Now I fear disturbance of the quiet seasons:
Winter shall come bringing death from the sea,
Ruinous spring shall beat at our doors,
Root and shoot shall eat our eyes and our ears,
Disastrous summer burn up the beds of our streams
And the poor shall wait for another decaying October.
There is no set rhyme scheme for these lines, and no set, regular rhtythm, but it is clear from their cadence and their flow that poetry is the medium that Eliot chooses to use to have his characters express their thoughts, feelings and emotion. One way in which Eliot brings out the artistic features of the poetic form therefore is through the exclusive use of verse for the words of the majority of characters, and the powerful imagery that their words use to paint vivid pictures for the audience of what is happening in the play. The above quote uses internal rhyme in "Root and shoot" and also alliteration in "burn up the beds," just two poetic techniques that highlight the use of poetry within the overall genre of drama that the play represents.
What Is Murder In The Cathedral?
Murder in the Cathedral is a poetic drama by T. S. Eliot and was first performed in 1935.
It tells the story of the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket, which happened in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.
Murder in the Cathedral was written during the rise of Fascism in mainland Europe, which began a few years before World War II.
As the play deals with opposing authority,