| A study of myth leads to the formulation of a time-centered mythic taxonomy for Four Quartets and the teaching of literature. The tension between the major categories of sacred and secular time is offset by the Incarnation, sacro-secular in its attempt at bridging sacred and secular time. The sub-categories are well-illustrated throughout Four Quartets. "Burnt Norton" asserts the primacy of the cyclical female myth of cosmogony over the aesthetic, spatial myth of form and celebrates the need for secular time to reinvigorate itself through a contact with sacred time. "East Coker," structurally cyclic, embodies the pattern integral to the Mother archetype; the Goddess, however, is more pronounced by her absence, and the poem is marked by the despondent rhythm of creative failure. "Dry Salvages," the quartet of transition, sees a series of transitional images coalescing in the Incarnation, the final metaphor of union between sacred and secular worlds. Incarnation, however, can only be a temporary solution to the problem of time; Divinity, in alchemical fashion, has to be released from its contact with the material world. "Little Gidding," the quartet of destruction and purification, witnesses this process in the myth of eschatology and the systematic destruction of matter. The mention of History complicates the conclusion but is interpreted as a rite of incorporation by which the poet reconciles himself to the secular world after the trauma of mystic upheaval. The final section views the taxonomy as a universal system of criticism and evaluates its significance as a means to improve overall student response to literature. The classification not only furthers students' intellectual and moral development but also improves their response by providing a structure for them to understand the content of literary works. |
