Consider Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ as a modern poem.

 Consider Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ as a modern poem.

Sharply intellectual, remarkably unorthodox in attitude and style, and undoubtedly a pioneer Piece of modern English poetry Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ deserves and demands a careful study. The term ‘modernism’ in context of literature and art cannot be precisely defined, or confined to a fixed Notion. So far as modern or twentieth century English poetry is concerned, its first obvious Characteristic is abstruseness of thought, form and style.

Modern poetry is primarily a revolt against the decadent romantic tradition of Georgian Poetry. The squalor, dinginess, and the sordidness of the urban civilization and The dehumanization, sexuality and spiritual hollowness of modern man --- all find an echo in modern Poetry. This unit will introduce you to T.S. Eliot’s poem, “Preludes”, as a Fragmentary poetic piece which took the poet four years to complete. A poem Consisting of fifty-four lines, “Preludes” reflects some of the perplexities that A person might experience in a modern metropolis. Eliot composed it during His stay in both France and the United States.

 T. S. Eliot leads the van of the modern poets; and his Poetry is a wonderful synthesis of metaphysical philosophy and art, including conceit, influences of French literature and art and of the imagist like Hulme and Pound, his own observation of life in Various metropolitan cities and his agnostic interpretation of It. Modern poetry is intellectualization of passion; it is also a conglomeration of Allusions, complex ironies and exploitation of non-literary matters into the psychology of the poetic Mind. Eliot’s poetry is abundantly rich in these features. It is a strong and natural reaction to the Boredom and unreality of the Georgian romantic poetry.

  ‘Preludes’ is anti-romantic both in theme and style. It gives a realistic picture of the shabby , nasty and desolate urban scenes in slum areas. The first Prelude describes the squalor and Ugliness of the common winter evening in a city. The passage-ways ‘smell of steaks’ and ‘gusty Showers’ are driving withered leaves and dirty scraps of ‘newspapers from vacant lots’ to wrap the Feet of the street-walkers. The second Prelude draws a vivid picture of the winter morning in a city. The road is dingy, full of sawdust and mud. The air smells of stale beer. The atmosphere is one of ‘hangover’ after a night of debauchery, as in the French novelist Louis Philippe’s ‘Bubu de Montparnasse'. Life resumes its work but it is as unreal as a ‘masquerades’. The third Prelude refers To the sexuality of the modern urban life through the sordid experiences of a prostitute.

 “Preludes” is a very important and effective poem because it marks the development of Eliot’s poetry from ‘Prufrock’ to ‘The Waste Land'. Unlike romantic poetry, modern poetry is impersonal and dramatic. The poet himself, like God in His creation, is present everywhere, but seen nowhere. Eliot’s objective is beyond question in the First three sections; but in the last seven lines of the poem Eliot shows himself. His sympathy for the People who lives a dull, dreary, sordid and wretched life amidst filth and squalor in modern cities is Writ large on the lines:

“ I am moved by fancies that are curled

Around these images, and cling

The notion of some infinite gentle

Infinitely suffering things.” ( ‘Preludes’, line 48-51)

In ‘Preludes’ IV, Eliot has elevated the imagery from the street level and placed in the region of planetary spheres. It is this sort of redemption of the things he is describing that leads one to a conviction of Eliot’s deep humanity. His deep humanity informs the lines:

“The worlds revolve like ancient women

Gathering fuel in vacant lots.” (‘Preludes’, line 53-54)

 The daily round of life, empty, monotonous and penurious is like the circular motion of poor old women gathering fuel in vacant corners to eke out their living. An old woman searching for fuel is more likely to arouse our pity for helplessness and loneliness than our scorn or derision . The sight is too deep for tears. The poet imagines the spiritual agony of the world like that of the suffering Christ. Here in these lines ‘Preludes’ scales the height of romantic poetry.

The portrait of human life is drawn with a certain coldness of treatment; an irony and detachment which is Eliot’s peculiar technique. A clear but lurid picture emerges through visual transition of images just as a film does. While the title suggests an analogy between music and poetry, the poem brings to mind a succession of shots of sordid urban scenes which build up an emotional unity out of fragmentary impressions. The camera moves slowly and picks up slides --- “a lonely cab-horse steaming and stamping”, “hands raising dingy shades”, “the light creeping up between the shutters”, “the skies that fade behind city block”. The images evoke feelings of decay, lack of relief and boredom the passage ways smelling of steaks, the grimy scraps withered leaves, broken blinds, yellow soles of feet, soiled hands etc. it is the cumulative effect rather than the salience of an individual image that creates the landscape of horror and boredom and indicates the mood of aversion of the poet.

The long and short lines convey the tone of weariness and horror. The imagery and the rhythm have been fused to produce a coherent impression. Built on a dialectical basis they employ reversals and contrasts in matter and style. The code lines at the end give the summary of the poet’s attitude --- disgust and pity for the suffering humanity. So it is undoubtedly say that T.S. Eliot’s ‘Preludes’ is a modern poem.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Eliot, T.S., ‘Preludes’, ‘Poetry Foundation', Last Updated 15 Dec, 2018, https://www.poetryfoundation.org

2. Montgomery, Marion. “Memory and Desire in Eliot’s ‘Preludes’.” South Atlantic Bulletin, 1973: 61-65.

3. Sharpe, Tony. “T.S Eliot: A Literary Life”. Richard Dutton.(ed.), London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1991.

4. Chakraborty, Debadrita, “Alienation Isolation and the Loss of Identity: Examining the Works of T.S Eliot and Samuel Beckett”, Macquarie University, Vol. IV. Issue II , April 2013, www.the-criterion.com