“And the fire and the rose are one”: Spiritual enlightenment in t. S. Eliot’s four quartets (1936-42)

• Andrea Isabel Ingelmo Pérez ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad de Salamanca

     Universidad de Salamanca

     Salamanca, España

     
• Localización: Epos: Revista de filología, ISSN 0213-201X, Nº 41, 2025, págs. 139-160
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.5944/epos.41.2025.46270
• Títulos paralelos:
  • «Y la rosa y el fuego son uno»: iluminación espiritual en los «Cuatro Cuartetos» (1943) de T. S. Eliot
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    El presente artículo analiza la iluminación espiritual desde un enfoque intercultural en los Cuatro cuartetos (1936-42) de T. S. Eliot. El objetivo de esta investigación radica en mostrar el diálogo que Eliot llevó a cabo entre el pensamiento hindú-budista y el cristianismo, cuyos caminos ascéticos son comparables en su enseñanza del desapego sensorial. Este estudio se centra en las imágenes concretas que concentran la sabiduría espiritual: el “punto fijo del mundo en rotación”, el “loto” hindú-budista, yuxtapuesto a la “rosa” cristiana, y la rosa rodeada de las llamas del amor divino. Eliot utiliza imágenes de la iluminación en los Cuatro cuartetos para reconciliar la “mente de Europa” con el alma de Oriente y acercar al lector a la experiencia de lo sagrado.

  • English

    This article analyzes enlightenment from a cross-cultural perspective in T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets( 1936-42). It highlights symbols from Hinduism and Buddhism and the interrelations between Eastern and Western traditions. The aim of this research is to show how Eliot establishes a dialogue between Hindu-Buddhist references and the Christian ethos, whose ascetic pilgrimages are comparable in their teachings of sensual detachment. This study focuseson concrete images that condense spiritual wisdom: “the still point of the turning world”, the Hindu-Buddhist “lotos” juxtaposed to the Christian “rose garden” and the rose “in-folded” in the flames of divine love. Eliot uses images of enlightenment in Four Quartets to reconcile the “mind of Europe” with the soul of the East and draw the reader nearer to the experience of the sacred.

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