In 1941, two years after Britain declared war on
1 Germany, the American-turned-British poet, T. S.
Eliot, began to write the fourth and final piece of the Four
Quartets. Entitled “Little Gidding,” this poem required
almost a year and a half to reach its final state. The progress
of its revision, most notably in section II, 2 a subtle
record the struggles both for Eliot personally and for his
nation as a whole during World War II.
The first draft of “Little Gidding” was completed in
the summer of 1941. Although Eliot expressed misgivings
about it, his close friend John Hayward encouraged him to
persevere, maintaining that—even in its rough condition—
this draft had the potential to be a successful conclusion to
the cycle of poems. 3 However, the events of that
4 year made it difficult for Eliot to justify committing his
time to the ‘intolerable wrestle’ of revision. A valued public
intellectual figure, 5 Eliot’s skills as a writer, editor, and
lecturer were in high demand. Noted scholar Helen
6 Gardner, has also suggested that this quartet required
more careful composition, and therefore more time, than
did the other three poems.
[1] Whatever the rationale, Eliot postponed serious
revisions of “Little Gidding” until the following summer.
[2] For example, in a section II line that originally read ‘dust
on an old man’s sleeve,’ Eliot changed the word ‘dust’ to ‘ash,’
a reflection of his experience during the German Blitz. [3]
This section also details a meeting, presumably right after
an air-raid, between the narrator and another individual. [4]
Although the first draft strongly implied that the identity of
the individual was Irish poet W. B. Yeats, Eliot shaved
7 and pared away these elements and aspects in the
process of revision. [5] The resulting ambiguity gives a
remarkably personal note to this section of the poem.
[6] While it is one of the darkest moments in the entire
quartet, these revisions—including the removal of a direct
quotation from Dante’s Inferno—reflect that Eliot intended
not just to depict misery and self-doubt, but to invest such
emotions with hope. 8
Although Eliot continued to wrestle 9 toward
revisions until the last moment, “Little Gidding” was finally
published at the end of 1942. It was well-received, perhaps
in part because of its 10 chronological theme: the belief
that something beautiful will emerge from something
torturous. It was Eliot’s peculiar gift to see the simultaneity
of suffering and reconciliation—and 11 the depth of his
insight is nowhere more apparent than in this quartet.
1 Germany, the American-turned-British poet, T. S.
Eliot, began to write the fourth and final piece of the Four
Quartets. Entitled “Little Gidding,” this poem required
almost a year and a half to reach its final state. The progress
of its revision, most notably in section II, 2 a subtle
record the struggles both for Eliot personally and for his
nation as a whole during World War II.
The first draft of “Little Gidding” was completed in
the summer of 1941. Although Eliot expressed misgivings
about it, his close friend John Hayward encouraged him to
persevere, maintaining that—even in its rough condition—
this draft had the potential to be a successful conclusion to
the cycle of poems. 3 However, the events of that
4 year made it difficult for Eliot to justify committing his
time to the ‘intolerable wrestle’ of revision. A valued public
intellectual figure, 5 Eliot’s skills as a writer, editor, and
lecturer were in high demand. Noted scholar Helen
6 Gardner, has also suggested that this quartet required
more careful composition, and therefore more time, than
did the other three poems.
[1] Whatever the rationale, Eliot postponed serious
revisions of “Little Gidding” until the following summer.
[2] For example, in a section II line that originally read ‘dust
on an old man’s sleeve,’ Eliot changed the word ‘dust’ to ‘ash,’
a reflection of his experience during the German Blitz. [3]
This section also details a meeting, presumably right after
an air-raid, between the narrator and another individual. [4]
Although the first draft strongly implied that the identity of
the individual was Irish poet W. B. Yeats, Eliot shaved
7 and pared away these elements and aspects in the
process of revision. [5] The resulting ambiguity gives a
remarkably personal note to this section of the poem.
[6] While it is one of the darkest moments in the entire
quartet, these revisions—including the removal of a direct
quotation from Dante’s Inferno—reflect that Eliot intended
not just to depict misery and self-doubt, but to invest such
emotions with hope. 8
Although Eliot continued to wrestle 9 toward
revisions until the last moment, “Little Gidding” was finally
published at the end of 1942. It was well-received, perhaps
in part because of its 10 chronological theme: the belief
that something beautiful will emerge from something
torturous. It was Eliot’s peculiar gift to see the simultaneity
of suffering and reconciliation—and 11 the depth of his
insight is nowhere more apparent than in this quartet.