T. S. Eliot's ‘Ash‐Wednesday’ and Four Quartets: Poetic Confession as Psychotherapy
The article considers T.S. Eliot's ‘Ash‐Wednesday’ and Four Quartets as confessional poetry in a double sense—as interpersonal communication before God, and to the reader. It is thus akin to the relationship between therapist and client in a counselling situation. ‘Ash‐Wednesday’ constitutes a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2003
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| In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2003, Volume: 17, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-16 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The article considers T.S. Eliot's ‘Ash‐Wednesday’ and Four Quartets as confessional poetry in a double sense—as interpersonal communication before God, and to the reader. It is thus akin to the relationship between therapist and client in a counselling situation. ‘Ash‐Wednesday’ constitutes a Lenten preparation in which understanding is sought by means of an articulation of failure, loss and repentance. Four Quartets uses a similar confessional technique, evoking ‘peak’ moments (both primal scene and the site of mourning) out of which religious philosophising emerges as proposed ‘interpretation’. It is suggested that the poems resemble a confidential ‘talking cure’. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/17.1.1 |
