Preludes (T.S. Eliot)

Final Grade: 90%
Poem: Preludes
Author: T.S. Eliot
By: P. Yoon

Life Without Light

T.S. Eliot criticizes urban life in “Preludes.” He declares that city dwellers are blind to their ways of living. They live in a “blackened” society covered in “grimy scraps.” The city is full of chaos as everything are “trampled by insistent feet.” Trapped inside darkness, they cannot see the grime and melancholy nearby. Without light, they do not have any spirituality or faith. They do not have anything to guide them towards a meaningful life. The speaker of “Preludes” is a city observer who abhors urban life. Through vivid imagery, T.S. Eliot establishes that cities are beacons of decay.

In the first two lines, the narrator states that there is a “smell of steaks in passage ways” as the “winter evening settles down.” Urban life seems peaceful and relaxing through this imagery. However, this is proven untrue as the air is polluted with “faint stale smells of beer” in the morning. The ground is polluted with “grimy scraps / Of withered leaves” as they become stuck onto people’s feet. There are “muddy feet that press” the “sawdust-trampled street.” Lifeless, the city is muddy and dirty and littered with trash. “A thousand furnished rooms” are full of “dingy shades.” Through diction, the speaker uses “dingy” to declare that thousands of homes are dirty and dull. The city is in constant decay.

As it rains in the first stanza, there is a sense of chaos. The rain drops “beat / On broken blinds and chimney-pots” while a “cab-horse steams and stamps.” The dissonant imageries creates a chaotic atmosphere for the city. Peace and silence cannot be found. As there are “muddy feet that press / To early coffee-stands,” the reader is bombarded with the sounds of footsteps. The speaker also uses footstep-imagery in stanza four. Life and beauty are “trampled by insistent feet / At four and five and six o‘ clock.” The sounds of footsteps are loud, demanding, and persistent. Whether it’s night or day, the reader is unable to escape from the sounds of footsteps.
As their “eyes” are “Assured of certain certainties,” every denizen believes he is living a meaningful life. They are “impatient to assume the world.” They believe they can take over the world’s responsibilities. The speaker is critical of these people. He compares everyone’s “conscience” to “a blackened street.” Their souls and characters are soiled and polluted like the city streets. This is magnified as he describes a female prostitute in stanza three. The woman is poor with “yellow soles of feet” and “soiled hands.” The bodily image of the woman is disturbing and grotesque. She has become polluted like the city streets as she constantly lives in sin. Urban life causes decay as the woman meets “The thousand sordid images” in her bed. These images represents the filthy and immoral characters of her imagination. It’s also a sexual innuendo that a thousand men came into her bedroom. The speakers declares that these wrecked images are “constituted” or established in her “soul” and personality. Like the other denizens, the woman is lifeless. She has no purpose or meaning in her life.

Importantly, the speaker uses light imagery. He personifies light as he states the “morning comes to consciousness” and “the light crept up between” the prostitute’s shutter. Symbolically, the light represents hope. Hope and salvation are always present to the city dwellers. However, they reject the light. When the “morning comes to consciousness,” the city dwellers go straight to the coffee shop. They are ungrateful of nature‘s presence. Likewise, the prostitute curls her hair while ignoring the light. Even though the light is human like, urban dwellers disrespect it. In stanza four, the speaker notices a man’s “soul stretched right across the skies.” The soul belongs to God, but the people ignore. God’s soul and grace are stuck “behind a city block / Or trampled by insistent feet.” Salvation are present to these people, but they reject it because they are “certain” of their place in the world. Instead of using the light of God, the city relies on “the lightening of the lamps.” As gas-powered lamps are transient, the city will eventually die.
In the last seven lines, the speaker talks to the prostitute. He tells her that she will be able to start a new life. The speaker states that he’s “moved by fancies that are curled” around the city. The fancies symbolizes God’s grace. Thus, the whole city is surrounded by God’s love. Even though the city is polluted with sin and decay, God is willing to save them from the city. God‘s mercy and grace will always be present to those who accept Him. The speaker believes that God has the “notion of some infinitely gentle / Infinitely suffering thing” planned for the people. To the speaker, God’s “notion” of mercy is foolish and imperfect, but he doesn‘t argued against him. There is a tone changed for the last three lines. The speaker enters reality and tells the prostitute to “Wipe your hand across you mouth, and laugh.” He realizes that the prostitute and the city will never accept God into their lives. Their sinful way of life is “constituted” into their bodies. He tells her the “worlds revolved like ancient women / Gathering fuel in vacant lots.” Like the orbit of a planet, urban life will never change. People will always live meaningless lives. As gathering wood is a lonely chore, the city will always be a lonely place because it does not have God.

Describing a beacon of decay, T.S. Eliot wrote the poem for city dwellers. However, through “Preludes,” he explains that there is hope. God is willing to save the beacon of decay if its people are ready to embrace and love His light. The purpose of the title is to get city dwellers to be interested in God’s grace. Even though their lives are “dingy” and “grimy” and “withered” like the city, God is willing to show them how to live meaningful lives. Like a prelude, Eliot uses the poem to serve as an introduction to God, a more important composition.