they are long gone. This is a humorous reading, which offers a welcome respite from Eliot’s often heavy themes. Whatever your interpretation of these lines, the advice is the same: ‘Glance aside, not for lance, do not spell/ Old enchantments. Let them sleep.’ The speaker is telling us not to pay too much attention to legends and myths. However, the noun ‘sleep’ suggests that we should not extinguish myths completely – they are an important part of our history – but that we should simply let them be. Dialogue and alliteration draw the reader’s focus to line six, where he advises us to: ‘“Gently dip, but not too deep”’. Perhaps Eliot is saying that we can dip into these stories, but not too deeply, because if we immerse ourselves, we are taking our focus away from God. This line could also be a reference to the white well itself, which you could ‘dip’ into for water while taking care not to lean too far in. ‘Old enchantments’ could also be a reference to superstitions, most of which are harmless, but some are dangerous and cruel.


In the seventh line, the speaker advises us to ‘Lift your eyes/ Where the roads dip and where the roads rise’. Enjambment, rhyme and assonance help to convey the gently undulating roads of this scenic region. He instructs us to ‘Seek only there/ Where the grey light meets the green air/ The hermit’s chapel, the pilgrim’s prayer.’ The gentle sound effects and the use of rhyme help convey a sombre, meditative tone. The    those who go on pilgrimage there.


There is a didactic (instructive, moralistic) tone to this poem that makes one think of a priest. Although Eliot was not a priest, ‘Usk’ highlights the importance of religion to him. In converting to Anglicanism in 1927, Eliot had himself gone on a spiritual pilgrimage. It was not an easy journey for him, but it was a path he never wavered from. ‘Usk’ shows us that he himself chose the religious over the profane and that while he did gently dip into the secular world, he never dipped too deeply.


172 VERSE 2025


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