T.S Eliot and Four Quartets: The Wisdom Way

Abstract

This essay explores T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets as a poetic embodiment of wisdom, spiritual maturity, and cultural renewal in response to the fragmentation of Western civilization following World War I. Through detailed commentary on each quartet—Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages, and Little Gidding—the analysis situates Eliot’s work within both classical and Christian traditions, drawing connections between Heraclitus’s concept of Logos, St. John’s Gospel, and Erasmus's translation choices. The essay traces Eliot’s intellectual and spiritual evolution, his integration of theology, poetry, and cultural critique, and his challenge to the reductionism of modernity. The Four Quartets, it is argued, offer a path toward personal and civilizational transformation grounded in humility, sacramental awareness, and the unitive fire of divine love.