Four Quartets Summary
T. S. Eliot

Four Quartets Summary

Time

Four Quartets explores the nature of time in relation to theology, history, physicality and its effect on the human condition. In Burnt Norton, the meaning of time and its relationship with human beings is explored. Time present and past are contained in time future. All time is eternally present and unredeemable. Humans are submerged in time and movement, but they are unable to perceive the source of the movement. Freeing oneself from worldly attachments is the only way to redeem time and give a value to one's actions in time. The poem ends as the narrator concludes that time is a sad waste. In East Coker, the beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning; the narrator takes a circular view of time. He considers the power of time to change things while humans are unable to prevent these changes.... View more of the Four Quartets Summary