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T. S. EliotA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
In a letter written in May 1940, Eliot described the village of East Coker as the ideal place for “a meditation on beginnings and ends” (“In Eliot’s Own Words: Four Quartets.” T. S. Eliot), and this motif permeates the poem. “In my beginning is my end” (Line 1) is the very first sentence, which is followed by examples, such as houses, of things that are built but eventually come down. Ends are always contained within beginnings. The segue to the imagined country scene in the village invokes how things that were once used or living are now “under the sea” (Line 100), like the houses and the dancers who have gone “under the hill” (Line 101).
The beginnings and ends motif also occurs in the notion of the spiritual path, in which through contemplative prayer, the individual self reaches its “end”—that is, the person learns how to go beyond desire and thought to experience a union with God. As a result, a new beginning emerges for that individual. The same is true for the sacrament of the Eucharist, as Section IV shows.
By T. S. Eliot
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
T. S. Eliot
Four Quartets
Four Quartets
T. S. Eliot
Journey of the Magi
Journey of the Magi
T. S. Eliot
Little Gidding
Little Gidding
T. S. Eliot
Mr. Mistoffelees
Mr. Mistoffelees
T. S. Eliot
Murder in the Cathedral
Murder in the Cathedral
T. S. Eliot
Portrait of a Lady
Portrait of a Lady
T. S. Eliot
Preludes
Preludes
T. S. Eliot
Rhapsody On A Windy Night
Rhapsody On A Windy Night
T. S. Eliot
The Cocktail Party
The Cocktail Party
T. S. Eliot
The Hollow Men
The Hollow Men
T. S. Eliot
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T. S. Eliot
The Song of the Jellicles
The Song of the Jellicles
T. S. Eliot
The Waste Land
The Waste Land
T. S. Eliot
Tradition and the Individual Talent
Tradition and the Individual Talent
T. S. Eliot