《四个四重奏》（TS Eliot）——这也许是近代最具智慧的诗意散文。它写于第二次世界大战期间，却仍与当今有着千丝万缕的联系。以下是一段摘录：
“The dove descending breaks the air/With flame of incandescent terror/Of which the tongues declare/The only discharge from sin and error/The only hope, or the despair/Lies in the choice of pyre or pyre–/To be redeemed from fire by fire./Who then devised this torment?/Love/Love is the unfamiliar Name/Behind the hands that w******e/The intolerable shirt of flame/Which human power cannot remove./We only live, only suspire/Consumed by either fire or fire.” （译注：摘自第四重奏的第四段，本书中文版链接，英文版链接）
