Burnt Norton

?Burnt Norton? by T.S. Eliot is a free verse poem that utilises numerous generic conventions of poetry. As free verse, any and all conventions applied are not fully worthy of the term generic, however, all forms that can be found within the poem are generic to poetry as a whole. T.S. Eliot is credited as being one of the shapers of modern poetry and the ?Four Quartets,? of which ?Burnt Norton? is a part, are some of the most abstract and varied pieces of poetry that have ever been written. Many, if not most, generic conventions have been used to good effect throughout the entirety of the poem.

The first, and possibly most important, convention used is that of the contradiction. The entire poem is peppered with oxymoronic statements all of which, despite being paradoxical by themselves, contribute to the understanding of the poem as a whole. Take, for example, the line in the second section, ?a white light still and moving.? While the statement is apparently nonsensical by itself, when placed in context the meaning is changed from that of an impossibility to give an image or impression of a thing that is the inspiration of thought or at very least freedom of thought but has only a tenuous grip on reality.

In very few places within the poem, rhyming patterns, more commonly associated with lyric poetry, are found. Their rarity and abrupt cessation of these patterns draws the attention of the reader to the section during and immediately following the segments of the poem in which these patterns are found. The first stanza of the second section is the prime example of the rhyming patterns of the poem. Indeed, the poet has been clever, if not brilliant, in his construction of the way in which the words rhyme; the last words of the first and third lines rhyme as do the last words of the fourth and eighth, so, also, do the final words of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth lines. This irregular rhyming pattern produces an asymmetrical feel to the poem that removes the mind?s attention from the sheer weirdness of the stanza and allows the mind to work on the imagery contained within the words.

Also used to lessen the work necessary to comprehend the poem?s meaning is repetition. Major lines are repeated throughout the individual sections and then some are spread into other sections. An example of such is the words found at the start of the second stanza of the second section, ?At the still point of the turning world.? These words are then repeated again at the conclusion of the fourth section which aids in the linkage between the sections and provides an immediate connection between the two sections that can be followed and traced to allow the poem to be blended into a seamless whole and provide the reader with a feeling of continuance and conclusion.

There are a number of breakages within the flow of the poem that create a dissonance within the sound quality of the poem. These breakages are generally introductions to short segments appended to the whole of a stanza and the breakage from the regular flow of the stanza highlights the fact that it is actually an individual segment, not part of the stanza itself, and also draws the eye and the attention of the reader to the wording within the break. This technique is used effectively as the words within the break have either little to do with anything or are abstract to the point that they require the entire attention of the reader to be put to it in order for it to understood fully.

As a subdivision of breakage, throughout the whole of the poem, once and once only is a single-word-line used. The word, found in the fourth section, first stanza, sixth line, is also a part of an A, B, C, A, B, C rhyming pattern. The use of the word itself alone and the sound with which the word is said gives the entire poem an eerie and dark quality that is only partially dispersed by the repetition at the end of the section.

In what is possibly the most extreme use possible, the author has turned the aggregate of the poem into a metaphor. Each and every word, with particular emphasis on the first and fifth sections, works together to create a delving into pure abstraction, into which words cannot reach with accuracy that is justifiably explained by the fifth section. Indeed, a large proportion of the poem appears to deal with the inapplicability of words to reality.

Thematically, the poem spans a distance that stretches both everywhere and nowhere. The most major theme that is dealt with by the poet would most definitely have to be reality. This is given away by a number of things, most particularly the words, ?humankind cannot bear very much reality.? The most important tool for understanding the poets words about man?s inability to understand that which is real is that of the contradictory statement and metaphor, the representation of the abstract idea through material words. The secondary theme that is represented in the poem is that of the passing of time and eternity. This theme is represented by the statement, ?while the world moves in appetency, on its metalled ways of time past and time future.? Here to the poet uses contradictory statements and metaphor in order to give grasp to something that the human mind intrinsically finds itself able to grasp.

In conclusion it shold be most certainly noted that there are a diversity of forms displayed in this poem. The poet has blended rhyming patterns, contradictions, paradoxes, repetitions, dissonances and breakages into a seamless whole. Through these tools, the poet has been able to convey a lasting meaning by means of the poem that endures despite time and because of it.Indeed, in the words of the poet:
?Yet the enchainment of past and future
Woven in the weakness of the changing body,
Protects mankind from heaven and damnation
Which flesh cannot endure.?