Eliot's Burnt Norton

Eliot’s “Burnt Norton” uses the imagery of gardens and childhood to show the loss of innocence. The road not taken was a possibility, and is now gone. Time remains fixed. You can hear the laughter, and see the beauty, but you are always reminded that temptation is there pulling you away. Time is reminding you of what was, what is, what might have been, and what may be. The children laugh because they are not yet affected by this. But the narrator sees time stretching on and on, and wishes for the innocence that cannot be regained. His is a lonely world, one of constant motion and stillness, one of paradoxes. The innocence and laughter are hidden to him. Perhaps one day he will find what he is looking for. But for now he sees only time, and the fallen state of man. He sees the pain Christ endured when being tempted, and Christ was the only one who did not sin. And he shows that this is the one who endures the most pain. He is the one who sees the most of the despair, pain, and brokenness of the world and its language. For Christ he sees all of time. This poem embodies the loss of innocence and the pain Christ endured while on earth. This poem probably has a lot more going on in it, and this entry may be completely wrong, but this is what I've been able to figure out about this poem. Eliot’s poetry always gives you something new each time you read it, but you never feel like you've fully understood it or delved through all of the layers of meaning.