by T. S. Eliot
[3] at last] and should be ts4, NEW proof 1st reading ‖
NEW proof 1st redrafting (ink):
We must learn serenity
[2]
Which is to be found in trying;
We content and should be
[1] learn] find the 2nd reading
[2] to be] not 2nd reading trying] the act of trying 2nd reading
NEW proof 2nd redrafting (pencil):
We must find the contentment
[2]
That is found in going on trying;
We, content at the last,
[3] over erasure (perhaps and should be,)
NEW proof 3rd redrafting (ink):
We are undefeated
[2]
If we have gone on trying;
We, content at the last,
with the added (in pencil) after second word. NEW proof 4th redrafting (ink) reads as final text
V 47 We,] We ms Mairet
V 48] If the temporal aspect of the soul ts1 ‖ If the temporal aspect nourish ts2 1st reading ‖ If the temporal conclusion nourish ts2 2nd reading ‖ If the temporal reversion nourish ts2a 3rd reading
V 49 (Not] Nourish (not ts1
Little Gidding
Published in NEW 15 Oct 1942. Separately as a Faber pamphlet 1 Dec 1942 (LG; three impressions to Sept 1943); then within Four Quartets in US 1943 (first American printing), 1944+.
The Magdalene manuscripts are described leaf by leaf in Appendix B of Composition FQ. The folio numbers given there are also used below. Helen Gardner used the manuscripts before they were bound. Her designations MS A to MS D are here msA to msD:
[Poems I 200–209 · Commentary I 987–1043]
msA: 22 leaves of a “Scribbling Pad” with drafts of both The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding. Nine leaves remain in the pad, N.5.4 (b), while the rest have been bound together with msB, msC and msD as N.5.4 (a). TSE to Francis Turner, Librarian of Magdalene, 27 June 1945: “I have just discovered the enclosed scribbling block with scrawls of what appear to be still earlier versions than any of those sent. While I daresay that I should be well advised in the interest of my own reputation to destroy these scribbles, I feel that in doing so I should be committing a kind of fraud at the expense of the College. So if you care to add these to the pages in your possession, please do so. I enclose the block just as I found it. It appears to include a draft of a letter to The Times on the death of Evelyn Underhill but I have not bothered to remove that.” Facsimiles of fols. 85r. and 86r. (drafting Little Gidding II 1–24) appear (enlarged) in Autograph Poetry in the English Language ed. P. J. Croft (1973), and fol. 85r. is also shown in 1979.
msB: four leaves from a similar pad, with drafts of Little Gidding II.
msC: four leaves from a narrower pad, with drafts of Little Gidding V, II, IV.
msD: two leaves, possibly from the “Scribbling Pad” (see msA), with notes for Yeats, a memorial lecture delivered in Dublin in June 1940, and with second and third drafts of Little Gidding IV on versos. These appear to date from some two years later; TSE was probably re-using old paper (during wartime rationing of paper).
In 1963, I. A. Richards sent Hayward a xerographic copy of the Magdalene mss. On the envelope Hayward wrote: “This exercise book was handed by TSE to W. Mc. [Francis] Turner, when the latter was College Librarian as a present from an hon. fellow. It was found after Turner’s retirement, stuffed into a drawer and evidently forgotten along with TSE’s Nobel Prize medal!” (The illuminated manuscript of TSE’s Nobel Prize is now in Magdalene Old Library.)
msA fol. 77 has probably the earliest notes for Little Gidding (Composition FQ 157):
Winter scene. May.
Lyric—air earth water end
daemonic fire. The Inferno.
They vanish, the individuals, and
our feeling for them sinks into the
flame which refines. They emerge
in another pattern recreated
[8]
redeemed, having their meaning to-
gether not apart, in a unison
which is of beams from the central
fire. And the others with them
contemporaneous.
Invocation to the Holy Spirit.
[8] redeemed] reconciled alt
[9] unison] union Composition FQ (error)
Magdalene also has 13 ts drafts, retained by TSE, now bound together in a second separate volume, and three NEW proofs, bound in a third separate volume.
[Poem I 201–209 · Commentary I 989–1043]
King’s has Hayward’s cognate versions of five of the tss, annotated by him in pencil, as well as correspondence concerning the poem, proofs of NEW and LG, leaves with the printed poem from NEW, and other notes. These documents were left to King’s by Hayward, despite what he had previously suggested to TSE, who wrote on 16 Oct [1942]: “I have never expressed my appreciation of your wish to bequeath your Eliot remains to Magdalene. That of course would please me more than any other disposition you could make: and I will, as you request, keep the information buried in my breast. Magdalene is already, and will be further, the possessor of those of your letters which have been written to assist The Dry Salvages and Little Gidding, which are included with the manuscripts of those poems.”
Composition FQ gives priority to the tss which TSE sent to Hayward, but the collation below gives priority instead to the tss retained by TSE (see table below). The 13 retained drafts (designated a when there is a cognate version) are bound together in a single volume at Magdalene (N.5.4 [e]), with pagination as given in the table below. The folio number is pencilled on the verso of each leaf.
This ed. Composition FQ
First typing:
(Part I) ts1 M1 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 1–3)
Second typing
(Parts I–V) ts2 M2 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 4–17)
Third typing ts3a M3 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 18–29)
(Parts I–V) ts3b D1 (sent to Hayward, 7 July 1941; printed, with Hayward’s marks in Composition FQ, Append. A)
“additional fragments” (sent to Hayward, 14 July 1941; untraced)
Fourth typing ts4a M4 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 30–40)
(Parts I–V) ts4b — (Geoffrey Faber’s copy)
Fifth typing (Parts I–V) ts5 M5 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 41–51; an untraced carbon may have been sent to Bonamy Dobrée before 6 Aug 1941)
Sixth typing
(Part III) ts6 M6 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 52–53)
Seventh typing
(Part II, 2nd section) ts7 M7 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 54–55)
Eighth typing
(Part II, 2nd section) ts8 M8 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 56–58)
Ninth typing ts9a M9 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 59–69)
(Parts II–III) ts9b D2 (sent to Hayward, 17 Aug 1942)
(Parts I, V) (sent to Hayward, 27 Aug 1942)
Tenth typing ts10a M10 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 70–74)
(Part II) ts10b D3 (sent to Hayward, 27 Aug 1942)
Eleventh typing
(Part III) ts11 M11 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 75–77)
Twelfth typing ts12a M12 (retained by TSE; Magd. vol. fols. 78–89)
(Parts I–V) ts12b D4 (sent to Hayward, 2 Sept 1942)
Thirteenth typing ts13a M13 (Faber printer’s copy; Magd. vol. fols. 90–100)
(Parts I–V) ts13b D5 (sent to Hayward, 19 Sept 1942)
ts1 (Magdalene): ribbon copy on three leaves, with emendations, Part I only, headed “Draft”. Line numbers every ten lines by TSE as far as 40.
[Poem I 201–209 · Commentary I 989–1043]
ts2 (Magdalene): ribbon copy, on fourteen leaves, headed “Little Gidding | 1. Draft 2”, with extensive annotation of various kinds. Part II has the earlier, “Poitiers” conclusion, which was retained until ts5. Two drafts of Part IV within this ts are designated ts2(i) and ts2(ii): TSE worked on both, as
though unsure which was closer to what he wanted. Line numbers every ten lines in Part I by TSE, with totals per part at foot of leaves.
ts3: two copies.
ts3a (Magdalene): ribbon copy on 12 leaves, with light annotation. Line numbers pencilled by TSE every ten lines to end of III.
ts3b (King’s): carbon of ts3a, described by Hayward as “First Complete Draft”, sent to him 7 July 1941 (and so dated by him on three leaves). With “first draft for consideration. | Not sure.” in TSE’s hand. Bound for Hayward in HB/V12 with the following page nos. in his hand on rectos and versos: Part I: 5, 9, 13. Part II: 19, 25, 31, 39. Part III: 43, 47. Part IV: 49. Part V: 53, 57. Before Hayward had time to reply, TSE “pushed on with Little Gidding” and sent “provisional results” on 14 July. Hayward acknowledged “additional fragments of the pome” on 22 July.
“additional fragments”: revisions of ts3 sent to Hayward but untraced. See Commentary headnote, 2. COMPOSITION.
ts4: two copies of a typing made before TSE wrote to Hayward on 28 July 1941 to say he had cut a stanza from IV.
ts4a (Magdalene): ribbon copy of retyping of ts3 on 11 (surviving) leaves, with extensive revision. TSE’s pencilled line numbering throughout. Part II on same page as the end of I. Missing fol. 10.
ts4b (McCue collection): carbon of ts4a on 12 leaves, lacking most of its revisions and comments. This carbon provides the ts4 readings for fol. 10 (IV 1–7, V 1–16). Sent to Geoffrey Faber, who later noted in crayon some lines that were altered before publication. Accompanied by Faber’s “First rough notes” on three separate leaves, with the later comment “But I never gave him my comments! I saw that they weren’t good enough. G. F.” Despite Faber’s disclaimer, he made some of his thoughts known, as TSE’s correspondence with Hayward shows. Some of his comments are given here and in the Commentary as Geoffrey Faber’s notes.
ts5 (Magdalene): ribbon copy on eleven leaves of retyping of ts4, incorporating its preliminary corrections.
ts6 (Magdalene): ribbon copy on two leaves of retyping of Part III from ts4, incorporating some of its revisions and making others. On the verso of the first leaf, upside down, is the page number “3.” and, on the verso of the second leaf, upside down, are the words “And elsewhere” (see II 67–96, Second venture in verse [13]).
ts7 (Magdalene): ribbon copy, considerably annotated, of a retyping of Part II 25–c. 74. Two leaves, with another probably missing, since the final line (“In the strength and weakness of the English tongue”) has no terminal punctuation.
ts8 (Magdalene): ribbon copy on three leaves of the second section of Part II, including a first draft of the “gifts reserved for age” conclusion (see II 76–93). With extensive changes in typing and annotation.
[Poem I 201–209 · Commentary I 989–1043]
ts9: two copies.
ts9a (Magdalene): 11 leaves, mixing ribbon copy of Parts I and V with carbon of Parts II and III. These ribbon copies and carbons (on pink paper) are reciprocal with ts9b.
ts9b (King’s): 11 leaves, designated “First Revision” by Hayward, mixing ribbon copy of Parts II and III (sent 17 Aug 1942) with a secondary carbon of Parts I and V (sent 27 Aug 1942). These ribbon copies and carbons are reciprocal with ts9a (together constituting two complete copies). Bound for Hayward in HB/V12 with the following page numbers in his hand on rectos and versos: Part I: 4, 8, 12. Part II: 18, 24, 30, 38. Part III: 42, 46. Part V: 52, 56.
ts10: two copies.
ts10a (Magdalene): ribbon copy on five leaves of Part II with some annotation in response to Hayward.
ts10b (King’s): carbon of ts10a, described by Hayward as “Second Revision. Part II. 27 August 1942”. Bound for him in HB/V12 with page nos. 16, 22, 28, 36, 34 (the last two thus transposed).
ts11 (Magdalene): ribbon copy of retyping on three leaves of ts9 Part III.
ts12: two copies.
ts12a (Magdalene): ribbon copy of new typing of entire poem on 12 leaves, retained by TSE whose emendations adopt some of Hayward’s suggestions seen in ts12b.
ts12b (King’s): carbon of ts12a, described by Hayward as “Second Complete Draft. 2 Sep. 1942”. Bound for him in HB/V12 with the following page nos. in his hand on rectos and versos: Part I: 74, 78, 82. Part II: 82, 86, 90, 94, 98. Part III: 98, 102, 106. Part IV: 108. Part V: 108, 112, 116.
ts13: two copies.
ts13a (Magdalene): ribbon copy of a new typing on 11 leaves, used as printer’s copy for Faber’s pamphlet LG. With the name “John Easton” (of the printers R. MacLehose) at head, not in TSE’s hand (despite Composition FQ 154). Sent from Faber to MacLehose on 24 Sept 1942 and acknowledged (as “the MS of this poem”) on 29 Sept (Faber archive). This ts omits the line “Summer beyond sense, the inapprehensible” (19 ^ 20), which does not appear in LG or later printings, although when TSE corrected the first proofs of NEW on 28 Sept, and the two subsequent proofs, he allowed it to stand. (Similarly, the emendation on NEW proof from “which” to “that” at III 25 was not followed in the LG pamphlet.)
ts13b: carbon of ts13a, described by Hayward as “Final Recension. 19 Septemr. 1942”. Bound for him in HB/V12 with the following page nos. in his hand on rectos and versos: Part I: 75, 79, 83. Part II: 83, 87, 91, 95, 99. Part III: 99, 103, 109. Part IV: 109. Part V: 113, 117.
[Poem I 201–209 · Commentary I 989–1043]
NEW “First proof” (printed on versos of auctioneer’s stationery), endorsed “Corrected | T.S.E. | 28. ix. 42”. Text as NEW except where noted. Magdalene bound vol. of the successive proofs, N.5.4 (f), fols. 1–5.
King’s also has a “First proof” of NEW (printed on versos of five leaves of auctioneer’s stationery), endorsed by TSE: “Corrected | T.S.E. | 28. ix. 42”. Early emendations in pencil (some probably by the printer) are followed by TSE’s final emendations in ink.
A third copy of the first proof, with a few pencil corrections in an unknown hand, but no variants, is at Princeton.
As Helen Gardner explained, the text set up by the printer is a text lying between ts12 and ts13. Eliot corrected it to the readings of ts13 but with further alterations (Composition FQ 27, 155).
NEW “Second proof” (printed on versos of auctioneer’s stationery). Magdalene bound vol. fols. 6–10.
NEW “Final Proof”. Sewn gathering with typeset page numbers 213–220, with compliments slip from TSE. Magdalene bound vol. fols. 11–14.
NEW printing, emended by TSE (King’s): three leaves extracted from NEW (two conjugate and one loose, all formerly stapled), with the poem on the first five pages and other magazine material on the sixth. Sent to Frank Morley at Harcourt Brace, 22 Oct 1942, with a note from TSE’s secretary: “Mr Eliot has asked me to send you the enclosed second copy of Little Gidding. He sent you a previous copy last Saturday asking you to cable its receipt.”
LG proof (King’s): proof copy of the pamphlet, date-stamped by MacLehose 15 Oct 1942, corrected by TSE and inscribed to Hayward. Text as LG except where stated.
Sibyl Colefax’s birthday book (Bodleian): entry of 22 lines beginning “With the drawing of this love and the voice of this calling”. No variants from published text. TSE inscribed a copy of Four Quartets “to Sybil Colefax with the author’s sentiments”, the first name misspelt (ODNB). He spelt her name correctly when writing to Hayward on 21 July 1942.
Valerie’s Own Book: fair copy on fifteen pages of the second exercise book.
Re-examination of the drafts has led to a small number of revisions of readings in Composition FQ, mainly of punctuation.
Title] not ts1, ts3 ‖ pencilled (later) at head of ts2 ‖ added in brackets by Hayward ts3b
Author’s name] not tss, not NEW 1st proof 1st reading
Part numbers] followed by full-stop NEW
I
I 1–2] “Does JH like sundown?” ts9a
I 1 spring] summer ts1, ts2 1st reading
I 2 towards sundown] at the day’s end ts1 1st reading ‖ toward the day’s end ts1 2nd reading ‖ towards the day’s end ts2–ts5, underlin
ed with “X” and sun’s end / sunfall / sundown ts4a alts
I 3 pole] cold ts1 1st reading tropic.] heat, ts1 1st reading ‖ tropic, ts1 2nd reading, ts2 1st and final reading, ts3–ts5
[Poem I 201 · Commentary I 998]
I 4 short] brief ts1 2nd reading (reverting then to short) brightest] lightest ts1 with frost] ice ts1 1st reading fire,] fire ts1, ts2 1st reading ‖ fire. ts2 2nd reading, ts3–ts5
I 5, 6] transposed ts1
I 5 brief] short ts1 1st reading ‖ brief underlined with “cf brief facile II, 3” by Hayward ts9b (referring to this phrase at II 67 as it then stood, on the third leaf of Part II)
I 6 In windless] Windless ts1 1st reading ‖ Of Windless ts1 2nd reading heart’s] soul’s ts1, ts2 1st reading heat,] heat. ts1
I 7 Reflecting in] Not melting, but making ts1 mirror] film ts1 1st reading
I 8] A glare · · · afternoon: Geoffrey Faber’s notes: “I am not quite sure about this line. There is something flat about it. But the flatness does help the image of blinding reflection off a still flat surface.”
I 8 A] Of ts1 glare] light / glare ts1 alts blindness] blindness, ts1 ‖ brightness ts5 1st reading (typed over) afternoon.] ts9a 2nd reading+ ‖ afternoon, ts1– ts5 ‖ afternoon ts9
I 9 glow] fire / blaze ts1 alts del and replaced by glow blaze] ts1 3rd reading+ ‖ that ts1 1st reading ‖ fire ts1 2nd reading branch, or brazier,] branch or brazier ts1 1st reading
I 10 Stirs] Warms ts1 1st reading ‖ Which stirs ts2 1st reading dumb] animated / numbed / awakened ts1 alts spirit] mind ts1 alt del
I 12–13] Geoffrey Faber in ts4b: “Isn’t there a distinctive smell, though, that I can’t describe (or even certainly recall)? (Must wait 6 months or so to be sure!)”
I 14 covenant] ts9a 2nd reading+, the revised line ticked by Hayward ts12b ‖ recurrence ts1–ts5, ts9
I 15 Is blanched] Glitters ts1–ts4, underlined with Glisters / Whitens Hayward ts3b ‖ Glitters / Blanches / Is blanched ts5 alts an hour] a moment ts1, ts3 1st reading (typed over), ts4 1st reading (typed over), ts5 1st reading (typed over) blossom] snow ts1 1st reading
