Search a title or topic

Over 20 million podcasts, powered by 

Player FM logo
Artwork

Content provided by London Review of Books. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by London Review of Books or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.
Player FM - Podcast App
Go offline with the Player FM app!

Political Poems: ‘Little Gidding’ by T.S. Eliot

10:51
 
Share
 

Manage episode 457865101 series 3476717
Content provided by London Review of Books. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by London Review of Books or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

In the final episode of Political Poems, Mark and Seamus discuss ‘Little Gidding’, the fourth poem of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Emerging out of Eliot’s experiences of the Blitz, ‘Little Gidding’ presents us with an apocalyptic vision of purifying fire. Suggesting that humanity can survive warfare only through renewed spiritual unity, Eliot finds a model in Little Gidding, a small village that for a time in the 17th century served as an Anglican commune before its closure under Puritan scrutiny. Mark and Seamus explore how Eliot’s poetics heighten our sense of the liminal and mystical, and how, by ‘scrambling our brains’, Eliot’s brilliant rhetoric subsumes his bizarre politics.


Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:


Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4dbjbjG


In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadings


Further reading in the LRB:


Frank Kermode: Disintegration

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v16/n02/frank-kermode/disintegration


Helen Thaventhiran: Things Ill Done and Undone

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n17/helen-thaventhiran/things-ill-done-and-undone


Tobias Gregory: By All Possible Art

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n24/tobias-gregory/by-all-possible-art

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

152 episodes

Artwork
iconShare
 
Manage episode 457865101 series 3476717
Content provided by London Review of Books. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by London Review of Books or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://staging.podcastplayer.com/legal.

In the final episode of Political Poems, Mark and Seamus discuss ‘Little Gidding’, the fourth poem of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Emerging out of Eliot’s experiences of the Blitz, ‘Little Gidding’ presents us with an apocalyptic vision of purifying fire. Suggesting that humanity can survive warfare only through renewed spiritual unity, Eliot finds a model in Little Gidding, a small village that for a time in the 17th century served as an Anglican commune before its closure under Puritan scrutiny. Mark and Seamus explore how Eliot’s poetics heighten our sense of the liminal and mystical, and how, by ‘scrambling our brains’, Eliot’s brilliant rhetoric subsumes his bizarre politics.


Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:


Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/4dbjbjG


In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadings


Further reading in the LRB:


Frank Kermode: Disintegration

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v16/n02/frank-kermode/disintegration


Helen Thaventhiran: Things Ill Done and Undone

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n17/helen-thaventhiran/things-ill-done-and-undone


Tobias Gregory: By All Possible Art

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n24/tobias-gregory/by-all-possible-art

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  continue reading

152 episodes

All episodes

×
 
Loading …

Welcome to Player FM!

Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices.

 

Copyright 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | | Copyright
Listen to this show while you explore
Play