots creation can hardly be stressed enough. Reading these lines, we realize why Eliot hated those critics who called him learned and cold. The more the poet writes about indifference, peace of mind, detachment and so on, the more attached he feels to everything. His former ties to the world were grumbling. He kept feeling hurt and howled out. This new-fangled attachment is spiteless it is generous and warm. The warmth of a poet who hides in his poetry, a intent for all seasons. In his own wordsmusic heard so deeply That it is not heard at all, but you are the music While the m usic lasts. Danby (79,80), evaluating the over all impact and feeling of the Quartets, says that here the poet makes the reader move along with him for the full satisfaction of the three dimensional experience while reading the poem. He means to say that Eliots poetry is so encompassing that it leaves nothing go unfelt. In spite of several difficulties, the poet is successful in turning a whole generation of readers to experience the feelings. Danby further says They (Quartets) are themselves both poems and criticism of poetry (80). Danby is stating here the alike accord between Eliots criticism and his poetry. They also practice what they preach(p.80). Towards the end of his article, Danby speaks about Eliots mastery of imagery. He says that the poet is quite capable of finding and using such comprehensive images that exhibit the complexities of the poets mood. They are used as objective correlatives to feelings or thoughts (Danby 84).Although many critics have found the Quartets in keeping with the poets concept of impersonality, Melaney (148), like Stevens, parts his way with the rest of the critics. He writes, His (Eliots) canonization as a literary icon has prevented his readers from considering his poetry as a record of personal change. He says that the subject matter of the Quartets is not wholly in accord with his critical canons. Here we find a great deal of his autobiographic account that makes the poem a personal life sketch. The account or subject matter may be personal, but it is the way of intromission that makes it personal or impersonal as defined by Eliot. Hence, if we look at the way things have been talked about in the Quartets, the impersonal tone is more obvious than the personal. Fussell (217) says, in the Quartets, on the other hand, he forges a more personal form by using only the first person, and yet he creates an illusion of the impersonal by splitting up the single personality into contrasting moods and by giving the speaker a p ublic as well as private voice. Thus, apart from the observations of a few critics, most of the poem seems in conformity with Eliots concept of impersonality. The intended abstract idea of time has been presented in such an objectified manner that the reader feels one with the feelings of the poet while going through the poem.ReferencesBellin, Roger. The Seduction of Argument and the jeopardy of Parody in the Four Quartets. http//alum.hampshire.edu/rb97/eliot.html 29-10-2005Bottum,J.WhatTSEliotAlmostBelieved. First Things, Vol. 55. (Aug. 1995). http//www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9508/bottum.html 20-4-2006Brown, Dennis. Literature Theology, Vol. 17. No. 1, evidence 2003Craven, Peter. The Urbane Mysticism of Old Possum. Financial Review Oct. 01. 2001 http//afr.com/articles/2004/09/30/1096527854077.html 17-06-2005Dallas, Elizabeth S. rule Cancrizans and the Four Quartets. Comparative Literature, Vol. 17, No. 3. (Summer, 1965).Danby, J. F. Intervals During Rehearsals. Cambridge Ju l. 02, 1949.Esty, Jed. Four Quartets, National Allegory, and the End of Empire. The Yale diary of Criticism 16.1 (2003) 43Fussell, B. H. Structural Methods in Four Quartets. ELH, Vol. 22, No. 3. (Sep. 1955).Melaney, William D. T. S. Eliots Poetics of self Reopening Four Quartets. Alif Journal of Comparative Poetics, No. 22 (2002). Thes. PhD. (Abstract). Columbia University. 1980.Sexton, crowd together P. Four Quartets and the Christian Calendar. American Literature, Vol. 43, No. 2. (May, 1971).Rees,Thomas R. The Orchestration of Meaning in T.S. Eliots Four Quartets. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 28.1 (Autumn 1969) 63-69.Stevens. http//ieas.arts.unideb.hu/faculty/materials/usliterature.doc. 19-10-2005Thompson, E. (1963).T. S. Eliot the man and his work.Carbondale Southern University Press.Weitz, Morris. Modern American Poetry. http//www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/eliot/norton.htm 8-10-2005Weitz, Morris. Modern American Poetry. http//www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a _f/eliot/norton.htm 8-10-2005Vianu,Lidia. T.S.EliotTheFourQuartets.