Four Quartets Man and the Natural World Quotes

As we walk into the symbolic garden of "Burnt Norton," we hear the echoes of nature trying to draw us out of our sad modern lives. A bird suddenly tells us to find "them" around a corner. In this image, the speaker encapsulates that nagging feeling we all have about something missing in our lives, and suggests that this nagging should lead us into nature.

As human beings, we might sometimes think that the world totally revolves around us. But, as the speaker reminds us with these rhetorical questions, the world doesn't get happy or sad depending on how happy or sad we are. It just keeps doing its own thing, and the quicker we realize this, the quicker we can stop worry about "doing something with our lives" and start living in the moment.

The image of the pagan dance is a good one for showing the close connection with nature that modern humans don't really have anymore. The people in this image who are connected to nature are simple folk, and not concerned about modern problems. They're also totally aware of their own connection to the dead. Because dead people get buried underground and end up becoming food for plants. The circle of life continues, and this makes people feel fulfilled. We don't realize this truth in the modern world, though, because we all like to pretend that we'll live forever.