T.S. Eliot: Four Quartets

“We shall not cease from exploration . . .,” T.S. Eliot. Eliot’s final serious and reflective poetry is contained in a small book titled Four Quartets. These four extended poems, written just before and during World War II, are modeled on the forms of chamber music. They are dense, complex, beautiful lyrics that pile metaphor on metaphor, as Eliot searches for the words that can express where he finds himself and his world at a time of unparalleled danger and threat. In this course we will explore our reactions to Eliot’s spiritual imagery as we follow the poems through our six weeks of reflection.

Required Reading: T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, ISBN 978-0156332255.

Alden Flanders is an Episcopal priest and spiritual director who has been a teacher and parish pastor. He is interested in how metaphor tells us what something is by saying what it is not.