Sárospataki Füzetek 12. (2008)
2008 / 2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Frank Sawyer: A reading of T. S. Eliot's Ashwednesday
Frank Sawyer and their blessings received from the Saviour. So this is a time of self- examination, but also a time to renew their trust in God and their gratitude to Christ for having conquered sin and death. In the Bible and some antique cultures, ashes were used to symbolise frailty, mourning, sin and death, as well as repentance. Ashes were further associated with purification, since they were part of soap making and medical remedies. So in this way the anointing of the sign of the cross with strokes of ash on the forehead of believers during Lent spoke of a variety of aspects of repentance and renewal. During the anointing the pastor will often say such words as, ‘Consider yourself dead to sin and alive through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Ephesians 2:1 & 5); or: ‘Remember that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return’ (Genesis 3:19). And so it is that the dying of the old self is a central theme in Eliot’s poem, as well as the turning (conversion) to a new path. One of the passages referred to on Ash- Wednesday or during Lent is from the prophet Joel, which speaks of turning (back) to the divine call and finding God full of grace and compassion - also God shall turn toward us: “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord our God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love... Who knows? He may turn and have pity... (Joel 2: I2ff. NIV) Part one The opening lines from part one of the poem establish the theme of ‘turning’, or what soon appears to be conversion, in the sense of both turning away from one thing and turning towards something else. The beginning of this poetic meditation shows the difficulty of this decision to turn, especially the need to decide not to turn back again. The poem opens abruptly, saying: Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to turn Desiring this man’s gift and that man’s scope I no longer strive to strive towards such things 66
