- Allusion
Burnt Norton IV · Line 3 ·Will the sunflower turn to us
The sunflower turns towards the sun; in the dark it has nothing to turn to — will it turn to us? Blake’s ‘Ah! Sun-flower’ (1794), the flower ‘weary of time’ who counts the steps of the sun, is a possible echo. Clematis, the climbing plant that follows, is known in England as traveller’s joy and old man’s beard; here its tendrils reach down as if towards the grave.
Sources William Blake (locator to be verified)