As we continue our journey through the Christian poetry of T. S. Eliot, we come to one of his shortest—and most searching—poems. Animula is Latin for "little soul." The title comes from the dying words traditionally attributed to the Roman emperor Hadrian, who addressed his departing soul with tenderness and uncertainty. Eliot takes that ancient phrase and gives it a distinctly Christian direction. Rather than explaining the soul, Eliot lets it speak.