Eliot’s Four Quartets are as apocalyptically-sound as his more well-known The Waste Land (at least in terms of bored freshman who, in the fullness of time, will most likely only dimly remember sludging their way through the poem in some requisite English Lit courses), but whereas the latter keeps its cosmic lens rolling on the ecological, religious and human desolation brought to the early 20th century by the wonders of Imperialism and Industrialization, the FQ, on the other hand, carpet bombs the idea of consciousness and its relation with Time and Being.

This book is part of James Mustich’s 1,000 Books to Read. “Not fare well, But fare forward, voyagers.” “We had the experience but missed the meaning” “Trying to learn to use words, and every attempt Is a wholly new start, and a different kind of failure” “The only wisdom we can hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.” “Had they deceived us Or deceived themselves?” “Distracted from distraction by distraction” These poems serve as a reminder of our time and place in the world. The memories that these poems invoked were so visceral that I could not only imagine the visual aspects but also the smells, being fully transported in the moment. On YouTube, there is an old scratchy recording of TS Eliot reading these poems, and it was such a unique experience, taking the time to slow down and allowing the imagery to come to mind as these poems were read. The Four Quartets is a series of poems written in 1943 by T.S.

Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot