Following the completion of the third Four Quartets poem, The Dry Salvages, Eliot's health declined and he stayed in
It … See more

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, w… See more

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 living on monastic lines, but the community was damaged a… See more

At one point in the poem, Eliot used terza rima rhyme in a manner similar to Dante. In a 1950 lecture, he discussed how he imitated Dante in Little Gidding and the challenges that this presented. The lecture also dwelt … See more

Critics such as Malcolm Cowley and Delmore Schwartz describe mixed emotions about the religiosity of the poem. Cowley emphasised the mystical nature of the poem and how its themes were closer to Buddhism… See more

1. ^ Ackroyd 1984 pp. 263–264
2. ^ Ackroyd 1984 pp. 265–266
3. ^ Ackroyd 1984 p. 263
4. ^ Page, Proby & Norris 1926, pp. 399–406. … See more