This thesis is to examine biblical poetics, which deals with the many biblical echoes and rhetoric of paradox in T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Biblical poetics, the counterpart of biblical theology, tries to mystify history in the poetic text, as opposed to the theologizing of biblical history. Time and history are of great importance in the poetry of T. S. Eliot and in the modernistic milieu, because modernism hinges, in a sense, upon the dispensation of history. Eliot, the champion of the 20th century poetry, tries to mythify the present history by means of a mystical method, assuming that modern history itself is not fit for poetry. Malinowski rightly defines myth as not of the nature of fiction, but instead as a living truth, believed to have once happened in primitive times and continue influencing our everyday lives. In this paper the present writer tries to describe the process of transformation of history in four phases, that is, carpe diem, which can be roughly transliterated as “seize the day,” the rejected history, the deconstructed time, and finally the transfigured time. “Burnt Norton” prefaces the problem of the redemption of history, agreeing with the biblical time concept that all history is divine history. “East Coker”, as the rejected history, reveals the painful confession of the poet in terms of death, not only of ours but also of Jesus Christ. His death is the most rejected and paradoxical of all deaths, because he was rejected by his people and even his Father. In turn, through this death, history is rejected. “Dry Salvages” demonstrates time by decreating time and starting a movement backward to the time of creation. While portraying the sea, one of the motifs of “Dry Salvages,” he mentions both the original sea, which “is” from the beginning and the Logos, Jesus Christ, who “was” from the beginning. The incarnation is the crux of paradoxical events, where the impossible union is accomplished. His resurrection is the paradox of paradoxes, in which the rejected history is deconstructed with life-giving Eros springing forth from abyssal Thanatos. “Little Gidding” breaks the air with flames of fire, urging us to choose between the flames of fire and of the Holy Spirit to be saved. Beginning with the Pentecostal fire, time starts to be so completely transformed that here is “England and nowhere, never and always.” The event on the mountain of transfiguration is the most paradoxical and transformational of events, substantiating history into myth where time and eternity meet. The voyagers must continue going forward until they receive the transfigured vision of the place from which he started.

1. 들어가는 말 2. 화자(/들)의 목소리와 정체성 3. 기표 "왕국"이 만들어 내는 다양한 공간의 시학 4. 나가는 말 인용문헌 Abstract

T. S. 엘리엇의 후기 작품들은 그의 기독교적 세계관， 구원적 시간(역사) 관， 상정시학의 깊은 연관성을 보여주고 있다. 초기의 허무주의적 세계관을 극복한 엘리엇윤 파편화된 현대적 삶은 절대자에 대한 믿음을 복원함으로 써만 치유될 수 있다고 생각한다. 구원적 세계관에 부합하는 시적 언어로 서 엘리엇은 조화， 유기성， 통일성을 담지하고 있는 상정을 중요시 한다. 엘리엇의 상정시학은 감정과 지성， 주관과 객관， 표현과 내용의 통일을 강 조하는 그의 통합된 감수성， 객관적 상관물 이론 둥에 부분적으로 나타나 고 있으며， 또한 단테에서 보들레르에 이르는 형이상학적시 전통을 재해석 하는 1926년 클라크 강연에서 구체화되고 있다. 시간의 측면에서 엘리엇의 상징시학은 순간과 영원의 교차를 중시하며 이 주제는 그의 후기 장시인 「네 사중주』 에서 기존의 직선적 혹은 순환적 시간관에 대한 대안으로서 제시되고 있다. 이 시에서 엘리엇은 현대성의 지배적 역사관인 진보의 서 사와 그 자신의 초기 허무주의 역사관을 지양하고， 동 시대의 영국을 순간 과 영원이 교차하는 시/공간으로 다시 읽음으로써 그의 후기 상징시학과 구원적 역사관의 통합을 보여주고 있다.