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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. The speaker states in Part V of "Burnt Norton" that "Desire itself is movement," that is what?

2. Time past and time future are said to "Allow but a little" what near the end of Part II of "Burnt Norton"?

3. What does the speaker in the "East Coker"'s fifth part claim becomes stranger as man grows older?

4. By a grace of what was the speaker surrounded in "Burnt Norton," Part II?

5. In conjunction with the assertion that the stillness shall be the dancing, the speaker postulates in "East Coker"'s third part that the darkness shall be what?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the final sentence of "East Coker" an inversion of the first sentence?

2. Why does the speaker claim in Part II of "Burnt Norton" that "To be conscious is not to be in time"?

3. What does the speaker mean when he states in Part V of "East Coker" that "there is no competition - / There is only the fight to recover what has been lost And found and lost again and again"?

4. What is the significance of the statement in the fifth part of "Burnt Norton," "Words strain, / Crack and sometimes break... Will not stay still"?

5. Why does the speaker find "only a limited value / In the knowledge derived from experience" in Part II of "East Coker"?

6. What is signified by the speaker's questioning of the deceitfulness of the "quiet-voiced elders" in Part II of "East Coker"?

7. What might be meant by the statement of the bird at the end of "Burnt Norton"'s first part, that "human kind / Cannot bear very much reality"?

8. What is signified by the statement "Distracted from distraction by distraction" in "Burnt Norton"'s third part?

9. What is meant by "Only by the form, the pattern, / Can words or music reach / The stillness" in "Burnt Norton"'s fifth part?

10. What does the speaker mean in Part IV of "East Coker" when he states that "Our only health is the disease"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Set off of the coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, "The Dry Salvages" uses many seafaring and nautical images. Throughout the poem, water plays a prevalent role. Examine the role of water throughout the poem in a critical essay. Why is water important for man? How does water benefit man? How can water harm man? In what way is man dependent on what? How has man been dependent on water in past times? How has he overcome this dependence, and what are the consequences of his overcoming it? What is the significance of water in a religious context? How is this shown in the poem? How is this religious significance important to interpretation of the work as a whole?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout all four of the poems in The Four Quartets, circularity and wholeness are brought to light and the object of hints and vague statements. In the final part of "Little Gidding," they are summed up and the poems are brought into a sort of unity. Discuss the manner in which they are unified and how they are all interrelated, as demonstrated in this final part. In what way is the final part of the work a conclusion of the whole? How does it relate to each of the four poems? How does it contain them all? How is the beginning shown to be in the end? How is the end found in the beginning? What does this indicate about human nature? What does this indicate about the world and about time? How does it relate to the prevalent concern with the universal and infinite that pervades the poetry?

Essay Topic 3

Each of The Four Quartets is both united to the others and yet distinct with a complete meaning unto itself. Discuss the principal themes in "Burnt Norton," including time, the past, stillness, motion, and pattern, indicating the ways in which they are unified and present a coherent thought. How are these themes presented in the poem? What unites them? How are they, as a coherent whole, related to the other poems in the work? What is the significance of these relations? How do they help to unveil the overall meaning of "Burnt Norton"? How does this overall meaning contribute to interpretation of the whole work?

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