Four Quartets

Four Quartets is the name given to four related poems by T. S. Eliot, collected and republished in book form in 1943 (ISBN 0156332256). They had been published individually from 1935 to 1942. Their titles are Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages, and Little Gidding.

Little Gidding (1942)

:Little Gidding is a village in Huntingdonshire visited by Eliot in 1936. It was the home of a religious community established in 1626 by Nicholas Ferrar. In 1633 Charles I visited the community; in 1646 he returned, fleeing Parliamentary troops who broke up the community.

Related Topics:
Little Gidding - Eliot - Nicholas Ferrar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A long and intense description of Midwinter spring starts the last quartet, the scenery being Little Gidding. Then, the poet warns the visitor of the place that its meaning is beyond any comprehension, and that even if there was any hint of "purpose" in the visit, it has been overcome by a superior one. Whatever the reason, the meaning of the place (the religious community that was there, the return of Charles I...) is over it:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:. You are not here to verify,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Or carry report. You are here to kneel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Where prayer has been valid.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are two parts in the second stanza. The first one is a set of three stanzas with a very rhythm which is in contrast with their content (vanity of human efforts and power of death over everything). They start with the famous

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Ash on an old man's sleeve...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then a long passage, in nested hendecasyllable tercets, mirroring Dante's relates in the Divine Comedy, one of the works which most influenced Eliot's literary education (he usually carried a copy of it, and read it in the Tuscan original). This twenty-five tercets resemble Dante's accounts of his meetings with people in Hell, Purgatory and Paradise: description of the situation, meeting with the person in question (What! are 'you' here?), words of the writer to the other, answer of this one (usually somewhat cryptically) and parting of both.

Related Topics:
Hendecasyllable - Tercets - Dante - Divine Comedy - Tuscan - Hell - Purgatory - Paradise

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The conversation deals with the usual topics of eternity and the little objective importance of human acts, and the gifts reserved for age: the expiring sense, the lack of true feelings, the rending pain of re-enactment // Of all that you have done, and been, the discovery of the real motives of one's actions...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The parting goes as follows:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:The day was breaking. In the disfigured street

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::He left me, with a kind of valediction,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::And faded on the blowing of the horn.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The third part is a calling to detachment, especially from self as the developing of one's being in time, to love beyond desire, and so liberation // From the future, as well as from the past.. Another rhythmical stanza recalls the people who used to live at Little Gidding and their differences, and asks not to judge anyone for his party, but to be above any division (citing explicitly the war of the two Roses), because

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: all shall be well and

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:All manner of thing shall be well

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:By the purification of the motive

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:In the ground of our beseeching.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

(the first two verses are from Dame Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, and have appeared already at the beginning of the rhythmical stanza).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fourth part is a patent homage to the Holy Spirit (The dove descending breaks the air), and an exaltation of his omnipotence and power to redeem. He is also the Love which is the opposite of the fire of passions (or even of Hell) and between which two lie our decisions:

Related Topics:
Holy Spirit - Hell

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::We only live, only suspire

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::Consumed by either fire or fire.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The ending part recalls the beginning of East Coker

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:What we call the beginning is often the end

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:And to make an end is to make a beginning.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The poet meditates on the meaning of our actions, the many instances when we realize that what we called an end was just the beginning of another move, and vice versa (Every poem an epitaph). Birth and dying are moments of equal importance, we are born with the dead... but in God's hands, though we be unconscious, He takes care of us. The "crowned knot of fire" is an image of the Trinity. In the end,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

: All shall be well and

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:All manner of thing shall be well

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:When the tongues of flames are in-folded

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:Into the crowned knot of fire

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

:And the fire and the rose are one.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~