View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following are the passengers on the train, not said to be settled, in Part III of "The Dry Salvages"?

2. Into what are the "tongues of flame" said to be enfolded in the last lines of the poem, found in "Little Gidding"?

3. The speaker says in Part III of "The Dry Salvages" that the mind of a man may be intent, at the time of death, on whatever sphere of what?

4. "Our own past is covered," says the speaker of Part II of "The Dry Salvages," "by the currents of" what?

5. The speaker's interlocutor in Part II of "Little Gidding" says that "next year's words await another" what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the speaker mean by saying in Part I of "Little Gidding" that "prayer is more / Than an order of words, the conscious occupation / Of the praying mind, or the sound of the voice praying"?

2. 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"?

3. How is "Time the destroyer" also "time the preserver," as stated in Part II of "The Dry Salvages"?

4. What is the meaning of "Behovely" as it is used in the phrase, found in Part III of "Little Gidding" that, "Sin is Behovely"?

5. What is meant by the line, "You are not the same people who left that station," in Part III of "The Dry Salvages"?

6. What characterizes the "gifts reserved for age" which the interlocutor of Part II of "Little Gidding" describes to the poem's speaker?

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

8. What is meant by the speaker's interlocutor's phrase that "next year's words await another voice" in Part II of "Little Gidding"?

9. What is the significance of the lines in Part II of "The Dry Salvages," "Only the hardly, barely prayable / Prayer of the one Annunciation"?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

One of the recurring themes, but emphasized in "Burnt Norton," throughout The Four Quartets, is the notion of stillness as perfection. Analyze this notion as it is presented throughout the poems, focusing on the non-conventional ways in which stillness is spoken. What is stillness in the conventional sense? In what sense does Eliot speak of it in "Burnt Norton"? How is this different from the conventional sense? What characterizes Eliot's notion of stillness? Why is this notion of stillness a perfection? In what way is it related to movement? With what images and metaphors is it explicated and exposed? What is its overall importance in the poems?

Essay Topic 2

Time is one of the three major components of The Four Quartets, and is pondered, questioned, and considered throughout the four poems. Of particular importance in Part I of "Burnt Norton" is the consideration the speaker makes of the past, particularly its relationship to possibility. Analyze this relationship in a thoughtful essay. What is time? What are the two distinct notions of time which Eliot considers throughout the poems? What is the past? How does the past relate to the present and to the future? How does one speak of the possibilities of the past? How does the past influence the possibilities of the present and the future? What images are associated with the past and its perceived and unperceived possibilities?

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,189 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample