ABSTRACT
Comparing T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets with musical string quartets is both an obvious exercise and an infuriatingly elusive one. At times, the music can take the form of a melody accompanied by the other three voices; or the four voices can play in a chordal harmonic fashion, not unlike a chorale; or they can engage in polyphonic interplay in the manner of the fugues of Bach. Although the late quartets of Beethoven make use of a wide variety of musical techniques and styles, they do not represent a complete sample of the range of possibilities for the string quartet. At the same time that they are broad-ranging, they are also intensely focused. Perhaps the best analogy between the two sets of quartets is their intimate, inward-looking personality. Each is a self-contained, organic body reliant on the traditions of its form to lend structure and meaning to its motive materials.
