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amiboughter's review against another edition
5.0
I have spent years thinking T.S. Eliot was English, only to find out that his family were Boston Brahmins. Anyway, these lines have lived in the back of my brain since my sophomore year of college.
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.”
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.”
doctorwithoutboundaries's review against another edition
4.0
It’s difficult to rate poetry like this, where imagery and emotions don’t carry as much importance as do ideas and philosophy. Do you judge it for presentation or for content i.e. the ideas themselves? I’ve decided to rate it for the overall cerebral experience. I loved exploring Eliot’s concepts, amorphous as many of them were; there is something beautiful about a mind mired in its own musings, trying to battle its way forward. But I’m getting ahead of myself! Coming back to presentation: Did Eliot take complex and diverse ideas and make them accessible? No, I really ought to have read [b: The Wasteland|14815112|Wasteland (Wasteland, #1)|Susan Kim|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1341084869s/14815112.jpg|20468584] first to fully gauge his thematic leanings here. Nevertheless, this proved a stimulating challenge, and everything comes together seamlessly. Thanks to my familiarity with the Bible and the Mahabharata, I could gather enough ideas that deserve contemplation on my part as well. If I had not already read both, I doubt I would have survived beyond the first quartet, which can be enjoyed even without catching its allusions. After that, he racked up an overwhelming amount of religious references, including—but not limited to—the book of Genesis, the book of Ecclesiastes, the book of Psalms, the Apostle Paul, the crucifixion of Christ, Gautama Buddha, Moksha, and the battle of Kurukshetra in the Bhagavad Gita... I mean, WOW.
almags_'s review against another edition
Creo que me he enterado del 10% de todo el poema. Es profundísimo, denso y lleno de referencias (algunas las pillo, la mayoría no). Me lo quiero leer más tranquilamente en un futuro.
winterrparker's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
maria_borges1507's review against another edition
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
I believe Eliot said, "Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood". That is what I think about this book. It is extraordinary and sublime, and it changed me, yet I did not understand 90% of what was written.
I recommend reading one poem a day, in a quiet room, just soaking the images and Eliot's thoughts on time.
"Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph."
I recommend reading one poem a day, in a quiet room, just soaking the images and Eliot's thoughts on time.
"Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning,
Every poem an epitaph."
poppysmic's review against another edition
5.0
All shall be well, and
All manner of thing shall be well
All manner of thing shall be well
kristianawithak's review against another edition
5.0
It's perfection. I'd read enough quotes from Four Quartets to know I wanted to read the whole set and it was worth every minute. Each poem stands on its own and tie into each other as a whole.