Compiled and Circulated by Samir Kuilya, Faculty Member, Dept.

of English, Narajole Raj College

==============================================

The poem “Preludes” was composed between October 1910 and November 1911 by

the modernist writer T.S. Eliot and was published in Wyndham Lewis’s journal Blast in July 1915.

“Preludes” is based on Eliot’s direct experience of citylife (Eliot spent most of his adult life in

London) as well as literary sources such as Baudelaire’ “Crépuscule du Soir” and “Crépuscule du

Matin” (cf. Jain, 1991: 63). The title of the poem suggests a musical term that is commonly defined

as “a short musical composition on one theme, esp. an introduction to a longer piece” (OLD, 2000).

Jain, however, emphasizes that the poem’s content rather represents an “antithesis to the Preludes

of Chopin” as it reveals the “grim reality of city life”.

At first glance, “The Preludes” may therefore appear to be a faithful representation of

urban life as it is without irrelevant comment. The putative objectivity and detachment of the

speaker are, however, deceptive, as everything in the poem is imbued with his perceptions and told

from his perspective. The speaker is probably a flaneur who writes down what he experiences while

walking in the city. Even by their mere presence the people in the street are made accomplice to this

act of writing, but they are unable to read the text they help to produce as long as they are part of

the walking crowd. The hustle and bustle of every day life has clouded their view to such an extent

that they can only grasp fragments of reality.

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 Compiled and Circulated by Samir Kuilya, Faculty Member, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
==============================================

It will, hence, be relevant to find how the city and the city dwellers are depicted in the

poem. What has provoked their limited view on the world and how can it be overcome? From

which perspective does the speaker tell the events and how does this relate to his world view?

Answering these questions, one can draw the conclusion that changing one’s mental

attitude automatically changes one’s outlook on the world. As a result, the map of life becomes

readable only for those who perceive the world holistically from a higher and more distant

perspective which allows them to discover the true nature of things.

In continuation of the discussion of the poem, I will proceed in a more or less

chronological order. The first stanza envisions a lonely street in the evening drawing a connection

between writing and walking. The 2nd stanza shows probably the same street on a busy morning

illustrating the restlessness of the city dwellers as well as their lack of self-determination. In the 3rd

stanza the street scene is left altogether, instead a single woman is depicted lying in her bed. In a

state of expanded awareness she gains a superior view on the world. In the last stanza I shall

indicate how the blindness of everyday routine hinders the rest of the city dwellers from noticing

this sort of spiritual revelation.

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 Compiled and Circulated by Samir Kuilya, Faculty Member, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
==============================================

The meta-poetic references in the end overtly unmask the speaker as being a poet,

making plain that the poem is not to be taken as a means to communicate reality, but rather as the

experience of a mental image.

Summary of the poem, ‘Preludes’

‘Preludes’ by T.S. Eliot contains a complex imagistic narrative on the dark and

depressing nature of city life and the state of the human soul.

The poem begins with the speaker describing a city just entering into the night. He

pays close attention to the smell of steak in the air and the fact that there is a lot of grime on the

ground. There are newspapers and many other miscellaneous pieces of trash. All of these blow

around “your” feet. The first section ends with all the indoor lamps turning on.

When the poem resumes in the second section it is morning again and the city is

regaining consciousness. There is a smell of beer on the air and everyone is pulling up their dirty

blinds, unhappy to face another day that is exactly like the last.

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 Compiled and Circulated by Samir Kuilya, Faculty Member, Dept. of English, Narajole Raj College
==============================================

The third section depicts “your” particular experience. This person had a night filled with

sordid dreams straight from the soul. When “you” finally get up, it takes some time but “you”

eventually make it back into “your” life. The last lines give the reader a little bit of hope that maybe

the timeless, miserable way of living will not go on forever.

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