Little Gidding (poem)

Little Gidding is the fourth and final poem of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets, a series of poems that discuss time, perspective, humanity, and salvation. It was first published in September 1942 after being delayed for over a year because of the air-raids on Great Britain during World War II and Eliot's declining health. The title refers to a small Anglican community in Huntingdonshire, established by Nicholas Ferrar in the 17th century and scattered during the English Civil War.

The poem uses the combined image of fire and Pentecostal fire to emphasise the need for purification and purgation. According to the poet, humanity's flawed understanding of life and turning away from God leads to a cycle of warfare, but this can be overcome by recognising the lessons of the past. Within the poem, the narrator meets a ghost that is a combination of various poets and literary figures. Little Gidding focuses on the unity of past, present, and future, and claims that understanding this unity is necessary for salvation.

Following the completion of the third Four Quartets poem, The Dry Salvages, Eliot's health declined and he stayed in Shamley Green, Surrey while he recovered. During this time, Eliot started writing Little Gidding. The first draft was completed in July 1941 but he was dissatisfied with it. He believed the problems with the poem lay with his own inability to write, and that, precipitated by air raids on London, he had started the poem with too little preparation and had written it too quickly. After the first draft was written, he set the poem aside, and he left in September to lecture throughout Great Britain.

After months of not working on the poem, Eliot began to feel compelled to finish it; it was not until August 1942, however, that he started working on it again. In total, there were five drafts. The poem was finished by 19 September 1942 and published in the October New English Weekly.Little Gidding was intended to conclude the Four Quartets series, summarising Eliot's views expressed in this series of poems.

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