Burnt Norton Summary

In the first section, past time and present time exist in future time, and all time is, to quote Eliot, "irredeemable." What might have been and what has been is all a world of speculation, an echo in one's memory, but to what purpose is a mystery. Sitting in a rose garden, the narrator hears children laughing, and a bird says to follow them. The narrator follows them and peers into a pool. He realizes that humankind cannot bear very much reality.

In the second section, there is movement at the still point of the turning world. It should not be called fixity where the past and future gather. If it were, there would be no dance, yet there is only dance which is the inner freedom from practical desires. Time past and time future allow little consciousness. Only in time...