Lord David Alton has sent me the link to a BBC drama production, broadcast this past Saturday, in which Jeremy Irons recites the whole of T. S. Eliot’s masterpiece, Four Quartets. Lord Alton contributes an introduction to Eliot’s poem.
Admirers of the British TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited (as distinct from the recent diabolical Hollywood adaptation) will know Irons for his superb portrayal of Charles Ryder. In addition, of course, he has been in many other films, not least of which was his appearance, alongside Robert De Niro, as a Jesuit in The Mission.
Whether or not Irons’ artistic union with T. S. Eliot can be seen as a marriage made in heaven, the poem itself never fails to point to heaven. Looking to the heavens with Eliot and Irons is worth an hour or so of anyone’s time. Here’s the link:
The site has an excerpt of the reading, but apparently the entire thing is not available at this time. I hope that perhaps it will be in the future, if the excerpt is any indication — loved listening even just to that bit. My wife and I have long loved Jeremy Irons ever since first seeing him in Brideshead Revisited (one of our all-time favorite books and movie — as you note, “as distinct from the recent diabolical Hollywood adaptation”!).
Thank you for sharing link as there are many people in my Fb account who was looking for it but I am thinking to put this link on my http://www.ugetmovie.com and than send that link to my FB followers.
Is that okay with you guys?
I have a personal connection to Four Quartets and I like it big time, not only for what Eliot says but also how he says it: the mood as well as the tone. And I like to read poems, especially love poems but I have never ceased to wonder how one poet can be so immensely talented. On this site http://www.theboldpress.com I have done a collection of love poems from great poets. Be sure to look at it.