Search results
Feb 25, 2017 · A summary of a classic Eliot poem by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘Little Gidding’ is the last of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, but it is also his last significant poem. What’s more, there is a sense in this poem of Eliot seeking to join the threads of his work together, to ‘set a crown upon a lifetime’s effort’, as he puts it in ‘Little ...
- Burnt Norton
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Burnt Norton’...
- Four Quartets
A summary of a classic Eliot poem by Dr Oliver Tearle. Air...
- 10 of The Best Poems About Churches
Like Hardy’s poem, this poem (as the title indicates) is...
- East Coker
A summary of Eliot’s classic poem by Dr Oliver Tearle ‘East...
- His Influential Essay ‘Tradition and The Individual Talent
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Tradition and...
- The Dry Salvages
A summary of a classic Eliot poem by Dr Oliver Tearle. Air...
- Burnt Norton
Little Gidding, the final poem in T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, has been widely praised for its spiritual and philosophical depth. The poem is a meditation on the nature of time, memory, and the human condition, and it draws heavily on Eliot’s own religious beliefs and experiences.
Eliot catapulted to prominence with “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1914), a dramatic monologue in verse about a timid academic terrified by the raw energy of emotions. Even as Eliot struggled within a dysfunctional marriage, he pursued his iconoclastic poetry.
The poem is set in Little Gidding, a 17th-century English manor house, and draws on Eliot's experiences during the Second World War. It begins with a description of the bleak midwinter landscape, which evokes a sense of desolation and decay.
- Summary
- Form
- Commentary
“Little Gidding” was the last of the Quartets to be written. It appeared in print in 1942; in 1943, the four pieces were collected and published together. “Little Gidding,” named after a 17th-century Anglican monastery renowned for its devotion, is the place where the problems of time and human fallibility are more or less resolved. The first secti...
This is the most dramatic of the Four Quartets,in that it is here that the language most closely approaches the rhythms of everyday speech. The diction is measured, intellectual, but always self-conscious in its repetitiveness and in the palpable presence of the speaker. Certain sections of “Little Gidding” (“And all shall be well and / All manner ...
Fire and roses are the main images of this poem. Both have a double meaning. Roses, a traditional symbol of English royalty, represent all of England, but they also are made to stand for divine love, mercy, and the garden where the children in “Burnt Norton” hide (they reappear at the end of this poem). Fire is both the flame of divine harshness an...
Summary of Little Gidding, Section 3 of the poem Four Quartets. Line-by-line analysis.
People also ask
What is Eliot's poem 'Little Gidding' about?
Is Little Gidding a spiritual poem?
How does Eliot write Little Gidding?
What is the symbolism of Little Gidding?
Why does Eliot use imagery in Little Gidding?
How does Little Gidding differ from Eliot's earlier works?
Little Gidding. (poem) Little Gidding is the fourth and final poem of T. S. Eliot 's Four Quartets, a series of poems that discuss time, perspective, humanity, and salvation. It was first published in September 1942 after being delayed for over a year because of the air-raids on Great Britain during World War II and Eliot's declining health.
