This paper critically evaluates the complex
linguistic structure of "The Four Quartets", focusing on circularity of Eliot's
language and his frequent use of oxymorons. It argues that such
linguistic devices signal Eliot's fundamental frustration regarding the inadequacy of language (both ordinary and poetic) and his search for a
metalanguage. The paper also draws on Eliot's The Waste Land with its themes of hollowness and physical and linguistic disintegration.