Eliot’s Four Quartets tend to be identified with the struggle for classical
order and the music analogy implicit in the title of the poem, but, as some
scholars have tried to demonstrate, Eliot’s concern with the visual avant-
gardes, in particular ballet, does have an influence on his poetry. These
pages are an attempt to analyse the images, metaphors and terminology
borrowed from dance which are used in the poem and compare them to a
recent transposition of the poem into ballet by the Canadian
choreographer Deborah Dunn: the reciprocal connection between word
and image testifies to the visual dimension of Four Quartets.
