East Coker

With the exception of Section IV, the poem is written in free verse, so it follows no regular form or meter. This is in keeping with Eliot’s practice as a modernist poet who constructs new forms without regard to poetic tradition. This gives him great flexibility, and in “East Coker,” he frequently adopts a conversational tone, using the pronouns “you” and “we,” to draw the reader into his experience and understanding of life. The lines tend to be long—up to as many as 18 syllables, with around 12 to 15 syllables being common—although some lines are shorter. The patterns of stress vary considerably.

Section IV consistently follows an iambic meter. An iambic foot comprises an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: “The wounded surgeon plies the steel” (Line 149). In each of the five stanzas in this section, the first three lines are iambic tetrameter, which comprises four feet; Line 4 is iambic pentameter (five feet), and Line 5 is iambic hexameter (six feet).

This strict adherence to form in a poem that otherwise consists of free verse reflects the thematic content of Section IV. Although humanity suffers from a sickness, salvation is at hand through Christ’s sacrifice and the sacraments of the church. The divine plan for redemption represents a kind of surety and perfection in the fallen world, and this is reflected in the disciplined regularity of form and meter in these five stanzas.

Eliot employs some rhyme in the 17 lines that begin Section II—for example, “And creatures of the summer heat / And snowdrops writhing under feet” (Lines 54-55)—but the majority of lines are unrhymed. However, the five five-line stanzas that comprise Section IV are rhymed throughout, with a consistent rhyme scheme. In each stanza, Line 1 rhymes with Line 3, and Line 2 rhymes with Lines 4-5. All five stanzas have this structure; the first stanza can serve as an example:

The wounded surgeon plies the steel

That questions the distempered part;

Beneath the bleeding hands we feel

The sharp compassion of the healer’s art

Resolving the enigma of the fever chart (Lines 149-53).

The rhyme scheme thus can be represented as ABABB, with the introduction of rhyme reflecting the harmony and healing brought by spiritual regeneration into the aimlessness of modern life.