- Prosody
Burnt Norton III · Line 11 ·Distracted from distraction by distraction
One of the most quoted lines in the sequence, and one of the most modern-sounding. The single word turned three ways — escape from one distraction into another — mimics the mind it describes, going round without getting anywhere. The line’s flatness is deliberate: after the ecstatic second movement, the verse itself becomes as tired as the faces in the carriage.