Exploring the Nature of Time in Thomas Stearns Eliot’s “Burnt Norton”

Abstract

The poem “Burnt Norton” (1936) is one of the poems from his collection of poems Four Quartets (1936-1942). The poem is an important piece that evaluates the concept of time. This research will attempt to discuss the nature of time that Eliot tried to present in the poem. It seems that the poem has a direct influence of Bergson’s philosophy of time as well as Einstein’s relativity of time. The poem captures both of the influences where the nature of time is not fixed but exists in a duality where the time reference of past and future exist in the present itself. This existence is seen in the ability of the mind to go back in time to past and future references. However, the poem seems to project Einstein’s relativity of time where time is relative and all the flow of time references exist simultaneously and merely an illusion.