The fires of Little Gidding, far richer than those of “Prufrock,” gather into a single image flames of desire and suffering, destruction and redemption, as well as the tongues of the dead and those of the Holy Spirit. In the final lines, they form a kaleidoscopic image that summarizes the poem, the sequence of which it is the capstone, and Eliot’s work over the previous three decades. Alfred Prufrock, whose signature sin of endless rationalization also involves an abuse of language and whose punishment is to wander endlessly in the circular and smoky alleys of his own mind.įlames flicker throughout Eliot’s poetry and, in his last important poem, Little Gidding, they are present from beginning to end. His voice merges with that of a modern deceiver, J. Guido’s punishment, in keeping with Dante’s representation of divine justice, is a visual counterpart of the sin itself, and thus in perfect contrapasso, Guido is forever wrapped in a quivering tongue of flame. His Collected Poems opens with the voice of a damned soul, Guido da Montefeltro, who is being tormented in the eighth circle of Dante’s hell for giving false counsel to others, a sin committed with his tongue. Alfred Prufrock,” and the coda of his last, Little Gidding, contain the same image, enfolding tongues of flame. Eliot’s first major poem, “The Love Song of J.
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