T.S. Eliot's "Preludes"

Imagery in T.S. Eliot's “Preludes”

The great modernist writer T.S. Eliot was a student of the French poets Valery and Baudelaire. As a result of their influence, images from French urban landscapes find their way into Eliot’s poetry. Eliot uses the imagery of these landscapes to convey emotions to his reader. He termed this method of imparting emotions: objective correlative. In A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms, the term is defined as a method by which a writer “in order to produce a particular emotional effect” incorporates “images, circumstances, and incidents” into their works that correlate to the desired emotional effect they want to produce. The correlation of these devices to the particular emotion is objective because the writer does not contribute his/her emotions or feelings; instead, the writer relies on the universal nature of the “objects, situations, and chain of events” (Barton and Hudson, 139). In “Preludes,” Eliot utilizes specific images to engender feelings of monotony, desperation, loneliness, and despair in the reader.

In the opening stanza, Eliot uses objects and situations, as well as a chain of events to create a sense of quiet desperation in the reader. The setting for the story is a “winter evening” (1) in the city. The imagery of a “winter evening” immediately evokes in the reader a feeling of gloom, but to compound those feelings, Eliot litters the landscape of the city with “grimy scraps,” “withered leaves,” and “broken blinds and chimney-pots” (6-10). By using objects that create an image of decay in the mind of the reader, Eliot imbues the scene with feelings of desperation and loneliness. Also, in this opening stanza Eliot lays the groundwork for the repetition of a chain of events that will reoccur throughout the story in order to emphasize the monotony of the inhabitant’s quotidian existence. This chain of events begins at “Six o’ clock” with the “smell of steaks in passageways,” and concludes with “the lighting of the lamps” (2-13). While the reader may think the smell of steaks is enticing, Eliot compares the smell to a burnt-out cigarette (4). The repetition of the routine has taken the joy out of even the simplest pleasures. With the scene and mood set, Eliot moves on to describe the condition of the inhabitants of this urban landscape.

In the second stanza, Eliot demonstrates the hopelessness of the inhabitants by reducing them to undifferentiated hands and feet. The scene in the second stanza is the same urban landscape as above, yet morning has brought the masses out into the “sawdust-trampled street” (16). The inhabitants of the city are described only in terms of their “muddy feet” and “hands/that are raising dingy shades” (21-22). The reference to the shades draws us back to the feeling of despair evoked in the first stanza by the “broken blinds” (10). Furthermore, Eliot explains that the people live in “furnished rooms” (23), which do not allow for self-expression. Throughout the remainder of the poem the people are described only in terms of body parts that touch the city’s surface. Their individual lives are of no consequence. They are defined by the city they live in and nothing more. The third stanza reinforces the feelings of loneliness and despair by describing an individual alone in a room projecting images of the city onto the ceiling (24-29). Eliot draws us back to the chain of events in the first stanza by describing the light from the street lamps that “crept up between the shutters (31). The continual reference to the objects in the first stanza is a reminder to the reader that the inhabitants are trapped in a never ending cycle that the city dictates. At every turn, the people are met with reminders of the hopelessness of their situation. The seeming delight of the smell of cooking steaks is countered by the fact that they have lost their appeal because they are eaten nightly. The relief that might come from sleep is coupled with the “thousand sordid images/of which your soul was constituted” (28-29). Not even in sleep can the tortured citizens escape the clutches of the gloomy city or their monotonous lives. Eliot never explicitly tells the reader how he/she should feel about the predicament of the people in the city; instead, he relies on repetition and imagery to foster these feelings.

The final stanza draws the reader back to the opening scene by invoking familiar objects in order to reinforce the despair, and loneliness of the city’s occupants. The mention of “six o’clock,” “square fingers stuffing pipes,” “newspapers” is intended to remind the reader that this chain of events is a loop that repeats “infinitely” (51). Here again in the closing stanza the reader is reminded of the lack of humanity in the city when Eliot states:

His soul stretched tight across the skies

            That fade behind a city block,

            Or trampled by insistent feet. (39-41)

The city block and the masses in the streets extinguish any humanity. As a final reminder of the despair and monotony, Eliot employs a simile to draw us full circle “the worlds revolve like ancient women/Gathering fuel in vacant lots” (53-54). This is a reference to the “newspaper from vacant lots” (8) mentioned in the first stanza. In the closing line of his poem, Eliot uses the objects and situations from the first stanza to bring the reader full circle to the beginning of the chain of events. The continual, unbreakable, chain of events highlights all the negative emotions experienced by the inhabitants of the city.

            The greatest writers find a way to draw their audience into the story. More than simply making a character or situation relatable, T.S. Eliot’s use of objects, situations, and events to give rise to particular emotions requires the reader to become emotionally invested. How should one feel about “grimy scraps,” “broken blinds and chimney pots,” and “withered leaves?” (6-8) How should the reader interpret the monotony experienced by the residents of this city? The beauty of Eliot’s writing is that he does not tell the reader how to interpret these images and events; instead, he allows the reader to form his/her own emotions.

Works Cited

Barton, Edwin, and Glenda Hudson. A Contemporary Guide to Literary Terms. 3^rd Ed. Boston: Wadsworth. 2012. Print

Eliot, T.S. “Preludes”