1. Source

   Three privations

   Burnt Norton III · Line 29 · Desiccation of the world of sense

   Three parallel phrases name a threefold emptying: of the senses, of the imagination (‘fancy’), and of the spirit’s own activity. St John of the Cross describes a ‘night of sense’ followed by a ‘night of spirit’; the poem’s list follows that order, moving from the body inward. The abstract Latinate nouns — desiccation, evacuation, inoperancy — themselves feel drained of colour.

   Interpretive Ascent & descent Light & dark

   Sources St John of the Cross † (locator to be verified) (the nights of sense and of spirit)

   See also Descend lower: the dark night

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