The speaker is a contemplative individual, deeply dissatisfied with the state of modern Western society and his own efforts to write poetry. He travels to the ancestral village of East Coker to meditate on the passage of time, the transience of human endeavors, and the need for spiritual renewal. He seeks a profound spiritual connection to God through a deliberate process of letting go of earthly desires.

Andrew Eliot is an ancestor of the speaker who lived in the village of East Coker in Somerset, England. In the late 17th century, he left the village and sailed for colonial America, eventually settling in Massachusetts. His departure represents the geographical beginning from which the speaker's own family history flows.

Sir Thomas Elyot is a 16th-century ancestor of the speaker and the author of a 1531 book titled The Boke Named the Governour. His archaic writings provide the speaker with a vision of a past age where country folk danced around bonfires in celebration. He represents a historical era where people lived in harmony with the rhythms of nature and the seasons.

Introduced in Section IV, the Wounded Surgeon is a symbolic representation of Christ who tends to a spiritually sick humanity. He applies the sharp compassion of a healer's art to resolve the chronic instability of the human condition. His operations offer salvation through spiritual healing and the sacraments of the church.

Referred to symbolically as the ruined millionaire, Adam is the biblical figure who squandered his spiritual wealth in the Garden of Eden. Through his fall, he cursed humanity with original sin, effectively turning the entire earth into a hospital for damaged souls. He establishes the initial state of spiritual disease that the Wounded Surgeon must heal.

Mary is the historical 16th-century queen of Scotland who was eventually executed by Elizabeth I of England. Her personal motto regarding endings and beginnings is adopted by the speaker to open the poem. Her historical words provide the foundational concept for the speaker's meditations on life, death, and cyclical time.