Four quartets
by T. S. Eliot · first published 1943
12mentions
8recommended by
10HN commenters
2008–2022first – last mentioned
80% recommend20% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Dense, meditative poems on time, memory, history and mysticism. Its intricacy and depth reward rereading and reading aloud, and recordings of the poet reading it himself are available.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…never looked back. The Comedy is an unbelievable work. I read it in full in my twenties and always keep a copy with me. It would probably be my 'desert island' book if only one were allowed (plus The Four Quartets of TS Eliot, if I could take two).
on “The Divine Comedy (1321)” ↗Oh man, if I could give out 10 points for a T.S. Eliot reference, I would. Much love to you. The Four Quartets rivals Hamlet in its intricacy and attention to the human condition. And, it's about 1/10 the size! What a bargain!
T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" Time, memory, history, mysticism; these poems are everything.
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite poem?” ↗The Waste Land is amazing but I recommend Four Quartets even more. Which reminds me, one of my goals for this year was to memorise it… better get back to that.
on “How T.S. Eliot’s therapeutic practice produced The Waste Land” ↗Ted Hughes recitation of Eliot’s Four Quartets is amazing!
on “'The Waste Land' Reviewed (1923)” ↗…poem around halfway on my way home. Eliot is (to my ears) a good reader, and after months of doing this I'd memorized large chunks of the poem. There are also recordings of him reading "Prufrock" and "Four Quartets" which are very good. One drawback to this is that I can't multitask while listening to poetry (though now, even music is a problem). So it has to wait till I'm doing something which doesn't require…
on “'The Waste Land' Reviewed (1923)” ↗Czeslaw Milosz. "Gift" [1] and "A Song on the End of the World" [2]. Philip Larkin. Almost everything he wrote. Robert Frost. Ted Hughes. The Birthday Letters. Esp. "You Hated Spain" [3] T S Elliot. Four Quartets. Preludes. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17245-2004Aug... [2] http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/179559 [3] https://philosopherpoet.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/you-hated-s...
on “Ask HN: Who are your favorite poets?” ↗Anyone who likes The Waste Land should try and read Four Quartets, and his plays, especially Murder in the Cathedral, The Cocktail Party, The Family Reunion and The Elder Statetsman. They are all unique in their own way and reflect Eliot’s mind and ideas at least as…
on “'The Waste Land' Reviewed (1923)” ↗…there's a point where I lose comprehension completely - after "Not even light can escape" - and the rest of it is enjoyably poetic gibberish to a non-physicist like me. It reminds me of the beginning of The Four Quartets by TS Eliot: Time present and time past Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past. If all time is eternally present All time is unredeemable. What might…
on “The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020” ↗I discovered Eliot in my 20s. I’m still discovering him: I’ve been working my way through Four Quartets for about five years. Spent about 10 years discovering The Waste Land. Yes he’s a privileged white male. But even for younger readers, that’s not a huge turn off. Besides, he may have been gay. Regarding…
on “Why T.S. Eliot still matters” ↗…qualities of a good poem: You want to read it and it you can follow it easily. Have you ever read a poem by T.S. Eliot? A brilliant poet with an incredible gift for language, but I've been reading his "The Four Quartets" repeatedly for over a year and still don't understand much of it... Good poetry is not necessarily readily understandable (and coming to think of it, neither is a good program). But once you have understood…
on “Is Programming Poetry?” ↗…let us look up at the sky, In wonder and awe and amazement, For it is a never-ending source, Of beauty and wonder and amazement. **end** Now compare that with a quote about the sky from TS Eliot’s Four Quartets: Thunder rolled by the rolling stars Simulates triumphal cars Deployed in constellated wars Scorpion fights against the Sun Until the Sun and Moon go down Comets weep and Leonids fly Hunt the heavens…
on “Tell HN: ChatGPT can reply like a specific Reddit or HN user, including you” ↗