Light On Dark Water

Ash Wednesday is only two and a half weeks away, and I’ve been making an effort to think about Lent a little before it gets here this year. Usually it seems to appear so suddenly that I’m a week or so into it before really becoming attentive to it. I’ve decided what reading I’m going to focus on: The Dove Descending, Thomas Howard’s explication of Eliot’s Four Quartets. I’ve deeply loved the Quartets since I first read them back in 1972 or so. But I realized on the third or fourth reading that I really had no clear idea of what he was talking about at several points, for instance in the rhymed sequence that begins the second section of the first quartet, “Burnt Norton.” In an effort to correct this, I bought Howard’s book a couple of years ago, but haven’t yet read it.

I mention this now in case anyone wants to join me in reading or re-reading the Quartets (which can be found online here) and Howard’s book.

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