O tempo e a música: uma proposta de abordagem da obra Quatro Quartetos, de T.S. Eliot

Abstract

The article suggests an analysis of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets from an alternative approach: Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and music, having as a unifying element the notion of time. Einstein changed physics’ paradigms by proposing that time is relative, and not absolute, as it was a common belief. By doing that, the axiom of time as a linear thing was put into perspective in the scientific world, and the idea of travelling through time is, at least theoretically, considered a possibility. Thus, this article tries to establish a bridge between this line of thought and the poem Four Quartets by recurring to the idea that ‘all time is eternally present’, a theme that appears throughout the whole poem, showing that this ideal can be reached using the poetic word and, by consequence, the poetic persona can establish a synergy between past, present and future.