From Agony to Enlightenment: Parallels between Rafael Lechowski’s Quarcissus and T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets

Abstract

Eliot’s Four Quartets stands as one of the most influential poetic works of the 20th Century. Therefore, academics have approached it from many different angles, among which one may mention its musicality, the references it contains, its composition, and the belief systems that converge in it, such as Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Rap music, on the other hand, is generally assumed to be a cultural product that lacks profound insights on the subjects it touches upon precisely because it is built for entertainment, not academic analysis. However, although rap music is generally regarded as non-academic, Rafael Lechowski’s extensive rap work entitled Quarcissus: El arte de desamar has divided criticism because of the way in which it engages with the subject of emotional pain. This article argues that Lechowski’s work shares both structural and content features with Eliot’s Four Quartets; particulary regarding Buddhist principles, which is established by comparing the four sections that make up both texts.