Burnt Norton

The poem "Burnt Norton" is the first poem of T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. It was the first of Eliot's that relied on speech, with a narrator who speaks to the audience, directly. Described as a poem of early summer, air, and grace, it begins with a narrator recalling a moment in a garden. The scene provokes a discussion on time and how the present, not the future or past, really matters to individuals. Memories connect the individual to the past, but the past cannot change. The poem then transitions from memory to how life works and the point of existence. In particular, the universe is described as orderly and that consciousness is not found within time even though humanity is bound by time. The scene of the poem moves from a garden to the London underground where technology dominates. Those who cling to technology and reason are unable to understand the universe or the Logos ("the Word", or Christ). The underworld is replaced by a churchyard and a discussion of death. This, in turn, becomes a discussion of timelessness and eternity, which ends the poem.

The poem begins with two epigraphs taken from the fragments of Heraclitus:

τοῦ λόγου δὲ ἐόντος ξυνοῦ ζώουσιν οἱ πολλοί

ὡς ἰδίαν ἔχοντες φρόνησιν
— I. p. 77. Fr. 2.

Although logos [knowledge or reason] is common,    雖然道常
the many live as if they had a wisdom of their own    人像有自智

ὁδὸς ἄνω κάτω μία καὶ ὡυτή
— I. p. 89 Fr. 60.
The way upward and the way downward                    上下相同
is one and the same

Hermann A. Diels: Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Herakleitos)
The Fragments of the Presocratics (Heraclitus)

The actual Burnt Norton is a manor located near the village of Aston Subedge in Gloucestershire that Eliot visited with Emily Hale during 1934. The original Norton House was a mansion burned down in 1741 by its owner, Sir William Keyt, who died in the fire. The actual manor does not serve as an important location within the poem. Instead, it is the garden surrounding the manor that became the focus.

Henri Le Sidaner 'Earthenware Pots'

ὁδός • (hodós) f (genitive ὁδοῦ); second declension

1. threshold
2. road, path, way        Synonym: οὔθα (oútha)
3. journey, trip, expedition
4. The way, means, or manner to some end, method

        ➥ ὁδός 原文字根：路 相當於： （דֶּרֶךְ‎） （מְסִלָּה‎）

        字義溯源：道路*，路，道，路上，路程，作為，行事，蹤跡。

            新約記載兩條實在的路：

                        1）從耶路撒冷下耶利哥的路（ 路10:30 ,31）

                        2）從耶路撒冷下迦薩的路（ 徒8:26）。

            主耶穌指出兩條不同的路：

                        1）大路，引到滅亡，找著的人也多（ 太7:13）

                        2）小路，引到永生，找著的人也少（ 太7:14）。

             新約中記載一些隱喻的道路：

                        1）義路（或：公義的路； 太21:32）；

                        2）平安的路（ 路1:79）；

                        3）救人的道（或：救恩的路； 徒16:17）；

                        4）真道（或：真理的路； 彼後2:2）。

            主耶穌說，我就是道路，真理，生命；若不藉著我，沒有人能到父那裏去（ 約14:6）。

πάντα ρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει

(Plato, Cratylus 402a)

• Everything flows and nothing is left (unchanged), or
• Everything flows and nothing stands still, or
• All things are in motion and nothing remains still.