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Little Gidding (poem)
Encyclopedia
"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. The title refers to a small Anglican community in Huntingdonshire
, established by Nicholas Ferrar
in the 17th century and scattered during the English Civil War
.
The poem uses the combined image of fire and Pentecostal fire to emphasize the need for purification and purgation. According to the poet, humanity's flawed understanding of life and turning away from God leads to a cycle of warfare, but this can be overcome by recognizing the lessons of the past. Within the poem, the narrator meets a ghost that is a combination of various poets and literary figures. "Little Gidding" focuses on the unity of past, present, and future, and claims that understanding this unity is necessary for salvation.
Following the completion of the third Four Quartets poem, "The Dry Salvages
", Eliot's health declined and he stayed in Shamley Green
, Surrey
while he recovered. During this time, Eliot started writing "Little Gidding". The first draft was completed in July 1941 but he was dissatisfied with it. He believed the problems with the poem lay with his own inability to write, and that, precipitated by air raids on London
, he had started the poem with too little preparation and had written it too quickly. After the first draft was written, he set the poem aside, and he left in September to lecture throughout Great Britain.
After months of not working on the poem, Eliot began to feel compelled to finish it; it was not until August 1942, however, that he started working on it again. In total, there were five drafts. The poem was finished by 19 September 1942 and published in the October New English Weekly
. "Little Gidding" was intended to conclude the Four Quartets series, summarising Eliot's views expressed in this series of poems.
Unlike the other locations mentioned in the titles of the Four Quartets poems, Eliot had no direct connection to the original Little Gidding
, as it had been destroyed by the time he visited it in May 1936. As such, the community is supposed to represent almost any religious community. Little Gidding was the home of an Anglican community established in 1626 by Nicholas Ferrar
. The Ferrar household lived a Christian life according to High Church
principles and the Book of Common Prayer
. The religious community was later destroyed during the English Civil War
between Parliamentarians and Royalists but rebuilt over time.
While using Dante's terza rima
style, the poem continues by describing the Battle of Britain
. The image of warfare merges with the depiction of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit is juxtaposed with the air-raids on London. In the final section, a ghost, representing the poets of the past stuck between worlds, begins talking to the narrator of the poem. The ghost discusses change, art in general, and how humankind is flawed. The only way to overcome the problematic condition of humanity, according to the ghost, is to experience purgation through fire. The fire is described in a manner similar to Julian of Norwich
's writing about God's love and discussed in relationship to the shirt of Nessus, a shirt that burns its wearer. "Little Gidding" continues by describing the eternalness of the present and how history exists in a pattern. The poem concludes by explaining how sacrifice is needed to allow an individual to die into life and be reborn, and that salvation should be the goal of humankind.
" and the journey is made circular. Also, the depiction of time within the poem is similar to the way time operates within The Family Reunion.
Like the other poems making up the Four Quartets, "Little Gidding" deals with the past, present, and future, and humanity's place within them as each generation is seemingly united. In the second section, there is a ghost who is the compilation of various poets, including Dante, Swift, Yeats, and others. When the ghost joins the poet, the narrator states "Knowing myself yet being someone other". This suggests that the different times merge at the same time that the different personalities begin to merge, allowing a communication and connection with the dead. Later, in the fourth section, humanity is given a choice between the Holy Spirit or the bombing of London; redemption or destruction. God's love allows humankind to be redeemed and escape the living hell through purgation by fire. The end of the poem describes how Eliot has attempted to try and help the world as a poet. He parallels his work in language with working on the soul or working on society.
The ghost, a combination of many literary figures, was originally addressed in the poem as "Ser Brunetto" before being revised as an ambiguous "you". "Ser Brunetto" was Dante's way of addressing Brunetto Latini
, a former mentor whom he meets in Hell to which he has been condemned for sodomy
. Eliot, in a letter to John Hayward dated 27 August 1942, explained why he changed the wording:
The theme of swimming through flames is connected to the depiction of Guido Guinizelli
, a poet that influenced Dante, seeking such a state in Purgatorio XXVI. However, the depiction of swimming was transformed into an image of dancing, an act that appears throughout Yeats's poetry, within purgatorial flames. The critic Dominic Manganiello suggests that, in combining the image of dancing with purgation, Eliot merges Dante's and Yeats's poetic themes.
rhyme in a manner similar to Dante. In a 1950 lecture, he discussed how he imitated Dante within "Little Gidding" and the challenges that this presented. The lecture also dwelt on keeping to a set form and how Dante's poetry is the model for religious poetry and poetry in general. Besides Dante, many of the images used in "Little Gidding" were allusions to Eliot's earlier poems, especially the other poems of the Four Quartets.
Eliot included other literary sources within the poem: Stéphane Mallarmé
, W. B. Yeats, Jonathan Swift
, Arnaut Daniel
, Nijinsky
's dancing in Le Spectre de la Rose
, and Shakespeare's Hamlet
. Religious images were used to connect the poem to the writings of Julian of Norwich
, to the life and death of Thomas Wentworth
, to William Laud
, to Charles I
, and to John Milton
. Eliot relied on theological statements similar to those of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
's In Memoriam
and Thomas Hardy
's The Impercipient. The Bible also played a large role within the poem, especially in discussions on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. Many commentators have pointed out the influence of George Herbert
within the poem, but Eliot, in a letter to Anne Ridler dated 10 March 1941, stated that he was trying to avoid such connections within "Little Gidding".
and Delmore Schwartz
describe mixed emotions about the religiosity of the poem. Cowley emphasized the mystical
nature of the poem and how its themes were closer to Buddhism than Anglicanism while mentioning his appreciation of many of the passages. Delmore also mentioned the Buddhist images and his admiration for many of the lines in "Little Gidding". F. B. Pinion believed that the fourth section of the poem costs "Eliot more trouble and vexation than any passage of the same length he ever wrote, and is his greatest achievement in the Four Quartets." E. M. Forster
did not like Eliot's emphasis on pain and responded to the poem: "Of course there's pain on and off through each individual's life... You can't shirk it and so on. But why should it be endorsed by the schoolmaster and sanctified by the priest until the fire and the rose are one when so much of it is caused by disease and bullies? It is here that Eliot becomes unsatisfactory as a seer."
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's Four Quartets
Four Quartets
Four Quartets is a set of four poems written by T. S. Eliot that were published individually over a six-year period. The first poem, "Burnt Norton", was written and published with a collection of his early works following the production of Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral...
, 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
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and Eliot's declining health. The title refers to a small Anglican community in Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire is a local government district of Cambridgeshire, covering the area around Huntingdon. Traditionally it is a county in its own right...
, established by Nicholas Ferrar
Nicholas Ferrar
Nicholas Ferrar was an English scholar, courtier, businessman and man of religion. Ordained deacon in the Church of England, he retreated with his extended family to the manor of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, where he lived the rest of his life.-Early life:Nicholas Ferrar was born in London,...
in the 17th century and scattered during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
.
The poem uses the combined image of fire and Pentecostal fire to emphasize the need for purification and purgation. According to the poet, humanity's flawed understanding of life and turning away from God leads to a cycle of warfare, but this can be overcome by recognizing the lessons of the past. Within the poem, the narrator meets a ghost that is a combination of various poets and literary figures. "Little Gidding" focuses on the unity of past, present, and future, and claims that understanding this unity is necessary for salvation.
Background
The Dry Salvages
"The Dry Salvages" is the third poem of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets and marks the beginning of when the series was consciously being formed as a set of four poems. It was written and published in 1941 during the air-raids on Great Britain, an event that threatened him while giving lectures in the...
", Eliot's health declined and he stayed in Shamley Green
Shamley Green
Shamley Green is a small village in the county of Surrey, England. Neighbouring villages include Wonersh, Chilworth, Farncombe and Bramley. Nearby railway stations include Chilworth railway station and Farncombe railway station . Although Shalford Station is in fact closer as the route to...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
while he recovered. During this time, Eliot started writing "Little Gidding". The first draft was completed in July 1941 but he was dissatisfied with it. He believed the problems with the poem lay with his own inability to write, and that, precipitated by air raids on London
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
, he had started the poem with too little preparation and had written it too quickly. After the first draft was written, he set the poem aside, and he left in September to lecture throughout Great Britain.
After months of not working on the poem, Eliot began to feel compelled to finish it; it was not until August 1942, however, that he started working on it again. In total, there were five drafts. The poem was finished by 19 September 1942 and published in the October New English Weekly
New English Weekly
The New English Weekly was a leading review of "Public Affairs, Literature and the Arts."It was founded in April 1932 by Alfred Richard Orage shortly after his return from Paris...
. "Little Gidding" was intended to conclude the Four Quartets series, summarising Eliot's views expressed in this series of poems.
Unlike the other locations mentioned in the titles of the Four Quartets poems, Eliot had no direct connection to the original Little Gidding
Little Gidding, Cambridgeshire
Little Gidding is a parish and small village in Huntingdonshire , England, near Sawtry and north west of Huntingdon.-History:The parish of Little Gidding is small, consisting of only 724 acres...
, as it had been destroyed by the time he visited it in May 1936. As such, the community is supposed to represent almost any religious community. Little Gidding was the home of an Anglican community established in 1626 by Nicholas Ferrar
Nicholas Ferrar
Nicholas Ferrar was an English scholar, courtier, businessman and man of religion. Ordained deacon in the Church of England, he retreated with his extended family to the manor of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, where he lived the rest of his life.-Early life:Nicholas Ferrar was born in London,...
. The Ferrar household lived a Christian life according to High Church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
principles and the Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
. The religious community was later destroyed during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
between Parliamentarians and Royalists but rebuilt over time.
Poem
Critics classify "Little Gidding" as a poem of fire with an emphasis on purgation and the Pentecostal fire. The beginning of the poem discusses time and winter, with attention paid to the arrival of summer. The images of snow provoke desires for a spiritual life. This transitions into an analysis of the four elements of fire, earth, air and water and how fire is the primary element of the four. Following this is a discussion on death and destruction, things unaccomplished, and regret for past events.While using Dante's terza rima
Terza rima
Terza rima is a rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.-Form:Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D...
style, the poem continues by describing the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
. The image of warfare merges with the depiction of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit is juxtaposed with the air-raids on London. In the final section, a ghost, representing the poets of the past stuck between worlds, begins talking to the narrator of the poem. The ghost discusses change, art in general, and how humankind is flawed. The only way to overcome the problematic condition of humanity, according to the ghost, is to experience purgation through fire. The fire is described in a manner similar to Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...
's writing about God's love and discussed in relationship to the shirt of Nessus, a shirt that burns its wearer. "Little Gidding" continues by describing the eternalness of the present and how history exists in a pattern. The poem concludes by explaining how sacrifice is needed to allow an individual to die into life and be reborn, and that salvation should be the goal of humankind.
Themes
In terms of renewal, Eliot believed that suffering was needed for all of society before new life could begin. The original Little Gidding community was built for monastic living, but the town was destroyed by Puritan forces during the English Civil War in 1646 and the community dispersed. The church, the centre of the community, was restored in 1714 and again in 1853. The image of religious renewal is combined with the image of the London air-raids and the constant fighting and destruction within the world. This compound image is used to discuss the connection of holy places with the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, communion with the dead, and the repetition of history. The theme is also internal to Eliot's own poems; the image of the rose garden at the end "Little Gidding" is the image that begins "Burnt NortonBurnt Norton
"Burnt Norton" is the first poem of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. He created it while working on his play Murder in the Cathedral and it was first published in his Collected Poems 1909–1935 . The poem's title refers to a Cotswolds manor house Eliot visited. The manor's garden served as an important...
" and the journey is made circular. Also, the depiction of time within the poem is similar to the way time operates within The Family Reunion.
Like the other poems making up the Four Quartets, "Little Gidding" deals with the past, present, and future, and humanity's place within them as each generation is seemingly united. In the second section, there is a ghost who is the compilation of various poets, including Dante, Swift, Yeats, and others. When the ghost joins the poet, the narrator states "Knowing myself yet being someone other". This suggests that the different times merge at the same time that the different personalities begin to merge, allowing a communication and connection with the dead. Later, in the fourth section, humanity is given a choice between the Holy Spirit or the bombing of London; redemption or destruction. God's love allows humankind to be redeemed and escape the living hell through purgation by fire. The end of the poem describes how Eliot has attempted to try and help the world as a poet. He parallels his work in language with working on the soul or working on society.
The ghost, a combination of many literary figures, was originally addressed in the poem as "Ser Brunetto" before being revised as an ambiguous "you". "Ser Brunetto" was Dante's way of addressing Brunetto Latini
Brunetto Latini
Brunetto Latini was an Italian philosopher, scholar and statesman.-Life:...
, a former mentor whom he meets in Hell to which he has been condemned for sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
. Eliot, in a letter to John Hayward dated 27 August 1942, explained why he changed the wording:
I think you will recognise that it was necessary to get rid of Brunetto for two reasons. The first is that the visionary figure has now become somewhat more definite and will no doubt be identified by some readers with Yeats though I do not mean anything so precise as that. However, I do not wish to take the responsibility of putting Yeats or anybody else into Hell and I do not want to impute to him the particular vice which took Brunetto there. Secondly, although the reference to that Canto is intended to be explicit, I wish the effect of the whole to be Purgatorial which is more appropriate. That brings us to the reference to swimming in fire which you will remember at the end of Purgatorio 26 where the poets are found.
The theme of swimming through flames is connected to the depiction of Guido Guinizelli
Guido Guinizelli
Guido Guinizzelli , born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, was an Italian poet and 'founder' of the Dolce Stil Novo...
, a poet that influenced Dante, seeking such a state in Purgatorio XXVI. However, the depiction of swimming was transformed into an image of dancing, an act that appears throughout Yeats's poetry, within purgatorial flames. The critic Dominic Manganiello suggests that, in combining the image of dancing with purgation, Eliot merges Dante's and Yeats's poetic themes.
Sources
At one point in the poem, Eliot used terza rimaTerza rima
Terza rima is a rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.-Form:Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D...
rhyme in a manner similar to Dante. In a 1950 lecture, he discussed how he imitated Dante within "Little Gidding" and the challenges that this presented. The lecture also dwelt on keeping to a set form and how Dante's poetry is the model for religious poetry and poetry in general. Besides Dante, many of the images used in "Little Gidding" were allusions to Eliot's earlier poems, especially the other poems of the Four Quartets.
Eliot included other literary sources within the poem: Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé
Stéphane Mallarmé , whose real name was Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century, such as Dadaism, Surrealism, and Futurism.-Biography:Stéphane...
, W. B. Yeats, Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, Arnaut Daniel
Arnaut Daniel
Arnaut Daniel de Riberac was an Occitan troubadour of the 12th century, praised by Dante as "il miglior fabbro" and called "Grand Master of Love" by Petrarch...
, Nijinsky
Nijinsky
Nijinsky can refer to:*Vaslav Nijinsky , ballet dancer and choreographer*Bronislava Nijinska , dancer, choreographer and teacher*Nijinksy , starring Alan Bates Harry Saltzman as Vaslav Nijinsky*Nijinsky II, race horse...
's dancing in Le Spectre de la Rose
Le Spectre de la Rose
Le Spectre de la Rose is a ballet of the Ballets Russes based on a poem by Théophile Gautier. The music, by Carl Maria von Weber, was his 1819 piano piece Invitation to the Dance, in the 1841 orchestration by Hector Berlioz. Choreography was by Michel Fokine and set and costume design by Léon Bakst...
, and Shakespeare's Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
. Religious images were used to connect the poem to the writings of Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...
, to the life and death of Thomas Wentworth
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
, to William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, to Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, and to John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
. Eliot relied on theological statements similar to those of Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language....
's In Memoriam
In Memoriam A.H.H.
In Memoriam A.H.H. is a poem by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, completed in 1849. It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833...
and Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's The Impercipient. The Bible also played a large role within the poem, especially in discussions on the Holy Spirit and Pentecost. Many commentators have pointed out the influence of George Herbert
George Herbert
George Herbert was a Welsh born English poet, orator and Anglican priest.Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in...
within the poem, but Eliot, in a letter to Anne Ridler dated 10 March 1941, stated that he was trying to avoid such connections within "Little Gidding".
Reception
Critics such as Malcolm CowleyMalcolm Cowley
Malcolm Cowley was an American novelist, poet, literary critic, and journalist.-Early life:...
and Delmore Schwartz
Delmore Schwartz
Delmore Schwartz was an American poet and short story writer from Brooklyn, New York.-Biography:Schwartz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Harry and Rose, both Romanian Jews, separated when Schwartz was nine, and their divorce had a profound effect on him. Later, in 1930,...
describe mixed emotions about the religiosity of the poem. Cowley emphasized the mystical
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
nature of the poem and how its themes were closer to Buddhism than Anglicanism while mentioning his appreciation of many of the passages. Delmore also mentioned the Buddhist images and his admiration for many of the lines in "Little Gidding". F. B. Pinion believed that the fourth section of the poem costs "Eliot more trouble and vexation than any passage of the same length he ever wrote, and is his greatest achievement in the Four Quartets." E. M. Forster
E. M. Forster
Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...
did not like Eliot's emphasis on pain and responded to the poem: "Of course there's pain on and off through each individual's life... You can't shirk it and so on. But why should it be endorsed by the schoolmaster and sanctified by the priest until the fire and the rose are one when so much of it is caused by disease and bullies? It is here that Eliot becomes unsatisfactory as a seer."