
'Little Gidding' and History
Eliot continues the theme of reconciliation or transcendence of opposites introduced in the first two sections of Little Gidding in the...

The Enchantment of Story-telling
Outlining a theory of how stories really work - a theory which exposes an underlying force or set of forces at work in fiction in the...


Little Gidding's Ghost
Eliot started writing 'Little Gidding' while recovering from an illness, completing the first draft in July 1941. But he was unhappy with...

Learn what a story really is...
Learn: • what a story really is • what it is actually doing to and for you and other readers ​ • the magnetic power that attracts readers...

The Doctor as Warrior
We have been tracing the development of the character of the Doctor as part of charting the three successful pillars upon which the...

Austen's Use of Character
One of the defining figures of early 19th century literature, Jane Austen wrote six novels, most of them set in the Hampshire countryside...


The Opening of 'Little Gidding'
’Little Gidding’ by T. S. Eliot is a long poem which merits detailed study. It is the culmination of Eliot’s poetry in many ways: a...

Learn what a story really is...
Learn: • what a story really is • what it is actually doing to and for you and other readers ​ • the magnetic power that attracts readers...

The Words of T. S. Eliot
British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 – 1965) was one of the twentieth century's...

Tolkien and the Music of Language
Dedicated readers of J. R. R. Tolkien’s work will have noted the underlying linguistic element in the shaping of his fictional world....