East Coker Summary

In the first part of East Coker, houses crumble or are destroyed. They are rebuilt; they live and die. Light falls across an open field. In the warm haze, dahlias sleep, waiting for the early owl. In that open field, if one does not come too close, they may hear the music and see a man and woman dancing, signifying marriage. The sounds of rustic laughter and merriment permeate the air. Dawn arrives, and another day prepares for heat and silence. The narrator is here or there or elsewhere, in his beginning which is his end.

In the second part of the poem, the narrator wonders what the late November is doing. The spring is disturbed by creatures of the summer heat, yet snowdrops and hollyhock are present. In the constellation wars, Scorpio fights the Sun and a vortex that will...