We build bridges and go over them, but largely forget about them, and yet the river is always there. Louis, and then expands on the image of water by contemplating the sea.Įliot begins with a contemplation of the power of the Mississippi River, and yet how easily it is forgotten in the light of the progress of the modern world. Therefore, it should be of no surprise to see that Elliot opens the poem with a picture of the Mississippi River, the river near his boyhood home in St. In any case, here in The Dry Salvages, the image is that of water. All four poems thus comprise the basic elements of the world, all pointing to the deeper reality of the “still point,” but all insufficient and falling short. And, when we get to Little Gidding, we will find that the elemental image there is that of fire. East Coker, having focused on the open field, is associated with the elemental image of earth. Burnt Norton, having focused on a transcendent experience in a rose garden, is associated with the elemental image of air. This is important to know in order to understand what the key elemental image in the poem is, namely that of water. It is the only poem of the Four Quartets that includes an introductory note to tell us that the Dry Salvages is actually a small group of rocks with a beacon off the northeast coast of Cape Ann, Massachusetts.
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