Class Notes 2/19

Notes:
Dr. Sexson wanted to fill in some gaps from presentations
stick close to the text with Eliot, otherwise we drift into Kinbote-ism


Heraclitus, presocratic, reveled in the notion of paradox, a realm where conventional logic doesn't work. The universe is run by fire, rather that believe that other elements were primary.

see the Heraclitus fragments before the poems in the Four Quartets:

'The way up is the way down.'
'Though the logos is common, the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own.'
Logos = language, the word, truth
We enter the poems to find the logos, the truth that is common to us all


T.S. Eliot, a great believer in tradition, see ZuZu's blog
tends to the more conservative side of things
knew he was an unpleasant man, antisemitic


Wallace Stevens, radically conservative, insensitive comments, but great poetry, thought Eisenhower was a dangerous radical.
(But how many of us would raise to sainthood?)

Eliot admired Dickens greatly
'doing police in different voices'
there are different voices in the Four Quartets

Page 13 (of my book), B.N. this passage a Eliot assuming a philosophical voice, thoughtfulness, pedantic:
"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 in unredeemable."


Page 15, B.N. Eliot assumes a lyrical voice:
"Garlic and sapphires in the mud
Clot the bedded axle-tree.
The trilling wire in the blood
Sings below inveterate scars
Appeasing long forgotten wars.
The dance along the artery
..."

Page 25-26, E.C. Eliot uses a more colloquial voice:
"That was a way of putting it-not very satisfactory:
A periphrasic study in a worn-out poetical fashion,
Leaving one still with the intolerable wrestle
With words and meaning...."


music comes up quite naturally with epiphany

Homework! Walter Pater - Here is the conclusion to Walter Pater's study, THE RENAISSANCE and it comes close to a summative statement about the nature of epiphanies........http://www.subir.com/pater/renaissance/conclusion.html
Renaissance, "all arts aspire to the condition of music"
give moments as they pass their highest possible value....spend it reading poetry.

Words are so inadequate to express what needs to be expressed: Burnt Norton page 19:
"...Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burned,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still..."

Eliot subjected to the vicissitudes of time and history
history is important, we are all creatures of time and place
place names for each section
important to know our place.....we all start somewhere
Eliot born in Missouri
Dry Salvages, pile of rocks
history is now in England, because that is where Eliot is.

Look at things as if for the first time.

As said above, Eliot liked tradition, he had a desire for formal tradition
Eliot liked the formal style in Britain, and adopted a British accent for reciting his poem

We have memories of what we have done.....but what about memories of what we haven't done?
What is, and what could have been.
What was, and what could have been.
imagining an alternate reality, more interesting than reality

birds - agents of epiphanies

The Jolly Corner - short story, wonders about if he had taken another road.

For Monday, we will talk about what ZuZu brought up in her presentation section, the creepiness, and the darkness
we will also look at the via negativa, (what about apophatic language?)
-St. John of the Cross
-Julian of Norwich
Eliot studying Christian Mystics - Homework, define or look at the term mystic