As excerpts from T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets were read aloud in the Duke Chapel Monday, the words seemed to leap from the page.
"Engaging Eliot" is a series of events inspired by T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, a set of poems written during World War II. Visual artists Makoto Fujimura and Bruce Herman were drawn to the poems for their spiritual themes and powerful imagery. They then collaborated on a series of paintings based on the poems. QU4RTETS are the centerpiece of "Engaging Eliot" and will remain on display in the Chapel until Feb. 9.
The opening ceremony featured remarks from the Dean of Duke Chapel Luke Powery, Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts director Jeremy Begbie, and the artists themselves.
Herman said he loved the poems because they are challenging to read. He compared their layers of meaning to the complexity of life itself.
"It resists easy and glib interpretation precisely because it's too exact," Herman said. "When read aloud, Eliot's work is songlike. When read aloud, Four Quartets isn't esoteric at all. On the contrary, the poems are evocative of the gritty stuff of our lives."
Fujimura shared an account of personal tragedy. His home was destroyed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. In the weeks that followed, Fujimura found refuge in Eliot's poetry.
"After 9/11, I found myself as a Ground Zero resident," Fujimura said. "I was disoriented. I didn't know where to turn. I began carrying these poems in my back pocket, reading them aloud [sometimes]. In that disoriented state, I needed to hear [Eliot's] words."
Interspersed throughout the program were readings of excerpts from Four Quartets by Divinity School Dean Richard Hays and Professor of Bible Theology Ellen F. Davis. Eliot's work also provided the backdrop for composer Christopher Theofanidis's "At the Still Point." While each artist responded to the poems differently, Theofanidis said he tried to fill his composition with elements found in the paintings.
"You'll notice in Bruce's work these grid-like background squares," Theofanidis said. "And Mako's work, you can see the blocks. In my piece, this grid, a background pulse, is constantly there as both metered, passing [and] existential time. These are at the core of Eliot's poetry."
At the close of the ceremony, the Ciompi Quartet, with Begbie on the piano, performed Theofanidis's piece.