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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 III of "Little Gidding" that "It is not to ring the bell backward / Nor is it an incantation / To summon the spectre of a" what?

2. The third of the "conditions which often look alike" in Part III of "Little Gidding" is what?

3. With what do "we challenge / The first-met stranger in the waning dusk," according to the speaker in Part II of "Little Gidding"?

4. In the first few lines of Part II of "Little Gidding," it reads that "Dust in the air suspended / Marks the place where" what ended?

5. The final portion of Part IV of "The Dry Salvages" sees the speaker implore prayer on behalf of those who end "wherever cannot reach them the sound of the sea bell's" what?

Short Essay Questions

1. How can one be "redeemed from fire by fire," as is stated in Part IV of "Little Gidding"?

2. What does the speaker mean when he states, in the last part of "The Dry Salvages," that "Here the impossible union / Of spheres of existence is actual"?

3. With whom does the speaker of Part II of "Little Gidding" converse, and what is their relationship to one another, on the literal level?

4. What is an interpretative way to read the significance of the "ragged rock" being "what it always was," at the end of Part II of "The Dry Salvages"?

5. Why would anyone passing "this way" "have to put off / Sense and notion" in Part I of "Little Gidding"?

6. What is meant in Part III of "Little Gidding" by "We cannot revive old factions / We cannot restore old policies / Or follow an antique drum"?

7. What is meant by saying in the final part of "Little Gidding" that "history is a pattern / Of timeless moments"?

8. What is meant by the statement in Part II of "Little Gidding" that "Water and fire deride / The sacrifice that we denied"?

9. What does the speaker mean in Part III of "The Dry Salvages" when he states that, "the future is a faded song, a Royal Rose or a lavender spray / Of wistful regret for those who are not yet here to regret"?

10. What is the purpose of the lines in Part V of "The Dry Salvages" from "To communicate with Mars, converse with spirits," to "Whether on the shores of Asia, or in the Edgware Road"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compose an expository essay on the nature of poetic imagery, using Eliot's Four Quartets as an example. What is imagery? What is the purpose of imagery? How is imagery commonly used in poetry? What are some specific examples of poetic images? What are metaphorical images? What are some examples of metaphorical images in The Four Quartets? What are the literal significations of such images? What are their non-literal significations? How does one interpret their meaning? How are they important for interpretation of the meaning of the poem? What do they uniquely contribute to the poem?

Essay Topic 2

Recurrent as a character throughout The Four Quartets, Christ is referred to in many different ways. In Part IV of "East Coker," he is called the "wounded surgeon." Analyze this identity of Christ in Part IV, both within its particular analogy and as significant to the whole of the work. Why is Christ called the "wounded surgeon"? What are his wounds? In what way is he a surgeon? What surgery does he perform? Upon whom does he perform it? What is the relationship between health and disease in Part IV of "East Coker"? How is this significant to the whole of the poem? How is it significant to the interpretation of all four poems? How is Christ's role as healer significant to the whole of the work?

Essay Topic 3

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?

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