Preludes T.S. Eliot

PRELUDES T.S. ELIOT

TYPE Lyric STRUCTURE

1. These are four short poems grouped together under the title "Preludes", although they were written at different times : Nos1 and 2 between 1909 and 1910 while he was at Harvard University, No. 3 while he attended the Sorbonne University in Paris in 1911 and No. 4 again while at Harvard in the same year.

2. They were inspired by Eliot's long walks through *the slums of Boston and of Paris in his student days.

3. The four poems record a twenty-four hour cycle of events in the slum area of a city. Each poem introduces a different time of the day.

4. The poems are mainly written in free, i.e. unrhymed, verse. But the poet does use end-rhyme to associate meaningful words with one another; he also employs alliteration to stress the meaning of the imagery.

The irregular pauses (some thoughts and images are expressed in a single, short line, while others run

on to three or four lines) are admirably suited to convey his changes of thought and feeling.

4. In these poems Eliot makes as much use of images of TASTE and SMELL as of *visual and aural imagery.

NUMBER I

This section of the poem describes a winter *evening in the drab slums of a city.

The sun has set and the winter evening has *settled down, as have the people in their *dingy, crowded *lodgings.

They are at home and the passages in the buildings are filled with the smell of steaks being fried.

It is six o'clock and the *gloomy dusk that envelops the streets and the buildings is the burnt-out end of a day that contained all the unpleasantness and *frustration of a *smouldering, smoky fire. And any hopes that might have been raised in the hearts of these people have been reduced to ashes.

Suddenly it begins to rain and the gusts of wind wrap the

dirty scraps of leaves and wet newspaper blown from vacant

stands about your feet, as you walk along the street.

The shower of rain beats down on broken blinds in the windows and crumbling chimney-pots on the roots.

And at the street corner a cab-horse waiting patiently in the rain, seems to steam in the cold night air, and stamps his feet to keep warm.

At last the gaslights along the pavements are lit one by one.

NOTE I: (a) "The winter EVENING SETTLES DOWN

Evening has fallen, i.e. darkness has come down on the city to remain for the next twelve hours.

It brings the dull, boring activities of the day to a close, but it has in no way relieved the tediousness of the slum-dwellers' stale existence : they have returned to their crowded sordid rooms and flats with the smell of frying steaks

hanging heavily and unpleasantly in the winter ail".

"... the BURNT-OUT ENDS of SMOKY DAYS ... "

This METAPHOR describes the end of the day in a slum most effectively.

It links the dark, gloomy atmosphere enveloping the streets and the buildings, with the spiritual and physical exhaustion and the despair of the slim-dwellers burnt-out ends') caused by the dull monotony of their existence from day to day ('smoky days').

The fact that this image is in the PLURAL : 'ENDS' and 'DAYS' reinforces the picture of the one cheerless day following on the other in endless succession.

(a) Note how the repetition of the various sounds: 'g', 's', 'w', 'b', etc. and the use of words such as 'GRIMY', 'SCRAPS', 'WITHERED', 'VACANT', 'BROKEN', 'LONELY', etc. intensify the atmosphere of gloom and depression enveloping the scene.

(b) "And then the LIGHTING of the LAMPS."

This final observation of the poet's, which is printed separately from the stanza to stress its importance is IRONIC: the lamplight which should alleviate the darkness and gloom only has the effect of increasing the dreariness of the scene.

STANZA 2

This is a description of the winter morning following upon the previous evening.

The winter morning comes to life slowly like a sleeper awakening.

The faint smell of *stale beer hangs in the air from the sawdust trampled into the streets by drinkers leaving the bar the previous evening.

In the morning, however, the streams of workers crowd around the early coffee-stands, their, feet already muddied by the slushy streets.

Together with the many other *guises assumed by time, it also symbolizes the multitude of hands which are raising dirty blinds from force of habit in thousands of furnished rooms.

NOTE 2: (a) "The MORNING comes to CONSCIOUSNESS. ..

In this context the winter morning is PERSONIFIED as a sleeper awakening to a new day of dreary routine.

(b) "... of faint STALE SMELLS OF BEER

From the SAWDUST-TRAMPLED street.."

In those days the floors of barrooms were covered with a layer of sawdust to absorb the liquor spilled by the drinkers. When they left the bar the sawdust clung to their muddy boots and was trampled into the street.

On a deeper level it is suggested that some slum-dwellers seek to escape the boredom of their dull existence in drink.

(c) "... its MUDDY FEET that PRESS To early coffee-stands .-."

The reference to the MUDDY feet reinforces the image of the squalid living conditions in a slum.

The slum-dwellers PRESS to the coffee-stands to swallow a quick cup of coffee -it indicates their desperate eagerness not to be late for work.

(d) "With the other MASQUERADES .That TIME RESUMES, 'One thinks of ALL THE HANDS That are raising dingy shades In A THOUSAND furnished rooms."

A MASQUERADE is a false theatrical show.

According to the poet, one of the many parts or masquerades played by time is the role it plays in the lives of the slum dwellers : it has become synonymous with those whose dreary lives it regulates: even the routine action of raising a blind at the beginning of the day becomes a mechanical function like the moving hands of a clock.

NUMBER 3 A bedroom scene at night

In this section one of the people whose hand will raise a blind the next day, is addressed.

It is a woman lying on her bed in her dingy room. She tossed a blanket from the bed because of the heat and lay on her back, waiting for sleep to come.

Then she *dozed and, half asleep, watched how the darkness of the night revealed the thousand unpleasant and shameful images of which her soul was made up. These mental pictures *flickered against the ceiling of her room.

And when she woke fully from her light sleep, an intensive awareness of her own misery overwhelmed her. The light of dawn gradually became visible between the *shutters and she heard the *sparrows twittering in the gutters outside.

At that moment she had a *startling *vision of the *grim *realities of her own life and of the lives of the people living in the slum with her: the loneliness and the misery from which there is no escape.

But the other slum-dwellers will never realize this because their frustration and despair have *numbed them to their *lot.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, removing the curling papers from her hair or clasped the dirty soles of her feet in the palms of both her grimy hands.

NOTE 3: "You had such a VISION of THE STREET As the STREET hardly understands."

(i) In this -image the STREET is a METAPHOR

for the PEOPLE LIVING If! THE STREET and

for the sort of LIFE THEY LED.

(ii) The VISION results from the fact that the woman was so deeply moved by her sordid memories that for a brief moment she saw herself and her fellow slum-dwellers the way they really were.

But as she could do nothing to remedy the situation she sank back into her former apathy.

NUMBER 4

Lines 1-9 A man, a slum-dweller who is sensitive enough to be deeply affected by the life around him, is depicted.

The man depicted in this Prelude has a sensitive awareness of his slum surroundings : his soul reaches beyond the narrow *confines of the slum to the sky that is starting to fade in the twilight of another day.

Then he is brought back to the grim realities of his situation by the harsh rhythm of rough labourers *plodding home from work from four o'clock onwards.

The man watches his fellow-workers marching home, stuffing their pipes with their *stubby worker's fingers. Their eyes are filled with the certainty that once they are home they will read the evening newspaper and carry on with their usual meaningless evening routine.

Satisfying these daily bodily needs is the only concern of the slum-dwellers. The Materialistic *self-sufficiency of these people has cast a shadow over the street, and they seem impatient to *impose their *norms on the whole world.

Lines 10 - 13

In these lines the poet becomes SUBJECTIVE. He identifies himself as the *commentator on the scenes he has described.

He admits that he has been deeply moved by the thoughts and impressions that are associated with these images. He has come to realize that behind the hard facade of the slum there is an atmosphere of *infinitely gentle human kindness and suffering that is not perceived by the casual *passer-by.

Lines 14 - 16

In this part the poet addressee the reader, urging him to wipe his hand across his mouth and laugh at human suffering.

The *spheres of life of all people continue in their endless daily *round, like very old women moving aimlessly in circle while gathering *fuel in vacant city lots.

NOTE 4: (a) "... his SOUL STRETCHED TIGHT ACROSS THE SKIES That FADE behind a city block ..."

Unlike his fellow slum-dwellers this sensitive man is concerned about the life he constantly sees around him and his soul reaches desperately ('tight') to escape ('stretched') these squalid surroundings .

In this METAPHOR the man has a vision of another happier world beyond the slum, of which the 'SKIES' are the symbol.

(b) ". . . or TRAMPLED by INSISTENT FEET At FOUR and FIVE and SIX o'clock."

The man is surrounded by his fellow-workers hurrying home from work.

The word 'TRAMPLE' (meaning : to STEP HEAVILY with the feet) indicates their solid, unimaginative natures.

The feet are 'INSISTENT', i.e. urgent. They are in a hurry to get home to resume their usual evening routine.

The lives of these people are governed by REGULARITY .-they go to work, return home, read the evening newspaper, eat,

sleep and go to work. They do not look beyond satisfying these daily bodily requirements And they are sure that nothing will happen to disrupt this endless round.

d) "... the CONSCIENCE of a BLACKENED STREET

impatient to assume the world..."

The provision of these animal requirements is the only CONSCIENCE that the STREET has. In this context STREET is a METAPHOR for the PEOPLE LIVING IN IT.

And the street is BLACKENED, i.e. DARK. These people have no other interests beyond their meaningless daily routine, they have no faith, no culture, no ambitions. Therefore the street is DARK because it has been deprived of all intellectual and spiritual LIGHT.

(e) "WIPE JOUR HAND ACROSS YOUR MOUTH and LAUGH .. 7"

Several questions arise : whom is the poet addressing? Is it the reader who has become as deeply involved as the poet with the lot of the slum-dwellers?

Only an unrefined person will wipe his hand clean with the back of his hand after satisfying his appetite. Why does the poet invite the person addressed to laugh at human suffering? Is he ready to do it himself? Compare and contrast his feelings of compassion in Lines 10 -13.

"The WORLDS REVOLVE ..."

In this context the word 'WORLDS1 is a METAPHOR for the 'LIVES of people and the SURROUNDINGS in which they live.

The world REVOLVES regularly on its own axis once in every 24 hours.

In the same sense, the WORLD OF PEOPLE revolves round certain basic things which form' its axis : faith, love, money, every day's basic needs, etc.

These basic things round which a person 'a life is centred vary from person to person.

(d) "... LIKE ANCIENT if OMEN

Gathering FUEL in VACANT lots. "

The OLD women move aimlessly around in CIRCLES, keeping their eyes fixed on the ground while looking for bits and pieces of wood, etc. to use as FUEL.

The women are ANCIENT - this is the age-old problem of the poor. FUEL symbolises the basic essentials needed by man to live. The image of the 'VACANT LOTS' suggests the emptiness and the dreary monotony of their lives.

QUESTIONS

A. GENERAL

1. What type of poem 1s this?

2. What is its central theme?

NUMBER ONE

3. What is described in this Prelude?

4.What have both the winter evening and the people done?

5. What smell seems to pervade the lodgings of the slum-dwellers?

6. Briefly explain the metaphor occurring in Line 4 in your own words.

7. What happens in the streets when the rain begins to fall and the wind blows?

On what broken things does the rain beat down?

8. What does the lonely cab-horse do?

9. (a) What are lit along the streets? ;

(b) In what way is this iconic?

NUMBER TWO

10. What is described in this Prelude?

11, (a) How does the morning 'come to life'?

(b) What is the significance of this image?

12, (a) What unpleasant smell hangs in

the air?

(b) What is the deeper meaning of this image?

13 (a) What do the labourers do who go to

work early in the morning?

(b) Of what is their muddy feet a symbol?

14. Explain the role played by time in the lives of the slum-dwellers.

NUMBER THREE

15. Who is addressed in this Prelude?

16. What was she doing?

17. Why did she toss the blanket from her bed?

18. In what state was she?

19. By what was she overwhelmed when she awoke fully?

20. (a) What was revealed to her by the

darkness of the night?

(b) Where were these mental pictures seen?

21. How did she know that day was about to break?

22. (a) What vision did she have?

(b) Of what is the word 'street1 (Lines 10 and 11) a symbol?

23. Explain Line 11 in your own words.

24. What was the woman doing while she was having this vision?

25. Why did she sink back into her former apathy?

NUMBER FOUR

26. Who is depicted in this part of the Prelude?

27. In what way does this man differ from his fellow slum-dwellers?

28. Explain Lines 1 and 2 in your own words. (Also see NOTE 4(a)).

29. (a) What brings the man back to reality?

(b) What is the significance of each of the following images in this context: (i) 'trample'; (ii) 'insistent'?

30. (a) With what are these workers'

eyes filled?

(b) Prove that they have a very narrow outlook on life. (See NOTE 4(c)).

31. Explain Line 8 in your own words.

32. In what way are the slum-dwellers 'impatient to assume the world'?

Lines 1Q - 13

33. What change of tone takes place in these lines?

34. What effect has the scenes that the has described had on him?

35. What has he come to realize?

36. What feelings does he express towards the slum-dwellers?

Lines 14 - 16

37. (a) Is there another sudden change of tone in these lines?

b) What mood has taken the place of the spirit of compassion expressed in the previous part?

38. Explain the metaphor of the revolving worlds briefly and in your own words

39. What does the simile of the ancient women' suggest to you?