Reading Eliot’s “East Coker” III: Focusing on ‘Light’ and ‘Darkness’ from the Perspective of Christianity

‘Light’ and ‘darkness’ are the opposite concepts and Christians refer to them very often. According to the Bible, our life is also divided into light and darkness. If we completely follow Jesus Christ, we can walk in light. If we do not so, we cannot help living in darkness. Interestingly, Eliot also employs the two concepts in “East Coker” Ⅲ. For example, all things created by God absolutely disappear, that fact is called as darkness. So Eliot demands that we should go into darkness of God: depending on invisible or spiritual world, not visible or material world. Above all, to live in light, we should abandon our greedy mind of our hope, love, and thought. Therefore, Eliot emphasizes on self-denial. Then what is surprising is that Eliot’s assertion is similar to the doctrine of Christianity.