The Alientation of the Individual from Society in T.S. Eliot's Preludes
In T. S. Eliot’s poem Preludes he portrays the alienation of the individual from society. His imagery is sharp and clear and he uses many techniques to achieve this. A clear description of what something is, can be pictured in the mind by his precise use of imagery. For example, the words, “…withered leaves”(7) gives a clear image, as does, ”…dingy shades”(22). The effect is achieved through descriptions of the human influence, word choice, syntax, and rhythm. Eliot uses descriptions like, “the faint smell of beer”(15). This definitely brings a smell to your mind.
The first stanza begins with a familiar setting, a “… winter evening”(1). This is associated with a lack of growth and a loss of vitality. It also describes death and desolation. This does not last long when we are confronted,” with smells of steaks in passageways”(2) paints a picture of a polluted and mundane environment. The precise use of descriptive words composes this mood of decline and despair. As seen when you read ” …the burnt-out ends of smoky days”(4).
The mood is vital to understanding Eliot’s vision of anguish and despair of the individual that is alienated from society. These moods are expressed throughout with the careful use of imagery, diction and repetition. His distinctive syntax and use of rhythm also enhance the effects of his poetry. Only in stanza III does he actually describe a person and not a body part, as he does in the stanzas before and after. Example of this is “withered leaves about your feet”(7), and “one thinks of all the hands”(21). He also uses the human presence to describe them in the poem, an example of this is, “the smell of steaks”(2) and “to early coffee-stands”(18). He makes inanimate objects the topic of his sentence and more important then the people, for example “ The winter evening settles down/ With smell of steaks in passageways.”(1-2). He makes the winter evening the topic of the sentence, not the human presence. In “of withered leaves about your feet/ and newspapers from vacant lots…”(7-8), he makes the non-living, unimportant objects, the focuses of his sentences.
Most of the poem is described outside, ”the winter evening…”(1) where it is cold and desolate. In stanza III we go inside, where it proves that it is no cleaner, “or clasped the yellow soles of feet/ In the palms of both soiled hands”(37-38), than outside.
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
The forth stanza tells of how the outside looked after two straight days of snow; “ And, when the second morning shone, We looked upon a world unknown,”
To begin, the story opens with a family receiving a visit by a stranger on a November evening. Since the author uses words like “chill, damp, deepening dusk” (Oates 325) to describe the condition of the
As characters in the poem are literally snow bound, they find that the natural occurrence actually serves a relaxing and warming purpose, one that brings together family. This effect is further achieved through the use of meter throughout the work as a whole. In its simplistic yet conversational tone, the author uses meter to depict the result that nature has forced upon these humans, who are but a small sample size that actually is representative of society that that time. Due to nature, the characters can talk, represented by the conversational meter, and thus, they can bond within the family. A larger representation of this more specific example can be applied to a more general perspective of human’s relationship with the natural world. Although “Snowbound” captures what humans do as a result of nature, it can also represent a larger picture, where nature appears at the most opportune times to enhance relationships from human to human. In “snowbound,” this is symbolized by the fire, “Our warm hearth seemed blazing free” (Whittier 135). This image relays a spirited, warm, mood full of security, which is expertly used by the author to show how fire, a natural phenomena, can provide such beneficial effects on humans. This very occurrence exemplifies how such a miniscule aspect of nature can have such a profound effect on a family, leaving the reader wondering what nature and its entirety could accomplish if used as a
To begin, the reader may gather that the poem has a very dark and saddened tone. Due to Lowell's vivid imagery, a mental image of a dark urban setting is created. It also seems very cold, with the mentioning of wind and nighttime. Readers may be able to relate to urban places they know, adding to the reality of the poem. Connections can be made. The imagery is left in such a way that the reader can fill in the gaps with their own memories or settings. Also, since the poem uses free verse, the structure is left open to interpretation. This makes the poem more inviting and easier to interpret, rather than reading it as a riddle. However, though simple in imagery, the poem still captures the reader's interest due to the creation it sparks, yet it never strays away from the theme of bei...
The first stanza does not reveal much about the content of the poem but gives the mood and the setting. Dana Gioia makes use of strong sensory imagery to set a gloomy and negative atmosphere and lets the reader know that he has situated the poem on the North West coast of the United States. Although he has not yet revealed the content of the poem, he uses figurative imagery to symbolize death “Of and old
T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land is filled with a variety of images and themes. Two outstanding themes are desolation and death without rebirth. Eliot employs many different images related to these two important themes.
Stevens’ message reveals itself as the poem unravels: there is never one true understanding of a reality outside of one’s interpretation. The author suggests that one can’t help but transfer their own beliefs and ideas onto what they see; in this case, the “listener” is projecting an impression of misery onto the scenery that lies before him. For example, the first two stanzas are filled with decorative language that serves to describe the visual image of a winter landscape. Using phrases such as “crusted with snow” (3) instead of “covered” with snow provides an evocative illustration of the snow’s roughness. Other phrases such as “shagged with ice” (5) and “rough in the distant glitter/Of the January sun” (6-7) force the reader to experience the miserable portrayal of winter. These are not the descriptions of an observer who “beholds nothing that is not there” (14-15), but rather the objective, poetic appreciation for the snowy
T.S Eliot, widely considered to be one of the fathers of modern poetry, has written many great poems. Among the most well known of these are “The Waste Land, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which share similar messages, but are also quite different. In both poems, Eliot uses various poetic techniques to convey themes of repression, alienation, and a general breakdown in western society. Some of the best techniques to examine are ones such as theme, structure, imagery and language, which all figure prominently in his poetry. These techniques in particular are used by Eliot to both enhance and support the purpose of his poems.
In each prelude the Eliot reveals the thoughts and feelings of a person about an aspect of everyday living in a city. Eliot felt that life for poor city dwellers was monotonous. He felt that they suffered from boredom and a poor quality of life. In these Preludes' Eliot looked at human despair and feelings of rejection and failure.
Jonathan Swift’s “A Description of the Morning” and T.S Eliot’s “Prelude’s” both feature a vision of the morning in a certain city. They both pull attention to the urban settings. and the daily routines of ordinary people. In a bigger picture the lack of personal contact that each person has with others. However, while the former poem presents more of a clear description between the upper and lower class, showing that these two classes rarely ever interacted with one another. The latter poem tries to highlight some sad and dingy aspects of the modern city life through specific vigorous but symbolic images. T.S Eliot’s title “Prelude’s” introduces the fact that each prelude will have a different image, that than latter connects into one theme.
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.
T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land is an elaborate and mysterious montage of lines from other works, fleeting observations, conversations, scenery, and even languages. Though this approach seems to render the poem needlessly oblique, this style allows the poem to achieve multi-layered significance impossible in a more straightforward poetic style. Eliot’s use of fragmentation in The Waste Land operates on three levels: first, to parallel the broken society and relationships the poem portrays; second, to deconstruct the reader’s familiar context, creating an individualized sense of disconnection; and third, to challenge the reader to seek meaning in mere fragments, in this enigmatic poem as well as in a fractious world.
This establishes Eliot's and the readers relationship to the images and ideas presented. When the poem begins "We are the hollow men" rather than "They are ..." or "You are..." the reader is immediately included somehow in this description, along with Eliot himself. This type of narration creates a sense of common "hollowness" and by the end of the poem, therefore, a sense of common responsibility and guilt. Early in the poem, Eliot creates a world of desolation. The idea of dryness is emphasized by the repetition of the word "dry" in the first stanza, where we read of "dried voices," "dry grass" and "dry cellar." When he mentions the sound of "rats feet over broken glass" he succinctly and subtly prods at our anxieties about urban disease and decay, showing us a sort of fle...
Eliot is full of symbolism. This poem is different from the narrative poem of realism and the lyric poem of romanticism, but it is typical of symbolic poetry. The poem overall involves in some ancient mythology and shows the modern wasteland and people. The "Waste Land" is the symbol of the modern Europe, but also the symbol of modern people. Water is the oasis of life, but also the symbol of disaster. The hyacinth is a symbol of spring, and skeletons are a symbol of death, etc. The poet is good at using symbolism to put a series of disparate "pictures" together, combining many irrelevant images to form a subjective emotion. These five poems not only hint at the inevitable declining trend of western civilization and reflect the historical perspective, but also it has the realistic