Preludes - Ts Eliot [1888-1965]

Preludes - TS Eliot [1888-1965]

Relevant Background

* Thomas Stearns [TS] Eliot was born in into a wealthy family in St Louis, Missouri, America in 1888

* He became a British citizen at the age of 39 in 1927.

* His father was president of a brick making company. His mother wrote poetry and was once a teacher and social volunteer. They were determined to educate Thomas well.

* TS Eliot's awareness of how differently some people lived inspired a lot of the descriptions found in 'Preludes'.

* Through the work of his mother and grandfather TS Eliot became aware of poverty and the boring reality of peoples' lives.

* In 1917 he published 'Preludes'. 'Preludes' consists of four short poems, numbered I, II, III and IV.

* Some say that in 'Preludes' Eliot tried to imagine the thoughts and observations of four badly-off city dwellers. It is possible on the other hand that he is observing a prostitute in the first three 'Preludes' and a tramp in the fourth 'Prelude'. This is open to discussion.

* 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.

* A prelude is a short piece of music that introduces a longer piece of music. In music a prelude is sometimes referred to as an overture. In writing a short introductory piece is often called a preface.

* Perhaps the overall theme is the misery of poverty.

Summary

Prelude I

* In this short poem, a hidden observer describes dusk on a winter's evening in a poor part of a city.

* The observer is outside, observing the appearance and atmosphere of a street and neighborhood.

* Possibly the observer who describes the scene is Eliot himself. Or it may be the cab driver. Perhaps Eliot is observing a street prostitute, the 'you' of the poem, as she stands on the pavement among the withered leaves.

* It might be helpful to regard this poem, like the others, as a video post-card of this moment, six o'clock on the winter's evening. Eliot used words as his way of painting the picture.

* The time is pinpointed at 6 o'clock precisely.

* Residents, living probably in one-roomed apartments, are cooking their evening meal all at the same time. They are probably all workers living in flats. The word 'passageways' suggests the houses have been turned into flats for rent. Even though it seems a run-down part of town, the residents can afford steak.

* By linking the scene here with the 'stale smells of beer' and 'dingy shades' in furnished rooms of 'Prelude II' and the 'thousand sordid images' of 'Prelude III', one could assume that the Preludes are set in a red-light district of a city.

* The smell of steak is a signal that day is done and night is beginning. Because of city smoke the day is described as smoky. Maybe the smoke occurs because people are cooking at the same time. The tiredness of the workers is suggested by the word 'burnt-out'. Or is there a humorous suggestion that they over cook the steaks?

* The weather is bad; a windy shower beats on the buildings and on the horse outside. The cold rain evaporates as steam off the horse's back.

* It is early winter as the autumn leaves are still on the ground. The filth of the place is revealed by the phrase 'grimy scraps'.

* The street is untidy as newspapers are blown around the place.

* There are many empty or vacant spaces without a building on the street.

* The details show that the street is rundown as the word 'broken' is used to describe the window-blinds.

* The buildings are probably three or four storey houses rather than factories as the observer refers to the chimney pots. In 'Prelude IV' the observer refers to the houses as being in blocks.

* The means of transport is by cab-horse. A mysterious visitor to a house makes the cab-horse wait. It seems to stamp its feet to beat off the cold or its boredom. The horse is lonely.

* We are given no clue about the mystery visitor. The poem invites us to guess for ourselves who the visitor might be. Perhaps he is a client of the woman with yellow feet in 'Prelude III', a woman whose hand raised a 'dingy shade' in 'Prelude II'. Might he be visiting a prostitute? Or has he called to eat a steak?

* The only other event noted by the observer is the turning on of the streetlights or lamps. In other words, not much is happening outside.

Themes

Suffering

People live harsh lives, full of routine and boredom. Life is an unchanging cycle of day and night. There is a sense of people waiting and rushing but not really enjoying their lives. People endure the discomfort of winter. They live in filthy conditions. Some hide false lives from the eyes of others. Women struggle, leading sordid and unhygienic lives. The poet pities this suffering and seeks a spiritual significance for it. But he gives up and laughs at it all.

The Nature of Life In The City

Day and night are different in the city. By day it is a scene of rushing crowds heading to coffee stands before work or heading home from newspaper stands after work. For many their daily life is a masquerade in comparison to what they do at night. A woman has a vision of the street that others don't have. At night the street is blackened and a type of filthy underworld exists. At night people live their secret lives, creating 'sordid' images.

Women and Men

Around 1910 a woman's life was difficult. The poem portrays a woman passing an uneasy night in bed, tormented by sordid images, perhaps of her clients. Her hands are dirty, like the dingy hands that lift thousand shades. Old women are reduced to picking