Sárospataki Füzetek 12. (2008)

2008 / 2. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Frank Sawyer: A reading of T. S. Eliot's Ashwednesday

Frank Sawyer

Part three

In this section the poet picks up the theme of turning, in a new way:

At the first turning of the second stair

I turned and saw below

The same shape twisted on the banister

Under the vapour in the fetid air

Struggling with the devil of the stairs who wears

The deceitful face of hope and of despair.

Here the poem uses strong end rhymes, especially emphasising the sound of ‘stair(s)’. This is the path of salvation, the up-hill climb of the pilgrim of faith, toward the holy place, indeed, toward God. These are steps of hope and despair in relation to the thoughts, values, and choices which come from one’s own ‘heart’ and from the ‘world’ - the demon of doubt always accompanies the spirit of faith. The poet explored that in the Hollow Men when he pointed the dissolution of never achieving a satisfying goal:

Between the idea And the reality Between the motion And the act Falls the shadow

For Thine is the kingdom

Repeating a phrase from The Lord’s Prayer in italics was a way of imitating a liturgical setting but for the hollow men it is secularized to the point of not knowing where to turn. The question was: which kingdom has lasting value? Now, in Ash-Wednesday he continues to juxtapose the choices:

At the first turning of the third stair

Was a slotted window bellied like the fig’s fruit

And beyond the hawthorn blossom and a pasture scene

The broadbacked figure drest in blue and green

Enchanted the maytime with an antique flute.

Blown hair is sweet, brown hair over the mouth blown,

Lilac and brown hair;

Distraction, music of the flute, stops and steps of the mind over the third stair,

Fading, fading; strength beyond hope and despair Climbing the third stair.

Lord, I am not worthy Lord, I am not worthy

but speak the word only.

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