While using Dante 's terza rima style , the poem continues by describing the Battle of Britain . The image of warfare merges with the depiction of Pentecost , and the Holy Spirit is juxtaposed with the air @-@ raids on London . In the second section , a ghost , representing the poets of the past stuck between worlds , begins talking to the narrator of the poem . The ghost discusses change , art in general , and how humankind is flawed . The only way to overcome the problematic condition of humanity , according to the ghost , is to experience purgation through fire . The fire is described in a manner similar to Julian of Norwich 's writing about God 's love and discussed in relationship to the shirt of Nessus , a shirt that burns its wearer . Little Gidding continues by describing the eternalness of the present and how history exists in a pattern . The poem concludes by explaining how sacrifice is needed to allow an individual to die into life and be reborn , and that salvation should be the goal of humankind .