In considering Eliot's The Waste Land and Ash Wednesday, it

is obvious that T.S Eliot goes through several periods and stages in his
poetic career. As I pointed out in the previous chapters, critics claim
that Eliots career witnessed a poetic development and spiritual
progress from early poetry to Four Quartets. Indeed, in the early and
transitional poetry, Eliot had a considerable difficulty in defining his
role as a Christian poet and finding the proper place for religion in his
work. After this transitional period, Eliot tends to seem more comfortable in his
positions as Christian poets. Accordingly, in his later works, he reaches the
peak of his religious sensibility. In fact, a proper appreciation of Eliots
career as a whole depends upon the awareness of his later work Four
Quartets. In a seminal thesis entitled Wrestling with Angels: T. S. Eliot, W.
H. Auden, and the Idea of a Christian Poetics Pauline McAlonan states that in Four
Quartets Eliot's critical perspective was radically altered and his chief concern became
"the relation of poetry to the spiritual and social life of its time and other times" 1 In this
specific context, unlike early poems, such as The Waste Land and
The Love Song that address spiritual failure in a bankrupt universe,
the journey of the pilgrim in Four Quartets ends with redemption. In
fact, in order to understand Four Quartets, this chapter will be
devoted to the analysis of Eliots poem from a Dantean perspective.
Unlike the psychological trauma of the inhabitants of the Waste Land
1 Pauline McAllon, Wrestling with Angels:T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and the Idea of a
Christian Poetics (Montreal: Department of English,2006) p.59

and Prufrock, and the hesitant pilgrim of Ash Wednesday, in Four

Quartets the pilgrim goes beyond those tribulations to reach a
spiritual fulfilment. Indeed, the spiritual maturity within the poets life
in this period leads critics to affirm that Eliots Four Quartets is the
beginning of what may be called his Paradiso period.
This chapter will reveal that Eliots reaction to Dante in this
period is sincere and definitely not ironic. In other words, it will disclose
the total submission of T.S Eliot in his borrowing from Dante. In fact,
like Dante in his last part Paradiso, T.S Eliot in his Four Quartets is
definitely settled in his Christian faith. In fact, Eliot lives in a secular
context which is very compared to the one of Dante. Therefore, like
Dantes Paradiso, the overall structure of Four Quartets is that of a
journey, involving poetic, personal, and religious aspects of Eliots own
life.2Comparing to the ironic borrowing in the early and transitional
poetry, in this chapter I will show that Eliots borrowing from Dante to
include in Four Quartets is sincere and definitely not ironic. The
chapter is divided into three main sections. The first section discusses
the growth of faith in T.S Eliots later poem and its relation with the
doctrine of Christianity. The second section is divided into three parts.
In each part I shall analyse how the three imageries borrowed by Eliot,
to include in Four Quartets, conveys the same meaning like in
2 A. Lee Fjordbotten, Liturgical influences of Anglo Catholicism on The Waste
Land and other works by T.S Eliot(New York: B.A., St. Olaf College,
1999)p.310
2

Dantes poem. Therefore, the first part examines the image of the
Beatrice and Her Eyes and how T.S Eliot in Four Quartets, unlike early
and transitional poetry, presents the eyes as a symbol of vision. The
second part discusses the theme of Incarnation and the image of God
in Eliots poem and its connection with the Divine Comedy. The last
part consists of Eliots spiritual fulfilment and his reconciliation with
earthly desires.

I.

The

Quartets

and

The

doctrine

of

Christianity:
Before starting to analyse the connectedness of both poets, we
should first present Eliots poem Four Quartets. Indeed, Eliots Four
Quartets is a set of four poems Burnt Norton, East Cocker, The Dry
Salvages and Little Gidding. The poems were originally published as
separated works, and only later combined in a series. Therefore, the
central focus of the Four Quartets is man's relationship with time, the
universe, and the divine. The poems present the reader to close
elements of the Doctrine of Christianity. Like Dantes protagonist who
journeys in Paradise under the light of the medieval context, Eliots
pilgrim journey in this real world under the light of the modern context.
Skilfully, Eliot transforms the medieval context of Dante and projects it
to modern England in the era after World War II. In fact, the secular nature
of modern society creates conditions for the writing of religious poetry. Therefore, T.S
3

Eliot in Four Quartets is looking for a modern redemption in order to

put an end to the chaos of post war England. Accordingly, through the
quartets Eliot depicts the modern England, the lifestyle of people and
the chaos of the war. Basically, the same themes discussed in his
earlier poetry, re-emerge in Four Quartets but they are given Christian
overtones. For example, in East Cocker the poet asserts the
centrality of Christianity to human existence,
The dripping blood our only drink,
The bloody flesh our only food 3

In these lines, the poet states that the religious celebrations like the
Eucharist4 should be sustenance for living and that otherwise our
years are largely wasted. Besides, the fourth section of The Dry
Salvages contains a prayer to the Virgin Mary
Lady, whose shrine stands on the
promontory,
Pray for all those who are in ships,
those
Whose business has to do with fish(Eliot
211)

In this passage Eliot evokes the shrine of the Virgin Mary and asks
her to pray for suffering of people in the modern England. Moreover, in
the last quartet Little Gidding the poet recalls the trauma of early
3 T.S Eliot, Four Quartets , Collected poems 1909-1962 ( London: Faber
Paperbacks, 1963)P.202
4 The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament and a sacrifice. In the Holy Eucharist,
under the appearances of bread and wine, the Lord Christ is contained,
offered, and received.
4

periods through The eyes of a familiar compound ghost. Paulin

McAllon states that this passage reflects "a hallucinated scene after an air-raid
in London5. Accordingly, Eliot prays God To forgive both bad and good
deeds. Here as if the poet believes that even a previous good deed
could be wrong as it lacks faith in God. In the next lines the poet
accentuates the importance of the relation between the context and
the language of his texts
For last year's words belong to last
year's language
And next year's words await another
voice(Eliot 218)

In the lines that follow Eliot declares that the poet must endeavour To
purify the dialect of the tribe. By such a claim, Eliot shows that the
language of his poem should not only communicate with the audience,
but also purify their language.
From the above glance on the context of the quartets, we grasp
that Eliot, like Dante, very skilfully incorporates his religious beliefs into his poem in
order to redeem Twenty years largely wasted. Therefore, the link
between Four Quartets and Paradise becomes tenable. Indeed,
Eliots poem came under the influence of Dante who helped him to form his theological
philosophy. Like Dante in Paradiso, Eliots Quartets are a presentation
of spiritual achievement and the move from a carnal love to a divine
love.
5 Pauline McAllon, Wrestling with Angels:T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and the
Idea of a Christian Poetics (Montreal: Department of English,2006) p.253
5

II.

God, Incarnation and Reconciliation:

In this part, I will scrutinize the theme of incarnation and the

parallel between Dantes perception of God in The Divine Comedy
and T.S Eliots new vision of God in Four Quartets. As Domenic
Manganiello says The Incarnation, which unites the space time
continuum of words, acts as the linguistic and philosophical centre of
both The Divine Comedy and The Four Quartets6. To begin with, in
Dantes poem the Incarnation is presented throughout the image of
The Cross, the circle and the point. Once he enters Paradiso Dante the
pilgrim perceives God within a point in which all times are present
( Paradiso XVII page 315 ). Here, the poet describes God as being a
single point of time that is eternally present7. In another passage,
Dante describes God within the circumference of the circles of the
trinity.
The three Divine are in this hierarchy,
First the Dominions, and the Virtues
next;
And the third order is that of the
Powers.
6 Dominic Manganiello, T.S. Eliot & Dante, Eliots book of memory,
(London: The Macmillan Press LTD, 1989)p.123
7 Ibid. p.104
6

that unto God

They all attracted are and all attract.
( par. page 358 )

In this passage Dante tells us about the circumference of the circles of

the trinity that are all a reflection of the divine point.
Accordingly, before talking about the way Eliot approaches the
doctrine of Incarnation in Four Quartets, it is interesting to note that Eliots
view of this matter is foreshadowed in his early poems such as The Waste Land. Indeed,
the narrator in his journey in The Waste Land is not concretely faced to the figure of the
Hanged Man. Madam Sostrise in her vision fails to see the Hanged Man
I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man (Eliot 64)

In fact, in his later poem Four Quarets, Eliot places more emphasis on the doctrine of
the Incarnation. In this context, Pauline McAlonan claims that whereas the speakers in
Ash-Wednesday and the Ariels see the Incarnation primarily as a necessary but disruptive
event that causes great suffering, Four Quartets takes pains to emphasize that it is
motivated by love Therefore, in his treatment of the this doctrine Eliot emphasizes the
connection or the intersection between divinity and humanity, eternity and
temporality.

1. Time and Timeless:

In the opening lines of the first part of the poem called Burnt
Norton, T.S Eliot traces the way towards God within a sphere of time
Time present and time past
7

Are both perhaps present in time future

And time future in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has
been
Point to one end, which is always
present. (Eliot 189)

In the passage in question from Burnt Norton T.S Eliot introduces us

to four types of time: time past, time present, time future and the time
of the always present. For Eliot, the time past, present and future
are all being contained to one another. These are temporal times in
which the living beings existed and are still exist. For Eliot, the
movement of these times is determined by the different events that
occur in life. Therefore, he employs images from the life in the modern
England in order to portray the temporal times:
when an underground train, in the tube,
stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into
silence

you see behind every face the mental

emptiness deeper
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to
think about.(Eliot 200)
In these lines, the speaker refers to the anxiousness of the modern
people and compares it to a sudden stop of the train in a dark tunnel
between stations. The passengers of the train are people of the
modern England. The stop in a dark tunnel between stations reflects
the frightened situation of the modern society. People deal with the

anxiousness of the moment by speaking more loudly at first, but

eventually, the conversation falls and "slowly fades into silence." It is in
this moment of silence when you see behind every face the
mental emptiness deeper / Leaving only the growing terror of
nothing to think about. (Eliot 200).This image conveys the
nothingness of the modern man while being lost in the time present. In
fact, in this poem Eliot explores the variety of experiences that modern
man encounters in the time present, ranging from destruction and war
to moments of joy and release. Accordingly, Eliot exposes the reader to
the possibility to redeem the nothingness of the modern secular milieu.
For Eliot, the solution to redeem the empty life, people should gather
their past, present and future to one end which is always present. In
other words, Eliot urges his society to leave the ephemeral time and
reconcile with the Timeless. In this context, in a thesis entitled The
philosophy of time in T.S Eliots poetry the author claims that in Eliots
Four Quartets past, present and future are all point to one end
which is the Eternal or the Timeless

That is to say, the time past,

present and future are conventional times which are in movement, and
the last type of time is always present within the motion of
temporality. For Eliot if humans are submerged in time and movement,
they are unable to perceive the source of this movement. Therefore,
any redemption is possible outside the time of the always present.
8 Lille dEasum, T.S Eliot use of the philosophy of time in his poetry (British
Columbia: B.A., University of British Columbia, 1955)p.54
9

That is to say, If all time is eternally present, all time is

unredeemable. In other words, if all sin is eternally present, all sin
remains unredeemable. So that, for Eliot freeing oneself from worldly
attachments is the only way to redeem time and give a value to one's
actions in time. So, for the speaker eternity can only be perceived from
the point that gathers all times, as the speaker says Only through
time time is conquered.(Eliot 192)

2. The Sill Point:

Accordingly, in the second section of Burnt Norton T.S Eliot
employs the expression still point that corresponds to the eternal
existence of God.
At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still
point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement (Eliot
191)

In this passage, the spatial and temporal locations are indefinable and
unfixed. Therefore At the still point of the turning world is a place
where time and space do and do not exist in a state that contains all
paradoxes9. In other words, the poet wants to say that the still point is
somewhere and nowhere i.e. a place that goes beyond this world. It is
neither arrest nor movement so we cant call it fixity, because we
9 Corey Latta, When the Eternal can Be Met: The Bergsonian Theology
of Time in the Works of C.S. Lewis, T.S Eliot, and W.H. Auden (Eugene:
Pickwick, 2014) p.145
10

can't stop the world around us from moving. Accordingly, Nidhi Tiwari
in her book Imagery and Symbolism in T. S. Eliot's Poetry says that Eliots
still point is still like the wheel with its spokes and pivotal point. Without this point no
movement is possible but, this central point does not move itself. 10Here, it is important
to mention the still point of the turning world, the centre, is thus outside
of movement but is also the core of the movement. In fact, T.S Eliot uses
this philosophical perspective of time to convey that redemption
cannot be reached without God the one from which all existence emanates11
Besides, in Four Quartets Eliot presents another recurrent image of
the still point through the presentation of the cycle of seasons that
conveys the circle of the turning world. Therefore, in the poem the
temporal and mutable world is defined by the turning of the seasons
within the circle of to time. Eliot associates the four parts of his poem
to the four seasons in order to portray the movement of turning
world around the still point. In the second part of Burnt Norton the
speaker refers to the cycle seasons
What is the late November doing
With the disturbance of the spring
And creatures of the summer heat,
the evening circle in the winter gaslight (Eliot
198)

10 Nidhi Tiwari, Imagery and Symbolism in T. S. Eliot's Poetry (New

Delhi: Atlantic, 2001)p.162
11 Keith Stelling, Patterns of religious thoughts in Eliots Four Quartets
(Ontario: McMaster University, 1972)p.53
11

In this passage, the poet presents the reader to the seasonal cycle
which turns within the circle of temporal world. The movement of this
cycle doesnt exist the time of the timelessness but in the temporal
time. The speaker presents the turning of seasons in time where late
November i.e. autumn the spring the summer and the winter
exist in the circle of temporality. So, none of the seasons is timeless
since each season exist in a determined ephemeral point. By the end
of the poem, Eliot emphasizes the temporality of seasons in this life
and the timelessness of the still point by referring to the
unimaginable season that may exist beyond the time
Where is the summer, the
unimaginable
Zero summer? (Eliot 214)

In

these lines, the

expression

zero

summer?

connotes

the

unimaginable season at the still point. Eliot puts the number zero
with summer to suggest that none of the seasons will last forever.
Therefore, the poet uses the expression Zero summer as a device
that transcends human imagination which is unimaginable neither
arrest nor movement. By this image Eliot reinforces his vision of the
temporality of carnal life, where the cycle of seasons occurs, and his
vision of the timelessness of the still point, where the unimaginable
zero summer takes place.
Hence, T.S Eliot, like Dante, compares God to both a circle and a
point. It is" the still point of the turning world" that suggests an

12

intersection of eternity with temporality, and of spiritual with physical.

Spatially, it is the unmoving centre or the still point around which the
universe turns. Temporally, it is the point or the intersection where all
times converge. Therefore, these spatial and temporal patterns make
the

Incarnation

whether

spiritual

or

physical

"conquered,

and

reconciled."

3. The Intersection:
Moreover, in his poem Eliot represents the ultimate meeting of
two disparate qualities within a point of Intersection. In the second part
of Burnt Norton the poet uses the image of axle-tree which conflates
two parts in one point. Through this image, the poet implicitly wants to
convey the point to which two different times intersect. In the Dry
Salvages Eliot presents us to the central theme of Incarnation in Four
Quartets:
But to apprehend
The point of intersection of the timeless
With time, is an occupation for the
saint(Eliot 212)

In the passage above, the poet refers to way in which our eternal God
intersects with our temporal world. As Susan Fish claims in her book
entitled Let God Be God a wise person is not merely one who knows
the times, but is one who recognizes the hand of Gods sovereignty in

13

all time bound events.12Accordingly, the point if intersection of the

timeless with time is the moment of the Incarnation of God in the
temporal world. The embodiment of Christian faith is seen through the
integration of the theme of Incarnation in Four Quartets. Therefore, in
addition to the circle and the still point Eliot uses the image of
intersection in order to convey that it is the only way to reach
redemption. In this specific context, in Poetry and Belief in the
Work of T.S Eliot Samidt states that by leaning towards the doctrine
of the Incarnation he (Eliot) finds it possible to believe in redemption
through the realisation of a timeless fulfilment of the temporal13
In fact, by the embodiment of religious themes and the
Incarnation in Four Quartets T.S Eliot, like Dante, succeeds to revive
the Christian doctrine in a secular milieu. In this context, Pauline McAllon
states that Four Quartets makes great strides in Eliots quest to rejuvenate Christian
poetry by showing the continuing relevance of the Incarnation to a secular world 14T.S
Eliot through his presentation of the above recurrent images of Time
and Timeless the still point and The intersection reveals that, like
Dante, he is definitely settled in his faith. Therefore, Eliot borrows the
concept of redemption from Dantes poem and presents it under the
12 Susan Fish, Let God Be God ( Winnipeg: Zondervan, 2003)p.91
13 Samidt Kristian, Poetry and Belief in The works of T.S Eliot ( London:
Routledge, 1949)p.198
14 Pauline McAllon, Wrestling with Angels:T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and the
Idea of a Christian Poetics (Montreal: Department of English,2006)p.235
14

light of a historical and cultural context of post-war England. Unlike the

early and transitional poetry where no possible redemption is
achieved, in this poem Eliot exposes to the reader the way to redeem
the time and to reconcile both the physical and spiritual to the point
of intersection.
In the next section, I will discuss how does Eliot incorporates the
image of the eyes of Beatrice in order to convey the theme of vision
in Four Quartets. In addition, I will show how Eliots poem, like
Dantes, reconciles both earthly and spiritual desires.
III.

The Eyes of Beatrice and Earthly desires:

The central figure Beatrice symbolises the move from carnal

earthly love to divine love. On one hand, she symbolises earthly love
as Dante writes the Divine Comedy based on his real love experience
with Beatrice. On the other hand, she stands as a divine love as Dante
believes that her Love moved him to reach Paradise. Once in
Paradise, Dante meets Beatrice and describes her as being smiling
and happy. The idea is that Dante in Paradise reunites with Beatrice
who leads the pilgrim to see the divine, and then she becomes both an
earthly and heavenly love.
1. The Eyes:
As we have seen in the previous chapters, the image of the Eyes
is presented in negative shades. In the Waste Land The Eye is the
connotation of failure. In Ash Wednesday the eyes of lady brings light
15

and brightness, but towards the end of the poem the poet refers to
the blind eye and the distraction of nature and music that prevent
the pilgrim to fulfil his end. Yet, in Four Quartets the absence of eyes is
changed to eyes of vision that address the pilgrim towards the divine. In
the first part Burnt Norton the poet introduces the episode of the
Rose Garden and refers to the eyebeam that had the look of
flowers:
And the bird called, in response to
The unheard music hidden in the shrubbery,
And the unseen eyebeam crossed, for the
roses
Had the look of flowers that are looked at.
There they were as our guests, accepted and
accepting.
So we moved, and they, in a formal pattern,
Along the empty alley, into the box circle,
(Eliot 190)

In the above lines, the poet associates a number of images that

correspond to the restoration of his memory in the Rose Garden. Eliot
refers to the sight of the eye or the crossed Eyebeam that look like
flowers. In fact, the word eyebeam used in physics inherited from
Aristotle may refer to an emission theory of sight.15T.S Eliot revives this
conception in his poem in order to allude to the sense of vision in
Dantes poem. Symbolically, Eliot refers to the possibility of vision in
these lines through the look of the roses who have the ability to see.
Therefore, the roses take on the look of flowers that are looked at,
suggest that the roses themselves become capable of sight. Here Eliot
15 www.Wikipedia.com, accessed on 11-12-2014.
16

attributes the roses a human quality which is vision, in order to convey

that, like the eyes of Beatrice, the eyes in Four Quartets contribute to
see the divine light. Accordingly, in his way towards the box circles
the speaker goes through the empty alley. The empty alley
symbolise the carnal life where the speaker should go through in order
to reach the circle of spirituality. The poet associates the image of the
empty alley and the the box circles to convey that the eyebeam
help to transcend the carnal world in order to see the divine circle. Like
Dante in his poem, Eliot associates a number of religious images to the
themes of Four Quartets. Hence, Eliot imitates Dante in his
embodiment of the eyebeam as a symbol of vision and sight. The
way T.S Eliot borrows the eyes from Dante to include in Four Quartets
is sincere and definitely not ironic since the image in Eliots poem
conveys the same meaning like in Dantes.

2. Elements of Nature:
Apart from the theme of vision, Eliots Four Quartets uncovers the ways in
which artistic and religious elements act upon one another. As I have mentioned
previously in the third chapter, Eliot repudiates Shelleys and Arnolds
attempt to substitute poetry for religion. He asserts that religion should
be part of a work of art. So, he condemns anyone who tries to make a religion out
of aesthetism. In this section I will accentuate the way T.S Eliot
accommodates Romanticism in his aesthetic philosophy in order to

17

approach the divine. Unlike Ash Wednesday, nature in Four

Quartets is not a distraction, which indicates a fear of being diverted
from God, but it is an element that hints of earlier and other
creation. Therefore, Eliot makes use of natural elements not only to be
more symbolic and allusive, but also to allude Dantes concept of
reconciliation between earthly and spiritual desires.
In Four Quartets T.S Eliot develops different images of nature
through which the pilgrim gets the ability to see the beauty of God. For
example, in the first section of Burnt Norton the poet presents the
image of autumn and flowers
In the autumn heat, through the vibrant
air,
The unheard music hidden in the
shrubbery,
Had the look of flowers that are looked
at.(Eliot 190)

The speaker compares people of his society with autumn, the time of
year when the leaves on the trees start to die. By this image, Eliot
conveys that the human spirit dies, just as the leaves die and fall from
the trees. In the next line the look of flowers suggests the allure of
the natural world to which people should be attracted and seduced.
The houses are all gone under the sea.
The dancers are all gone under the hill.
(Eliot 199)

In the passage in question, Eliot reminds that all humans and

everything in this temporal life will eventually return back to earth and
sea. Eliot through these lines reinforces his conviction about the
18

eternity of the timeless and the temporality of this life since we are
all going to be gone and every trace of us will be wiped from the Earth
expect the always present.
Moreover, T.S Eliot employs the image of the rose, another
eloquent symbol from Dantes Paradise. In this context, many scholars
affirm that the rose which first appears in the second part of Burnt
Norton, originates from Dantes Garden of Eden. In this respect, Maria
Cristina Fumagall in a book entitled The Flight of the Vernacular
states that Eliots rose garden image melds the garden of Eden in
Dantes paradise, where Dante enjoys a vision of the Blessed in the
Empyrean of heaven in the form of a white rose.16
In fashion then as of a snow-white rose (Paradiso XXXI ) page 367

Unlike the fruitless Garden of the waste land, and the unfulfilled rose
garden of the Ash Wednesday, in Four Quartets Eliot considers the
garden as a point involved with past and future.
To be conscious is not to be in time
But only in time can the moment in
the rose garden
Be remembered; involved with past
and future(Eliot 192)
Within this specific context, Domenic Manganiello in his part suggests
that these lines tigers primal memories of both an earthly and supraterrestrial paradise of bliss.
16Fumagall Maria Christina, The Flight of the Vernacular (New York:
Rodopi, 2001)p.57
19

Eliot is calling the reader to appreciate the beauty of nature through

the roses, rather than concentrating on worldly matter. For Eliot the
only way that roses can have "the look of flowers that are looked at" is
for us to concentrate on looking at them without letting our minds
wander to other things.

3. The purified body:

In conjunction with his greater acceptance of nature, Eliots view on the body
changes considerably from his early and transitional periods. Because he is now fully
redeemed, in Four Quartets Eliot accepts the body and believes that "without the body

the soul cannot be consummated in God"17That is, Eliot is no more

afraid from the physical suffering like in his previous poems.
At the still point of the turning world,
there dance is. (Eliot 191)

In this line, the poet associates the dance of the body with the still
point. Here the poet conveys that the dance comes from that stillness
or the divine where there is only the dance. In fact, the dance here
portrays a state of freedom from desire and compulsion. Eliot repeats
the image of dance in the poem in order to stress the spiritual
salvation of the self in one hand, and to refer to the purification of the
body on the other hand. Thus, it is the Incarnation which helps for the
restoration of the body in Four Quartets. In other words, within the
17 Pauline McAllon, Wrestling with Angels:T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and the
Idea of a Christian Poetics (Montreal: Department of English,2006)p.180
20

point of intersection the body is released from suffering, so that it

doesnt cause any pain.
And see them dancing around the
bonfire
The association of man and woman(Eliot
197)

The speaker in these lines recaptures the dance around the fire which
goes back to a way of celebration in old England. Eliot recalls this old
fashioned wedding celebration because he wants to throw off the
complications of his modern life and return to the simplicity of past
where people care only about their present. In this specific context,
Pauline McAllon says that Eliot's greater acceptance of the body and
sexuality in his later poem suggests that he is more willing to subscribe
to the idea that the body was redeemed when "the Word was made
flesh" and therefore need not be denied.18

4. Fire and Rose:

T.S Eliot ends his long poem by an emphasis on the theme of
reconciliation. The last line of the poem summarises the goal of the
poet in his text, and shows that he is no more hesitant; rather he is
confident that all shall be well if one succeeds to live within the point
intersection:
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
18Ibid
21

When the tongues of flame are in-folded

Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one. (Eliot 220)

In the passage in question, The Fire evokes both the pain and purity.
The Rose stands as a symbol of life, love and beauty or as Eliot
himself indicates it connotes at once the sensuous, the socio-political
and spiritual dimensions of life 19. By the association of the fire and
the rose, metaphorically T.S Eliot shows that he eventually accepts
the tormenting fire that leads him to catch the rose of redemption. In
fact, the imagery of the fire and the rose being one conveys that the
poet in Four Quartets, like Dante in Paradise, accepts all the
psychological

and

physical

suffering

that

leads

him

to

reach

redemption within one point of existence between the Fire and Rose.
In this context, Willis E.P. McNelly in his seminal thesis entitled T.S
Eliots

Four

Quartets

Study

in

explanation

give

another

perspective of these lines. He says that In that unity "all shall be well"
and the Divine Fire is changed from a fire of trial and purgation to a fire
of Eternal Peace.20 Similarly, Lowe Peter James in his thesis Christian
Romanticism: T. S. Eliot's response to Percy Bysshe Shelley confirms
that Eliot brings together the purgatorial fire and the divine rose,

19 T.S Eliot Qtd in Dominic Manganiello, T.S. Eliot & Dante, Eliots book of
memory, (London: The Macmillan Press LTD, 1989)p.122
20 Willis Everett McNelly, T.S Eliots Four Quartets: a Study in explanation
(Chicago: Loyola University, 1948)p.115
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drawing everything into a divine order and, by doing so, giving

everything meaning.21
From this analysis, we come to understand that, unlike early
poetry, Four Quartets is an interaction between man and nature. He
sees nature as a source of spiritual regeneration. His appreciation of
natural scenes gives him a spiritual relief. Therefore, the poet
embodies natural scenes, not for the sake to praise nature like the
romantics, but as an element to inspire the soul and the heart of the readers to
reach spiritual redemption. Therefore, the sea, the flower, the rose and the fire
are the medium through which God can be experienced. From a
theological perspective, the beauty of nature is a mirror that draws the
sublimity of the God. Hence, like Dante in Paradiso, now that he is
completely redeemed Eliot ends Four Quartets in a point of life where
the time and the timeless intersect. In this context, to concretise this
examination, we make use of the sixth ratio of Harold Blooms theory
called Apophrades. According to Bloom, the work of the ephebe in
this stage is no more a revisionary ratio since it becomes completely
submitted to the principles of the precursor. In this regard Eliots
allusions to Dante in Four Quartets are sincere and definitely not ironic.
So, at a certain point it may appear that Four Quartets holds the
same characteristics of Dantes The Divine Comedy. The slight
21 Peter James Lowe Christian Romanticism: T. S. Eliot's response to Percy Bysshe
Shelley(Durham: Durham University, 2002)p.163

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difference between the two poems lies in the different period of time
each work was written. Though the context is different, Eliot imitates
Dante and succeds to integrate much of his principles within his later
work Four Quartets. In this context, Bloom says that Apophrades is
the process by which the poem is held open to the precursor, where
once it was open, and the uncanny effect is that the new poem's
achievement makes it seem to us, not as though the precursor were
writing it, but as though the later poet himself had written the
precursor's characteristic work.22
To sum up, like Dante in Paradiso, T.S Eliot in Four Quartets is
definitely settled in his faith. Therefore, unlike the previous poems
where Eliot reaches an ironic effect in his borrowing from Dante, in this
poem the allusions to Dante are definitely not ironic. Because of his
religious maturity in his later poem, Eliots mission to redeem the
society becomes possible. Therefore, through the different trajectories
in his poetic career, Eliot as a modernist poet succeeds to transcend
the chaos in his society and to fulfil his mission of redemption. In fact,
throughout the analysis of the presence of Dante in Four Quartets,
the sincere and faithful imitation of Eliot from Dante becomes tenable.
The religious maturity and the spiritual growth of T.S Eliot are the
reason behind the absence of ironic elements in the later poetry.
22Bloom Harold, The Anxiety of Influence (New York: Oxford university
press, 1997)p.18
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