East Coker

Sixth impression. Thin 8vo. 15pp. Publisher's yellow stable-bound wraps, printed in black; yapped edges, fore- and bottom edges untrimmed.

Wrappers slightly marked and discoloured, previous owner's name on f.f.e.p., still internally extremely clean and crisp throughout.

First published in this form by Faber in 1940. Precedes the first collected edition which appeared in the U.S. by Harcourt, Brace and Company on 11 May 1943 and in the U.K. by Faber on Oct. 31st, 1944. No separate edition was published in the United States. Originally published as an integral "supplement" to The New English Weekly 'Easter Number', 1940, which was quickly followed by an off-print. Comprises the second sequence of what was to become the Four Quartets.

Each poem in the sequence is steeped in the experiences, both actual and remembered, of a man in his middle years: "So here I am, in the middle way, having had twenty years– / Twenty years largely wasted, the years of l'entre deux guerres–". The title refers to the Somerset village from which Eliot's ancestors departed for the New World, in 1669, while the recurring motif, "In my beginning is my end... In my end is my beginning," plays upon Mary Stuart's motto En ma fin est mon commencement.

[Gallup A36c]