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T.S.Eliot and Mysticism

The Secret History of 'Four Quartets'

  • Book
  • © 1991

Overview

Authors:
  1. Paul Murray

    1. Dominican Studium, Tallaght, and Angelicum University, Rome, Italy

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiv
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  2. Introduction

    1. Introduction

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 1-14

  3. Burnt Norton

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15
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    2. Mysticism and Music

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 17-25

    3. The Philosophy of Stillness

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 26-40

    4. Eliot in Meditation

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 41-53

  4. East Coker

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 55-55
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    2. The Ascetic Vision

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 57-75

    3. Mysticism and Incarnation

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 76-87

    4. The Influence of St John of the Cross

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 88-100

  5. ‘The Dry Salvages’Visions and Revisions

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 101-101
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    2. Mysticism under Scrutiny: The Influence of Seren Kierkegaard

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 103-124

    3. The Brahmin and Buddhist Influence

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 125-152

    4. Mysticism and Magic

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 153-173

  6. ‘Little Gidding’An End of Exploration

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 175-175
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    2. The Language of Patriotism: Rudyard Kipling and Rupert Brooke

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 177-196

    3. Mysticism and Myth — I: The Shakespeare Pattern

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 197-224

    4. Mysticism and Myth - II: The Dantean Parallel

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 225-255

    5. Conclusion

      • Paul Murray
      Pages 256-265

  7. Back Matter

    Pages 266-326
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Keywords

About this book

'At last, we have a study that tackles these questions, and does so with a wealth of learning, a poet's sensibility and a thorough theological literacy...Murray has given us a superb study.' Rowan Williams, Doctrine and Life 'His point of view is always that of someone practised in meditation, and his book is in consequence one of the half-dozen really valuable guides to Eliot's poetry.' Stephen Medcalf, Times Literary Supplement The story of the composition of Four Quartets, in relation to mysticism, constitutes one of the most interesting pages in modern literary history. T.S. Eliot drew his inspiration not only from the literature of orthodox Christian mysticism and from a variety of Hindu and Buddhist sources, but also from the literature of the occult, and from several unexpected and so far unacknowledged sources such as the 'mystical' symbolism of Shakespeare's later plays and the visionary poetry of Rudyard Kipling. But the primary concern of this study is not with sources as such, nor with an area somewhere behind the work, but rather with that point in Four Quartets where Eliot's own mystical attitude and his poetry unite and intersect.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dominican Studium, Tallaght, and Angelicum University, Rome, Italy

    Paul Murray

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