I was only introduced to this poem recently, as I studied The Confessions of St. Augustine. A few years ago I gave myself a sort of motto which I stated as “Do what is in front of you.” It works for a number of reasons, particularly if you do not “schedule” too much of life beyond obligatory acts and self-disciplinary habits. If you give yourself plenty of time surrounding these acts, you are free to do beautiful things on your way to and from. Sometimes these beautiful things require sacrifice and patience, which serves to make them all the more beautiful.
Lovely stuff Frank! Always worth going back over Tom's poems. You mentioned Rothko and Pollock....I was reminded too of Andy Warhol - apparently he was a devout Catholic ..makes you wonder if his Campbell soup stuff was actually a 'cry in the wilderness of industrial modernity'.
Luigi Giussani studied poetry, including Eliot. Giussani writes about the same subjects. He continues to teach many. Most obviously, among the Fraternity of which Giussani is credited with being the founder. His encounter with High School students, including those in classes he taught, was the occasion of the beginning of this Fraternity. It is Communion and Liberation. The kind of liberation of which Eliot speaks, from experience. We can be found on line, and met in person. A glimpse of this encounter, to which we invite all, may include some events. The International Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, held every August in Rimini, Italia. New York Encounter, held every USA President's Day weekend, in Manhattan, New York, USA. See you at either of these? Come and see us.
I would love to meet you and thank you for the invitation. I shall send you a message to establish contact. What a remarkable comment and I am grateful for it.
You mentioned Kenneth Clarke's Civilisation programs, which are surely therapeutic for those seeking to lift their spirits and reinforce a believe in the higher purpose of Man.
You also mention that the Greeks observed that 'Beauty is difficult'. This leads us on to Dostoevsky's 'Beauty will save the world' – words which have reassured me through my life.
Love Eliot’s four quartets (and his poetry generally speaking), and this is a great article.
Would suggest if anyone is keen to engage with Eliot on a similar theme a good starting point is his “choruses from “the rock”” which are a little more accessible but also profoundly beautiful. “The good man is the builder, if he builds what is good,”. “The man that is, will shadow the man who pretends to be”
Thank you Mr Poynton - I do wonder whether people get anything out of me going on about dear old Tom and so it is most encouraging to hear that you do - especially given your knowledge of the poems.
Thank you for this post Frank, well written and researched as always. Fascinating perspective on the source material.
What springs out is equality used as a societal tool to control populations. It creates a strict hierarchy for adherence at the same time as promoting a hierarchy free future. Amazing sleight of hand! The impossible utopia, some people have opportunity and some skill and are pretty much 'chosen' to succeed, some have skills unobtainable by others but no opportunity so that skill will waste by the way side.
With opportunity comes the discussion of simple luck, or even if you like destiny and fate. Equality removes that possibility, whether we are all the same under God or under a political regime. Equity simply stacks the deck in favour of who decides who needs an equitable outcome and who doesn't. Who is the most equal.
Which brings me to the nub of this comment, and its comparison to fraud. As a fraud investigator for a short period in my life, "follow the money" was always a very good place to start and led to many enlightening enquiries. I have taken to "following the money" in all thinks modern and progressive, there is always a breadcrumb trail and its always very clear and obvious but obfuscated by the natural human desire not to question and not to criticise.
Another aspect of equality that has quietly removed meritocracy. Feedback on performance is these days couched in meaningless positives and does little to grow the individual but does further the goals of the person giving feedback.
I digress, where you look at each symptom of the post modernist malady, I like to see who is actually benefitting from the malady.
In law enforcement there is a lot of energy on dealing with a symptom of societal ills, little on dealing with the actual cause. The difference in a crude way, of a GP and a Surgeon, one treats the symptoms of say a cancer, while one seeks to cut it out and remove it. We can all see the Orwellian dystopia arriving, maybe we could start to look for the surgeon that can help treat the issue more fundamentally?
Eliot's poetry shines a light, but to what end?
As for dear Fukuyama, if ever there was a populist academic who wrote a book for a defined audience there he is. Having had to study him for my Masters, he pretty much reordered and requoted in his own words material from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are even slight nods to Gnostic beliefs in there. He has been proved wrong in many ways, and as you noted its a Greek tragedy we are living through, not a dramatic rush to the end of history and a societal reset into utopia. Or even a mad rush to nothingness. It is simply a mess.
I have never read this poem, nor even heard of it. I shall try to search it out.
What I do know for myself is that the morals and principles I was raised with, from my parents and grandparents, from the schooling I had, are still my bedrock.
The difficulty for me these days is making any kind of sense from the seemingly endless untruths we are subjected to. I increasingly now trust my instincts.
Do I trust what this person is saying?
Do really need what this organisation is trying to sell me?
Are my beliefs and instinctive allegiances as wicked as some make out?
I revere most Christian ethics: I wish I could embrace some for which I still lack belief.
Thanks for your post, sir. You make me think and that MUST be a good thing.
I have to say something to you Frank. I remember towards end 2024 and early 2025 you began to suggest that Neoliberalism was going to be kaput. When you mentioned this it made me very optimistic. DT had just been elected and I thought wow maybe Frank is correct.
Well sir, you absolutely were. Unfortunately tho my optimism has been shot to shit. Basically the Zionists have taken the reins of power. Sure they are more conservative and the Neoliberal Marxists are keeping their heads down. But we may have gone from the frying pan into the fire.
I have learned a lot in the last couple years though. Some of it I almost wish that I hadn’t. I believe both factions have the same Master(s). They’re essentially International ZioBankers. They deploy both ideologies as a way to herd the masses. I had heard the conspiracy theories about this for many years. It was confirmed in the Epstein emails when JE liked to boast about his employer (Rothschilds). JE was quite the fixer and that was the reason the rich and powerful were clamoring to break bread with him.
I believe Jeffrey Epstein was probably their way to shore up their power structure. Make sure high ranking members of both ideologies were under their control. After voting for Trump 3X and watching the election stolen from him in 2020 am now convinced he was resurrected to wage their wars.
The good news is I do believe they are failing on all fronts. The goal was to swindle Russia & Irans resources and break China in the process. The bad news is they are getting desperate as their order is now in question. I firmly believe that in 2020 they believed themselves to be squarely in the driver’s seat to complete world domination.
When the parasite kills the host, it migrates to a new host.
While ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ have been bickering over control of the fading West decade after decade the Global Cult has been moving power systematically eastwards to China with Cult corporations transferring production to give China control of the supply chain; the development of the mass control system including social credit dystopia which is being expanded across the world; control of the population through AI which China is driving forward; and now the China-aligned Iran (and Houthis) helping with Trump and Israel to dismantle the Western system in preparation for total takeover as year follows year and the Chinese control system becomes the world as always planned. I have been saying this was the Global Cult agenda since the 1990s and here we are. That’s the lens through which China should be seen, Mr Galloway. It’s a Trojan horse which here you are helping to sell. {David Icke (27 July 2026)}
Brilliant post Frank. I read Eliot 40 years ago. It was difficult then and I fear I was not mature enough to grasp it's meaning. I still have the Collected Poems and shall endeavour to try again ...this time hopefully with a bit of maturity to help me.
I get more out of it the more I go back to it. First it made me feel smaller, then greater, and now it puts me into perspective I suppose. A great help, and a good example of why the difficulty of beauty is work worth undertaking.
The Wicked with the Just, the Foolish with the Wise, the Ignorant with the Informed and the Prudent with the Incontinent. It is a fool’s paradise which leaves us with nothing to believe in.
I have a sad story to tell you It may hurt your feelings a bit
I was only introduced to this poem recently, as I studied The Confessions of St. Augustine. A few years ago I gave myself a sort of motto which I stated as “Do what is in front of you.” It works for a number of reasons, particularly if you do not “schedule” too much of life beyond obligatory acts and self-disciplinary habits. If you give yourself plenty of time surrounding these acts, you are free to do beautiful things on your way to and from. Sometimes these beautiful things require sacrifice and patience, which serves to make them all the more beautiful.
Lovely stuff Frank! Always worth going back over Tom's poems. You mentioned Rothko and Pollock....I was reminded too of Andy Warhol - apparently he was a devout Catholic ..makes you wonder if his Campbell soup stuff was actually a 'cry in the wilderness of industrial modernity'.
Luigi Giussani studied poetry, including Eliot. Giussani writes about the same subjects. He continues to teach many. Most obviously, among the Fraternity of which Giussani is credited with being the founder. His encounter with High School students, including those in classes he taught, was the occasion of the beginning of this Fraternity. It is Communion and Liberation. The kind of liberation of which Eliot speaks, from experience. We can be found on line, and met in person. A glimpse of this encounter, to which we invite all, may include some events. The International Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, held every August in Rimini, Italia. New York Encounter, held every USA President's Day weekend, in Manhattan, New York, USA. See you at either of these? Come and see us.
I would love to meet you and thank you for the invitation. I shall send you a message to establish contact. What a remarkable comment and I am grateful for it.
I have repeatedly tried to message you but “something went wrong” says substack. Please email me at frankwrighter@pm.me to arrange.
You mentioned Kenneth Clarke's Civilisation programs, which are surely therapeutic for those seeking to lift their spirits and reinforce a believe in the higher purpose of Man.
You also mention that the Greeks observed that 'Beauty is difficult'. This leads us on to Dostoevsky's 'Beauty will save the world' – words which have reassured me through my life.
Thanks for all you do to help us keep our sanity.
Thank you Paul and you are welcome! I am glad I can be of help.
Love Eliot’s four quartets (and his poetry generally speaking), and this is a great article.
Would suggest if anyone is keen to engage with Eliot on a similar theme a good starting point is his “choruses from “the rock”” which are a little more accessible but also profoundly beautiful. “The good man is the builder, if he builds what is good,”. “The man that is, will shadow the man who pretends to be”
Thanks for the article!
Oxford '69 to '72.
Eng. Lit. & Lang.
No general study of 20th Century authors, but final paper (one of nine 3 hour exams) on Yeats and Eliot. Which I chose.
50+ years of reading The Four Quartets has made it my favourite poem. The more I read it the more it speaks to me.
Thanks,Frank - great articles
Thank you Mr Poynton - I do wonder whether people get anything out of me going on about dear old Tom and so it is most encouraging to hear that you do - especially given your knowledge of the poems.
Great poetry feed the soul.
Thank you for this post Frank, well written and researched as always. Fascinating perspective on the source material.
What springs out is equality used as a societal tool to control populations. It creates a strict hierarchy for adherence at the same time as promoting a hierarchy free future. Amazing sleight of hand! The impossible utopia, some people have opportunity and some skill and are pretty much 'chosen' to succeed, some have skills unobtainable by others but no opportunity so that skill will waste by the way side.
With opportunity comes the discussion of simple luck, or even if you like destiny and fate. Equality removes that possibility, whether we are all the same under God or under a political regime. Equity simply stacks the deck in favour of who decides who needs an equitable outcome and who doesn't. Who is the most equal.
Which brings me to the nub of this comment, and its comparison to fraud. As a fraud investigator for a short period in my life, "follow the money" was always a very good place to start and led to many enlightening enquiries. I have taken to "following the money" in all thinks modern and progressive, there is always a breadcrumb trail and its always very clear and obvious but obfuscated by the natural human desire not to question and not to criticise.
Another aspect of equality that has quietly removed meritocracy. Feedback on performance is these days couched in meaningless positives and does little to grow the individual but does further the goals of the person giving feedback.
I digress, where you look at each symptom of the post modernist malady, I like to see who is actually benefitting from the malady.
In law enforcement there is a lot of energy on dealing with a symptom of societal ills, little on dealing with the actual cause. The difference in a crude way, of a GP and a Surgeon, one treats the symptoms of say a cancer, while one seeks to cut it out and remove it. We can all see the Orwellian dystopia arriving, maybe we could start to look for the surgeon that can help treat the issue more fundamentally?
Eliot's poetry shines a light, but to what end?
As for dear Fukuyama, if ever there was a populist academic who wrote a book for a defined audience there he is. Having had to study him for my Masters, he pretty much reordered and requoted in his own words material from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are even slight nods to Gnostic beliefs in there. He has been proved wrong in many ways, and as you noted its a Greek tragedy we are living through, not a dramatic rush to the end of history and a societal reset into utopia. Or even a mad rush to nothingness. It is simply a mess.
Look forward to the next post Sir!
Thank you Frank .
Blessings from Australia.
I have never read this poem, nor even heard of it. I shall try to search it out.
What I do know for myself is that the morals and principles I was raised with, from my parents and grandparents, from the schooling I had, are still my bedrock.
The difficulty for me these days is making any kind of sense from the seemingly endless untruths we are subjected to. I increasingly now trust my instincts.
Do I trust what this person is saying?
Do really need what this organisation is trying to sell me?
Are my beliefs and instinctive allegiances as wicked as some make out?
I revere most Christian ethics: I wish I could embrace some for which I still lack belief.
Thanks for your post, sir. You make me think and that MUST be a good thing.
I have to say something to you Frank. I remember towards end 2024 and early 2025 you began to suggest that Neoliberalism was going to be kaput. When you mentioned this it made me very optimistic. DT had just been elected and I thought wow maybe Frank is correct.
Well sir, you absolutely were. Unfortunately tho my optimism has been shot to shit. Basically the Zionists have taken the reins of power. Sure they are more conservative and the Neoliberal Marxists are keeping their heads down. But we may have gone from the frying pan into the fire.
I have learned a lot in the last couple years though. Some of it I almost wish that I hadn’t. I believe both factions have the same Master(s). They’re essentially International ZioBankers. They deploy both ideologies as a way to herd the masses. I had heard the conspiracy theories about this for many years. It was confirmed in the Epstein emails when JE liked to boast about his employer (Rothschilds). JE was quite the fixer and that was the reason the rich and powerful were clamoring to break bread with him.
I believe Jeffrey Epstein was probably their way to shore up their power structure. Make sure high ranking members of both ideologies were under their control. After voting for Trump 3X and watching the election stolen from him in 2020 am now convinced he was resurrected to wage their wars.
The good news is I do believe they are failing on all fronts. The goal was to swindle Russia & Irans resources and break China in the process. The bad news is they are getting desperate as their order is now in question. I firmly believe that in 2020 they believed themselves to be squarely in the driver’s seat to complete world domination.
Just my thoughts sir.
When the parasite kills the host, it migrates to a new host.
While ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ have been bickering over control of the fading West decade after decade the Global Cult has been moving power systematically eastwards to China with Cult corporations transferring production to give China control of the supply chain; the development of the mass control system including social credit dystopia which is being expanded across the world; control of the population through AI which China is driving forward; and now the China-aligned Iran (and Houthis) helping with Trump and Israel to dismantle the Western system in preparation for total takeover as year follows year and the Chinese control system becomes the world as always planned. I have been saying this was the Global Cult agenda since the 1990s and here we are. That’s the lens through which China should be seen, Mr Galloway. It’s a Trojan horse which here you are helping to sell. {David Icke (27 July 2026)}
how close do you think this comes to Elliot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN7gdQLVluI
Brilliant post Frank. I read Eliot 40 years ago. It was difficult then and I fear I was not mature enough to grasp it's meaning. I still have the Collected Poems and shall endeavour to try again ...this time hopefully with a bit of maturity to help me.
I get more out of it the more I go back to it. First it made me feel smaller, then greater, and now it puts me into perspective I suppose. A great help, and a good example of why the difficulty of beauty is work worth undertaking.
The Wicked with the Just, the Foolish with the Wise, the Ignorant with the Informed and the Prudent with the Incontinent. It is a fool’s paradise which leaves us with nothing to believe in.
I have a sad story to tell you It may hurt your feelings a bit
When I was in France with the Army…
Please continue my good man.