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"Preludes" is a series of verses about the decadence and decline of modern society, and more
particularly of modern urban society. Each prelude deals with a different aspect of this decline.
THE POET AND HIS POEM
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1888. He attended Harvard University and
graduated with a Masters degree in Philosophy. While there, he published several poems in the
Harvard Advocate.
The poet left the United States in 1910, moving first to France, then Germany and finally London. He
married Vivienne Haigh-Wood in 1915, which caused him to settle permanently in England.
His marriage was never successful, however, and they separated in 1933. In 1956 he would remarry, this
time to Valerie Fletcher.
Early during his stay in London, Eliot fell under the influence of Ezra Pound -- the great American poet
-- who also assisted in the publication of his early poetry.
The publication of his first book of poetry -- Prufrock and Other Observations, 1917 -- revealed
Eliot as a forerunner of Modernism, the philosophy of Modern Art. His next book -- The Waste
Land, 1922 -- is claimed by many to contain some of the most important poetry of the 20th century.
Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. He died in London in 1965.
"Preludes" has been described as a vivid portrayal of the decadence and decline of modern society,
and more particularly of modern urban society.
This was not a new theme. Indeed, Oswald Spengler -- the great German Philosopher of History -- was
already writing about the collapse of Western Society. The Great War of 1914-18, Spengler wrote, was
simply a manifestation of this collapse.
Eliot and Spengler were contemporaries and it is probable that the poet would have read the German's
writings while studying philosophy at Harvard University, although Spengler's best known work -- The
Decline of the West -- would be published only in 1918, one year after Eliot's own publication of
"Preludes".
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
Study the poet's use of the personal pronoun in this series of poems: "you/yours", "one",
"his", "I" and "they".
- What conclusions do you arrive at? (10)
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Only the pronoun "you" is used in the first prelude and "one" in the second.
"You/your" is used no less than nine times in the third prelude but once in the fourth, although the
personal pronoun "I" appears for the first time.
Is the poet maintaining his anonymity, keeping his observations as if from a great distance. Does he
rather wish the reader to be more involved?
There is also a total absence of personal involvement -- even from the reader -- in the first two preludes.
People are sensed only by the smell of cooking, the smoke, newspapers, the empty cab. In the second
prelude, people are merely the sum of their parts: their feet, their hands.
Prelude 3 demands that the reader be involved. It is the reader who has awoken, tossed back the blanket,
who is hears the sparrow in the gutters. The reader uncurls the paper from her hair and clasps her weary
feet in her hands.
The poet introduces himself only in the last prelude, as if he has wanted to depict a derelict world in which
he does not want to be involved but suddenly realising that he is indeed involved, and that there might be
hope for the future.
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Eliot has called this series of poems "Preludes".
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A "prelude" is a musical term, denoting a short piece of music which is usually the forerunner of
a longer, more formal composition.
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- Why do you think the poet has used this title? (4)
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It is as if the poet were producing four short poems on the theme of the tardiness of human existence but
in anticipation of longer, more sustained poetry which is to follow on the same subject. The longer poetry
does indeed follow -- in such work as "The Waste Land" and "The Hollow Men".
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"Preludes" consists of four separate poems.
- What is the theme of each? (10)
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Prelude 1 = Evening: the breakdown of human existence, the loneliness of the human spirit, the tardiness
of life.
Prelude 2 = Morning: the awakening from a tardy existence but the start of another day of masquerades
and humdrum human consciousness.
Prelude 3 = Morning: the inability to act, the sluggish weariness of the human spirit.
Prelude 4 = Evening: the agony of the human spirit but perhaps a faint hope for the future.
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It is said that a knowledge of the poet's background is sometimes important to an understanding of a
particular poem.
- Is this true for understanding Eliot's "Preludes"? (6)
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One can debate this one at length and never reach a conclusion. It does seem that an understanding of
some poets' backgrounds is important. Think of Gerard Manley Hopkins: a knowledge of the anguish
of his soul through his struggle in spirituality certainly helps one to understand his poetry.
Eliot, on the other hand, has stated very clearly that he does not wish this for his own poetry. Once
written, his poetry must exist in isolation from the poet.
And yet, knowledge of the philosophy that was being postulated towards the end of World War I does help
us understand Eliot's implications in this poem or series of poems.
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It has been argued that "Preludes" deals with "spiritually exhausted people who exist in the
impersonal, tawdry modern city".
- Comment on the truth or otherwise of this statement? (10)
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One needs to journey into the European world of 1917, when the poem was written. The "Great
War" was raging. Eliot, although not involved in the war, nevertheless understood its tragedy.
This was an armed struggle beyond anything previously experienced. It was the first total war where all
the citizens of the warring nations were involved.
So great was the war's impact that the great German philosopher, Oswald Spengler, wrote his now
famous treatise on the growth and death of civilizations in which he explained how the Western Civilization
itself was in decline.
Eliot, with a Masters degree in Philosophy, would have read Spengler's works. Indeed,
"Preludes" is focussed on this same reality. The modern city is in the winter of its life:
dehumanised, polluted, decaying, its people spiritually exhausted, lonely, isolated from one another,
merely parts in some great machine of humanity.
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