Analysis Essay

Pablo Riofro
English Literature, Grade 11
May 14, 2013
East Coker: Rhetorical Analysis
As the the German bombs fell on the British Isles, Thomas Stearns Eliot was
meticulously composing a collection of four poems. Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry
Salvages, and Little Gidding, all form part of The Four Quartets. This literary composition
received positive critical acclaim. However, George Orwell openly condemned it for its
Christianity. Nonetheless, The Four Quartets is a distinguished literary work, and it played a
pivotal role in T.S. Eliot wining the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. In East Coker, Eliot
proficiently employs several rhetorical techniques, namely a substantial allusion to the Bible and
a recurring juxtaposition of past and present. He utilizes these techniques in an attempt to
reinforce concepts elucidated in East Coker.
The last verses of most of the poem's stanzas unmistakably resemble the illustrious Book
of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. T.S. Eliot writes that there is a time for every process of life. For
example, he writes "The time of milking and the time of harvest / The time of the coupling of man
and woman (Eliot, 2008). These verses are conspicuously similar to these lines of the Bible: "A
time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is
planted" (Ecclesiastes 3:2, King James Bible). T.S. Elliot mimics this tone and format with the
purpose of making his work more accessible to any reader. Moreover, East Coker's audience was
the anguishing population of England during the Second World War. The author wanted to give a
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message of optimism to his audience. Thus, Eliot referenced the Bible because it is the
embodiment of Christian religion which preaches salvation and faith to its followers. Like the
Book of Ecclesiastes, East Coker, portrays a cyclical perspective of nature by recurrently paring
imagery of old and new.
The entire poem conveys a simple message: an element is brought into existence, ages,
falls into neglect, and gradually goes out of existence. Notwithstanding, the Earth still exists and
the old is restored with the new. The first juxtaposition in East Coker appears in the first verse of
the poem, "In my beginning is my end" (Eliot, 2008). Throughout the poem several of this type of
figurative language appear. These are a few examples: in the first stanza "Old stone to new
building" (Elliot, 2008), in the fourth stanza "Late Roses filled with early snow" (Elliot, 2008),
and in the seventh stanza "And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence" (Elliot,
2008). All of the aforementioned juxtapositions contrast two concepts, beginning and end. T.S.
Eliot utilizes each juxtaposition to embody a cycle, as in "Late roses filled with early snow".
Roses most commonly blossom in springtime and summertime. However the roses described in
the poem may have effloresced in autumn, and early snow may fall in the autumn too. Thus,
Eliot manages to describe the cycle of the four seasons in one juxtaposition. The rationale behind
T.S. Eliot's recurrent emphasis on circular successions probably lies in the message of hope he
wanted to instill on his readers. East Coker was published in a time of suffering, yet the poem
says that everything is ephemeral. The old is replaced with the new, and times of anguish will be
followed by times of prosperity.
Like Hemingway, Steinbeck and Orwell, T.S. Eliot his writings reflect on the decaying
society he belonged too. The Waste Land, one of his most prominent works, is a satirical
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portrayal of modern culture. East Coker also draws inspiration on the despairing people of
England during World War II. However, within the melancholy, Eliot gives the reader a glimmer
of hope for the future. Eliot created a compelling composition, whose essence is strengthened by
the utilization of several allusions to the Bible and repeatedly pairing imagery of birth and death
in order to highlight how nature and time is a cycle.

References
Eliot, T.S. "East Coker". Tripod. Tripod, 5 June 2008. web. 14 May 2011.

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