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Four Quartets
- Narrated by: Ralph Fiennes
- Length: 52 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
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Summary
A masterly new recording by Ralph Fiennes. Four Quartets is the culminating achievement of T. S. Eliot's career as a poet.
While containing some of the most musical and unforgettable passages in 20th-century poetry, its four parts, 'Burnt Norton', 'East Coker', 'The Dry Salvages' and 'Little Gidding', present a rigorous meditation on the spiritual, philosophical and personal themes which preoccupied the author.
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Critic reviews
What listeners say about Four Quartets
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Susan Bittleston
- 06-10-19
Revelation
I listen to this regularly at night. TS Eliot has revealed a new perspective on life to me, now alone in my late 70s. The tone of Ralph Fiennes.voice is calming and reflective and had led me to other titles equally rewarding
21 people found this helpful
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- H. P.
- 30-03-18
Brilliant recording
Beautiful and meaningful narration. I have listened to this many times. Ralph Fiennes interpretation is excellent
5 people found this helpful
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- Linton Edwards
- 17-11-19
Fascinating
Beautifully read, this will take me ages to listen to over and over - it is such a brilliant poem and merits reflection.
I wish I had noticed that there is another version which includes The Wasteland also in the one credit, I would think that was better value.
But still. Brilliant.
4 people found this helpful
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- Martin
- 30-06-19
Well read Ralph
Well narrated by RF. difficult but poignant stuff. A good Sunday night listen in the shed.
4 people found this helpful
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- Nathan
- 11-12-16
Fiennes makes sense of the dense
T.S. Eliot isn't for everyone, and I suspect he'd be proud of that. Much of 'Four Quartets', however brilliant, is also mired in the sort of intellectual bombast that critics celebrate for its seriousness and technical finesse.
Praise must be given here to Ralph Fiennes, whose delivery does much to revivify the more arid areas of the text. With an almost hypnotic smoothness, he elevates poetic posturing to a point where the listener can't help but be immersed in the shifting landscape. As
'garlic and sapphires in the mud
clot the bedded axletree'
of Eliot's often precise, often deliberate convolutions, Fiennes delivery is as haunting as it is 'fructifying'.
12 people found this helpful
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- Mark Griffiths
- 02-02-20
Simply Beautiful
This poem says it all. The voyage to truth is a Divine revelation. Through endless humility there is union - “The Fire and the Rose are one” 😊🙏❤️
3 people found this helpful
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- Helen
- 21-12-21
Absolutely beautiful
Absolutely beautiful but maybe a bit expensive at a full credit for a work that is under an hour long.
2 people found this helpful
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- sophbb
- 19-12-21
Excellent reading of The Four Quartets
Having recently seen Ralph Fiennes perform this brilliantly in a London Theatre, I was keen to revisit TS Eliot’s words again and try to understand more of this complex poem’s meaning. I am delighted and will keep this as a favourite reading of the Four Quartets.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jacqueline
- 08-11-21
Beautifully read by Ralph Fiennes
This piece of literature was well read by Ralph Fiennes. Relaxing to listen to on a Monday evening.
1 person found this helpful
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- Michael I Wilson
- 01-08-21
I listen to this performance a lot
There is no better territory to explore than the wilderness these two great creative souls have strived to capture.
1 person found this helpful