Preludes
I
The winter evening settles down
With smells of steaks in passageways.
Six o’clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days.
And now a gusty shower wraps
The grimy scraps
Of withered leaves about your feet
And newspapers from vacant lots;
The showers beat
On broken blinds and chimney-pots,
And at the corner of the street
A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.
And then the lighting of the lamps.
II
The morning comes to consciousness
Of faint stale smells of beer
From the sawdust-trampled street
With all its muddy feet that press
To early coffee-stands.
With the other masquerades
That time resumes,
One thinks of all the hands
That are raising dingy shades
In a thousand furnished rooms.
III
You tossed a blanket from the bed,
You lay upon your back, and waited;
You dozed, and watched the night revealing
The thousand sordid images
Of which your soul was constituted;
They flickered against the ceiling.
And when all the world came back
And the light crept up between the shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,
You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed’s edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.
IV
His soul stretched tight across the skies
That fade behind a city block,
Or trampled by insistent feet
At four and five and six o’clock;
And short square fingers stuffing pipes,
And evening newspapers, and eyes
Assured of certain certainties,
The conscience of a blackened street
Impatient to assume the world.
I am moved by fancies that are curled
Around these images, and cling:
The notion of some infinitely gentle
Infinitely suffering thing.
Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;
The worlds revolve like ancient women
Gathering fuel in vacant lots.
Interpretation begins with the elements of the work. So the first thing to do is scan for any reoccurring themes. A quick look over reveals references to papers and newspapers. These appear in a concrete manner three times:
Stanza I, line eight: And newspapers from vacant lots;
Stanza III, line thirteen: You curled the papers from your hair,
and Stanza IV, line six: And evening newspapers, and eyes
Stanza III, line thirteen: You curled the papers from your hair,
and Stanza IV, line six: And evening newspapers, and eyes
So there's a notable preoccupation with papers and newspapers. With the direct references to newspapers substantiated, are there any indirect references?
Stanza IV; line one: His soul stretched tight across the skies
In and of itself this line doesn't seem to have any connection to newspapers at all. But reading over the next few lines if we "stretch" his soul as signified in this line on through line four we might be able to make comprehensible a seemingly incomprehensible jumble of elements. A very distinct image begins to emerge.
Staza IV; line two: That fade behind a city block,
It's apparent that the fuel, in the last line are the newpapers mentioned in the first stanza. They are both to be found in vacant lots. Fuel here probably means fuel for fire, which newspaper can serve as quite nicely. But wait, if we transposed the idea of His soul for newspapers earlier in the poem, what does it mean if we transpose the newspaper here back to His soul? Who are these ancient women anyway? I'll leave that for you to think about.
Having established this, let's return to stanza one and see if the sense of any of these lines has changed.
Stanza III; line thirteen: Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
Stanza III; line thirteen : You curled the papers from your hair,
Stanza I; line thirteen: And then the lighting of the lamps.
The beginning of stanza II makes direct reference to consciousness.
Eliot creates a connection between light and consciousness through the proximity of the lines. The association between light and consciousness is a well-worn trope in literature. So let's take a look at what he actually does with it. This conceit will gain complexity and detail throughout the poem.
Stanza II; line eight: One thinks of all the hands
Here again there's a reference to many anonymous people. They're raising dingy shades. We'll get to the part about the shades in a little bit. Eliot again summons the idea of anonymity and mass production through the last line here. Mass production is somewhat implied by the idea of "furnished rooms", a thousand of the same sort of rooms. The shades here are dirty. Like the newspapers in the first stanza. The shades act as a partition between the inside and the outside that filter the light coming in. There are two other references to partitions between the inside and outside within the poem.
Staza IV; line two: That fade behind a city block,
Stanza IV; line three: Or trampled by insistent feet
Stanza IV; line four: At four and five and six o’clock;
The image depicted by this passage is incomprehensible unless certain interpretations are applied. For instance, his soul is an abstract idea that has no shape or physical form whatsoever. But the mismatched image becomes concrete and perceptible to the inner eye when the newpapers above are transposed for his soul. Newpapers can float, and be trampled upon. There are other clues of what the narrator is hinting at with his mention of newpapers as well.
Stanza IV; line six: And evening newspapers, and eyes
Stanza IV; line seven: Assured of certain certainties,
Here again newspapers are juxtaposed in relation to seemingly mismatched items. Eyes take on a figurative aspect. Eyes can't be assured of certain certainties, although one may imagine them expressing this. A person's I as in their self can be assured of certain certainties though. The narrator transposes the idea of eyes for a sense of self. This is a common trope in literature. It serves as another element in the conceit that Eliot is weaving. Proximal and appearing next to the eyes are the poems ever present newspapers. Again Eliot connects the idea of newspapers to self.
The very last line of the poem is dedicated to an indirect reference to newspapers.
Stanza IV; line sixteen: Gathering fuel in vacant lots
Looking back at this line:
Stanza I; line eight: And newspapers from vacant lots;
Stanza I; line eight: And newspapers from vacant lots;
It's apparent that the fuel, in the last line are the newpapers mentioned in the first stanza. They are both to be found in vacant lots. Fuel here probably means fuel for fire, which newspaper can serve as quite nicely. But wait, if we transposed the idea of His soul for newspapers earlier in the poem, what does it mean if we transpose the newspaper here back to His soul? Who are these ancient women anyway? I'll leave that for you to think about.
Having established this, let's return to stanza one and see if the sense of any of these lines has changed.
Stanza I; line five: And now a gusty shower wraps
Stanza I; line six: The grimy scraps
Stanza I; line seven: Of withered leaves about your feet
Stanza I; line eight: And newspapers from vacant lots;
With the preoccupation with newspapers substantiated, let's examine the surrounding text. The scraps are grimy. So these papers are in some way unclean. Leaves here does double duty, meaning both leaves of paper and referring to some sort of organic matter. Here the organic matter is withered and decrepit. Eliot will come back to these themes time and time again, notably in his most famous poem The Wasteland.
The newspapers and the organic are both intertwined about the feet.So let's take a look at feet as an element within the work. Are there any direct references besides the above? Here's a few I found.
The newspapers and the organic are both intertwined about the feet.So let's take a look at feet as an element within the work. Are there any direct references besides the above? Here's a few I found.
Stanza II; line four: With all its muddy feet that press
Stanza II; line five: To early coffee-stands.
Stanza III; line thirteen: Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
Stanza III; line fourteen: In the palms of both soiled hands.
Stanza IV; line three: Or trampled by insistent feet
So it's evident there is also an emphasis on feet in the poem. If one looks at the given lines one may also perceive the abundance of dirt, mud, griminess, and other adjectives for uncleanliness surrounding the notion of feet. Also in stanza II line four one can catch the word press, which is a very indirect reference to newspapers. Of note, is the use of feet in Stanza III, soles here can be interpreted both literally in the yellowing of the soles feet and yellow in the figurative sense meaning a sort of cowardice. The hands are soiled because they've performed misdeeds.
Stanza IV; line three: Or trampled by insistent feet
So it's evident there is also an emphasis on feet in the poem. If one looks at the given lines one may also perceive the abundance of dirt, mud, griminess, and other adjectives for uncleanliness surrounding the notion of feet. Also in stanza II line four one can catch the word press, which is a very indirect reference to newspapers. Of note, is the use of feet in Stanza III, soles here can be interpreted both literally in the yellowing of the soles feet and yellow in the figurative sense meaning a sort of cowardice. The hands are soiled because they've performed misdeeds.
Now right before these two lines the ubiquitous newspapers of the poem make an appearance:
Stanza III; line thirteen : You curled the papers from your hair,
This line does double duty as well. In the literal sense it's a woman removing curling papers from her hair. In the figurative sense she's disabusing herself of the newspapers in the poem. So newspapers, feet, and dirtiness occur together multiple times throughout the work.
But what other elements exist within the framework of this poem? I'd like to assert that Eliot is also making connections between light and consciousness as well. It begins with the end of the first stanza.
Stanza I; line thirteen: And then the lighting of the lamps.
The beginning of stanza II makes direct reference to consciousness.
Stanza II; line one: The morning comes to consciousness
Eliot creates a connection between light and consciousness through the proximity of the lines. The association between light and consciousness is a well-worn trope in literature. So let's take a look at what he actually does with it. This conceit will gain complexity and detail throughout the poem.
In stanza II; line one it's of note that morning may be doing double duty by means of the homophone "morning/mourning" here a sense of developing consciousness could be interpreted as burgeoning through a vague sense of sorrow or compassion. Some sort of sadness that raises consciousness. Eliot continues with these lines:
Stanza II; line two: Of faint stale smells of beer
Stanza II; line three: From the sawdust-trampled street
Stanza II; line four: With all its muddy feet that press
Stanza II; line five: To early coffee-stands.
Stanza II; line six: With the other masquerades
Stanza II; line seven: That time resumes,
This block is somewhat self contained in it's notions of a masquerade. Eliot has already mentioned "the stamping of horses feet" At the time of the poem automobiles were yet to become ubiquitous. Sawdust was thrown down on the street to help cover up the stench of horse droppings and urine. The city then wakes up from a haze of beer, and immediately seeks coffee while hurrying over yesterdays droppings. From here the narrator turns his thoughts to some number of unnamed people
Stanza II; line eight: One thinks of all the hands
Stanza II; line nine: That are raising dingy shades
Stanza II; line ten: In a thousand furnished rooms.
Here again there's a reference to many anonymous people. They're raising dingy shades. We'll get to the part about the shades in a little bit. Eliot again summons the idea of anonymity and mass production through the last line here. Mass production is somewhat implied by the idea of "furnished rooms", a thousand of the same sort of rooms. The shades here are dirty. Like the newspapers in the first stanza. The shades act as a partition between the inside and the outside that filter the light coming in. There are two other references to partitions between the inside and outside within the poem.
Stanza I; line ten: On broken blinds and chimney-pots,
Stanza III; line eight: And the light crept up between the shutters
So in the first three stanzas there are three direct references to partitions between the light of the world outside and the world within. If one takes the rooms that Eliot speaks of to refer to the inner world, then the end of the second stanza takes on a new meaning. A thousand furnished rooms, become a thousand inner worlds that have been furnished in the same fashion. A sense of the meaning of the poem begins to coalesce between these two separate established conceits. One being the room and the partitions, the other being the newspapers and sense of self.
So if the soul is interchangeable with newspaper, and surrounding these ideas is the idea of dirt and griminess, one may consider the impurity of the soul which is composed of newspapers.
Another point which should be noted within the context of the poem and when it was written.
At the time of the poem there was no T.V. So readers would have been familiar with the newsreels that played in the theater. The images flickering against the ceiling may be construed as the sort of news received through this medium. The sort of news that used to play before movies. Here the ideas of light and consciousness, rooms and inner worlds, news and soul, coalesce. It's within this stanza that the person the poem is addressed to has an epiphany and subsequently curled the papers from her hair. What's happening here? The individual is contemplating things alone. Disabusing themselves of mass deceits.
Stanza III can be interpreted in many ways. There's a general sense of an epiphany taking place in this stanza. For some students familiar with introductory philosophy, the allegory of the cave might appear evident in this stanza. Within the poem an individual observes the play of light on the ceiling of their room. Here the flickering light and play of shadows in the cave would be skillfully interwoven with the flickering light of the newsreels.
But why spend so much time on a poem like this? What's the take away? These are questions worth asking. There's a blatant allusion to dishonest journalism within the poem. If you have a mind to try to understand why this might be important you have search and suss it out on your own. There are concrete societal implications involved with developing this interpretation both contextual to it's era of publication and currently.
In anycase, that's my interpretation of Preludes.
So if the soul is interchangeable with newspaper, and surrounding these ideas is the idea of dirt and griminess, one may consider the impurity of the soul which is composed of newspapers.
Another point which should be noted within the context of the poem and when it was written.
You dozed, and watched the night revealing
The thousand sordid images
Of which your soul was constituted;
They flickered against the ceiling.
At the time of the poem there was no T.V. So readers would have been familiar with the newsreels that played in the theater. The images flickering against the ceiling may be construed as the sort of news received through this medium. The sort of news that used to play before movies. Here the ideas of light and consciousness, rooms and inner worlds, news and soul, coalesce. It's within this stanza that the person the poem is addressed to has an epiphany and subsequently curled the papers from her hair. What's happening here? The individual is contemplating things alone. Disabusing themselves of mass deceits.
Stanza III can be interpreted in many ways. There's a general sense of an epiphany taking place in this stanza. For some students familiar with introductory philosophy, the allegory of the cave might appear evident in this stanza. Within the poem an individual observes the play of light on the ceiling of their room. Here the flickering light and play of shadows in the cave would be skillfully interwoven with the flickering light of the newsreels.
But why spend so much time on a poem like this? What's the take away? These are questions worth asking. There's a blatant allusion to dishonest journalism within the poem. If you have a mind to try to understand why this might be important you have search and suss it out on your own. There are concrete societal implications involved with developing this interpretation both contextual to it's era of publication and currently.
In anycase, that's my interpretation of Preludes.
