The Journey towards Bethlehem: T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets
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T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets consists of four poems, each title of which is named after a specific place: “Burnt Norton,” “East Coker,” “The Dry Salvages,” and “Little Gidding.” This paper suggests a hypothesis that when the initials of the four titles are assembled in order, they make up a word, ‘B-E-TH-L,’ or ‘B-E-THE-L,’ which turns out to be part of ‘Bethlehem’ or ‘Bethel.’ In Hebrew, ‘beth’ signifies ‘House,’ and so ‘Bethlehem’ means ‘House of Bread,’ and ‘Bethel’ means “House of God.” This article seeks to find further evidence supporting this assumption by investigating closely the process of Eliot’s composition. By cautiously accepting the possibility of the poet’s covert deliberation on this, this paper attempts to understand Four Quartets as journey towards Bethlehem, a special ‘House’ which is the unique earthly space where the historical event of God’s becoming man, the Incarnation happened. Particularly drawing on the theories of space articulated by recent phenomenological philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, this paper analyzes this poem as spatial experience from a phenomenological perspective. For the pilgrim of Four Quartets, space is existential and existence is spatial. Bethlehem and the four earthly places are such an existential home that they revive religious and racial memories in the poet’s mind. Bethlehem is the only place bestowed upon humankind to be remembered for their hope for redemption. Recollection of God’s dwelling in Bethlehem opens up the new possibility that this world can be offered again as earthly inhabitation for human-divine encounter.
Abstract
T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets consists of four poems, each title of which is named after a specific place: “Burnt Norton,” “East Coker,” “The Dry Salvages,” and “Little Gidding.” This paper suggests a hypothesis that when the initials of the four titles are assembled in order, they make up a word, ‘B-E-TH-L,’ or ‘B-E-THE-L,’ which turns out to be part of ‘Bethlehem’ or ‘Bethel.’ In Hebrew, ‘beth’ signifies ‘House,’ and so ‘Bethlehem’ means ‘House of Bread,’ and ‘Bethel’ means “House of God.” This article seeks to find further evidence supporting this assumption by investigating closely the process of Eliot’s composition. By cautiously accepting the possibility of the poet’s covert deliberation on this, this paper attempts to understand Four Quartets as journey towards Bethlehem, a special ‘House’ which is the unique earthly space where the historical event of God’s becoming man, the Incarnation happened. Particularly drawing on the theories of space articulated by recent phenomenological philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, this paper analyzes this poem as spatial experience from a phenomenological perspective. For the pilgrim of Four Quartets, space is existential and existence is spatial. Bethlehem and the four earthly places are such an existential home that they revive religious and racial memories in the poet’s mind. Bethlehem is the only place bestowed upon humankind to be remembered for their hope for redemption. Recollection of God’s dwelling in Bethlehem opens up the new possibility that this world can be offered again as earthly inhabitation for human-divine encounter.
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