T. S. Eliot and the Spirituality of Action

Abstract

Joseph S. O’Leary’s "T. S. Eliot and the Spirituality of Action" explores how Eliot’s poetry, particularly Four Quartets, engages with the Bhagavad Gītā’s concept of action without attachment. O’Leary identifies resonances between Eliot’s Christian theological sensibility and the Gītā’s teachings on karma-yoga, arguing that Eliot internalized aspects of Eastern thought—not as syncretism but as a deepening of his spiritual poetics. The article examines how Eliot’s evocations of stillness, detachment, and inner renunciation parallel Arjuna’s journey toward selfless duty under Kṛṣṇa’s guidance. Through a close reading of lines such as “fare forward, traveller,” O’Leary shows that Eliot imagines purposeful action grounded not in results but in transcendental surrender. While Eliot maintained his Christian orthodoxy, his spiritual imagination, O’Leary argues, was enriched by texts like the Gītā, allowing him to forge a uniquely contemplative poetics of engagement—where time, eternity, and the will intersect.