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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:
It has been claimed that this prelude gives a portrayal of death and decline.
- Count the number of times the poet uses the following images in the space of just this one prelude:
= death/winter/coldness;
= burning/smoke/immolation;
= decadence/disintegration;
= loneliness/darkness;
= pollution. (10)
[Need help?]
Death / winter / coldness: winter evening; gusty shower; withered leaves; the showers beat on
broken blinds; a lonely cab-horse steams.
Burning / smoke / immolation: smell of steaks; burnt-out ends; smoky days; chimneypots;
lighting of the lamps.
Decadence / disintegration: burnt-out ends; grimy scraps of withered leaves; grimy scraps of
newspapers; vacant lots; broken blinds and chimneypots.
Loneliness / darkness: vacant lots; lonely cab-horse; winter evening settles down; six o'clock;
burnt-out ends of smoky days.
Pollution: burnt-out ends; smoky days; grimy scraps of withered leaves; grimy scraps of
newspapers; cab-horse steams.
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- Examining these words, explain how they justify the comment that this prelude deals with death and
decline. (10)
[Need help?]
The answer here is fairly straightforward. Each of the words in the first question is somehow an image
of death and decline. You need simply take each word and explain how this is so.
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- By examining these images, would you care to comment on the poet's intention? (6)
[Need help?]
The poet is presenting an image of decadence and decay, is he not? Man is wrapped up in his own filth
and garbage. Is this the winter of civilization? Is this the burnt-out end of society which is fit only to be
discarded like a used cigarette? Have not human beings become isolated and lonely, despite living close
together? Is the poet speaking here of just the modern city, or does the city represent the civilization as
a whole?
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"The winter evening settles down
With smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days."
- It has been said that the "smell of steaks" indicates a relatively affluent area of the city because
the poet is describing people who can afford to eat steaks. Is this argument true? (4)
[Need help?]
It is probably not in any way true. First, the price of meat was much cheaper in Eliot's day. Second, it is
quite possible that the term "steak" refers to a cheaper cut of meat, in which case Eliot is describing
a decaying and poorer area of the city, marked by overcrowded hallways where one cannot escape even
the cloying smell of other people's cooking.
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- Comment on the most delightful image, "burnt-out ends of smoky days". (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is using the image of a cigarette, is he not? The day has come to an end, smoked till it is
finished and then discarded like the burnt-out end of the cigarette.
"Burnt out" means to be of no further value, exhausted. Like the cigarette which has burnt out but
has left its residue of smoke in the air, so the industrial city -- the hallmark of modern civilization -- has
contaminated the atmosphere with its smoke but has now reached the end of its usefulness.
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- Does the poet have a particular city in mind as he writes this poem? (4)
[Need help?]
It has been argued that Eliot is perhaps referring to his own hometown of St Louis, or perhaps of the
sleazy suburb of Roxbury in Boston where he did his degree. What about London? Or Paris? Or even
Berlin? It could be all of these -- or none of them.
It was Eliot's philosophy of writing poetry that you should not look at any of the cities with which he was
associated. He preferred it if the reader interpreted the poem independently of the poet himself.
He refers therefore to the city which you the reader have in mind. It is you, the reader, who is
looking at this picture of a burnt-out city. What city do you see?
Indeed, he uses the word "you / your" no less than 12 times in this poem whereas he refers to
himself only once. Surely that must tell us that the poet is not speaking about himself or his own past but
rather about what you yourself can imagine?
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GENERAL QUESTIONS:
It has been said that "Preludes" paints a picture of the breakdown of society?
- While confining your answer to this first prelude, indicate to what extent the above statement is
true. (4)
[Need help?]
This is very similar to an earlier question, isn't it? Man is wrapped up in his own filth and garbage. Is this
the winter of civilization and society? Is this the burnt-out end of society which is fit only to be discarded
like a used cigarette? Have not human beings become isolated and lonely, despite living close together?
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"Preludes captures the impoverished spiritual lives of those living in a lonely, sordid, decadent
culture"?
- To what extent is this statement a correct interpretation? (6)
[Need help?]
This is merely an advanced style of asking much the same question. Look at the earlier questions and
expand on the answers which you see there. Bear in mind that the poet would identify an impoverishment
of spiritual lives with a collapse of society. Look at the words which depict loneliness and decay.
Moreover, because the poet is deliberately avoiding direct references to individual people, one can
conclude that he has the decay of greater society in mind.
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