‘The Unheard Music’: T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets and John of the Cross

SISTER CORONA SHARP 'The Unheard Music': T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets and John of the Cross The influence of John of the Cross on Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot is acknowledged by many Eliot scholars.' It is presumed, however, that this influence does not extend beyond the obvious allusions made by the poet to the Spanish mystic, and in some cases the discussion is even confused or misleading. Since Eliot frrst discovered John's works while at Harvard , was still interested enough to cite them as a 'devotional monument' in 'Lancelot Andrewes' (1926) and to quote them ironically in an epigraph to Sweeney Agonistes (1926-7), as well as to review an abridged version of John's works in 1934, it is more than probable that he continued reading John in depth and with understanding.2 Dame Helen Gardner tells us that when Eliot was writing 'East Coker' (1940) he used E. Allison Peers's translation of}ohn's works.' Eliot's preoccupation with Christian mysticism is evident throughout the corpus ofhis religious works. Murder in the Cathedral, for example, presents the inward journey of the protagonist, as he picks his way among ever more subtle and dangerous temptations towards his goal in 'the night of God.' In Four Quartets the influence of several Christian mystics, particularly of John of the Cross, is strikingly evident.' In Christian mysticism there are two traditions, based on opposing schools of theology: kataphatic theology, which uses concepts to make statements about God; and apophatic theology, which denies the efficacy of applying any human concepts to God. From the first proceeds the mysticism of affirmation; from the second negative mysticism. Although the two traditions coincide on many fundamentals, such as the proposition that God is love, their conflicting features are discernible in various schools of spirituality. The second tradition has had many more followers than the frrst, because of the extensive and lasting influence of an unknown fifth-century writer who claimed to be Paul's convert, Dionysius the Areopagite (Pseudo-Dionysius). In the West the most notable mystics in this line of descent are the Victorines, Albert, Aquinas (who had reservations), Bonaventure, Eckhart, Tauler, Suso, Denys the Carthusian, and John of the Cross. Dante also felt the influence. The mysticism of affirmation, on the other hand, is evident in the works of Augustine, Gregory, Bernard, Francis of Assisi, Julian of Norwich, and others. Although Clement of Alexandria and Augustine had already UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 51, NUMBER 3, SPRING 1982. 0042-0247/821°500-0264-0278$01.5010 C UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS ELIOT'S Four Quartets 265 divided the mystical ascent into three stages, Dionysius made the tripartite scheme famous: purgation, illumination, and union - or a journey through darkness to light? Traces of this scheme are discernible in Four Quartets. Eliot's reading in mysticism and his own experiences undoubtedly complemented each other, so that his adaptation of sources came naturally, pervading the fabric of the poem completely yet unobtrusively. Balachandra Rajan defines Four Quartets as 'both a meditative poem of the mind and a heroic poem of the human journey.'· I propose to show thatthe meditation is largely directed by John of the Cross and that Eliot's version of the mystical journey follows from it. As briefly as possible I shall study the style and conception of the poem in relation to Ascent of Mount Carmel, Dark Night ofthe Soul, Spiritual Canticle, and Living Flame of Love.7 I shall first discuss John's style and the general features of his mystical writing thatbear upon Four Quartets. Second, aspects of the three stages in the mystical journey will be noted in the five-part structure of each quartet. Third, concepts, images, and symbols - commonplaces in mystical writing based on Scripture or Greek philosophy and abounding in John - will be discussed as they appear in Eliot's poem. Dionysian mysticism, whichJohn acknowledges (Ascent, 2.B.6; Canticle, 13 and 14.16), emphasizes the way of unknowing and negation to attain the ineffable God. In Ascent and Dark Night John couches his stem teaching of total self-denial in usually reasoned and uncompromising, dialectic, sometimes denunciatory style, frequently redundant and...