TS Eliot's Four Quartets - Revd Canon Mark Oakley (Part I: Introduction) 2016

The Waste Land is a 434-line poem divided into five sections: 'The Burial of the Dead', 'A Game of Chess', 'The Fire Sermon', 'Death by Water', and 'What the Thunder Said'. It is a complex and erudite work that incorporates numerous allusions to mythology, classical literature, and religious texts. The poem reflects the spiritual disillusionment and moral decay of the Western world after World War I, portraying a sterile and fragmented society. It was initially met with controversy due to its innovative and often obscure style but has since become a central work in the modernist canon.

Four Quartets is a cycle of four poems by T.S. Eliot, each titled with a place name: 'Burnt Norton,' 'East Coker,' 'The Dry Salvages,' and 'Little Gidding. ' The poems are meditations on time, redemption, and eternity, blending Eliot's Anglo-Catholicism with mystical, philosophical, and poetic elements from various traditions. Each quartet has five sections and explores themes such as the conflict between individual mortality and the endless span of human existence, the nature of spirituality, and the relationship between the present and the past. The work is considered Eliot's masterpiece and his clearest exposition of his Christian beliefs.

The Pickwick Papers, or The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, is Charles Dickens' first novel, published in 1837. It follows the travels of Samuel Pickwick, a kind and wealthy gentleman, and his three companions: Mr. Tupman, Mr. Winkle, and Mr. Snodgrass. Along with Pickwick’s servant Sam Weller, they get into numerous scrapes and misadventures. The novel satirizes societal misunderstandings and highlights the absurdity of social class divisions. A significant part of the story revolves around the trial of Bardell vs Pickwick and its aftermath, leading to Pickwick's incarceration and eventual triumph.

This collection, published in 1917, includes twelve poems by T.S. Eliot, with 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' being the most notable. The poems are characterized by their stream of consciousness style and dramatic monologues, reflecting themes of weariness, regret, embarrassment, longing, and awareness of mortality. The collection also includes other significant poems such as 'Portrait of a Lady', 'Preludes', 'Rhapsody on a Windy Night', and 'Hysteria'. The poems are influenced by various literary and philosophical sources, including the works of Dante and the philosophy of Henri Bergson.