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Module B "Critical Study of Literature" (Selected T.S Eliot Poems)

Terms in this set (36)

This describes a paradox, as the women are gathering subsistence from an empty space - "the vacant lots from stanza 1". This also highlights the mundane lives which the city dwellers will continue to lead.
"The worlds revolve like ancient women
Gathering fuel in vacant lots" (PRELUDES)
This portrays a picture of a city which is unhappy with its daily routine. The image of the streets is one of extreme wear, and the word choice 'press' creates more of a unhappy sense of someone walking
"From the sawdust-trampled streets with all its muddy feet that press to early morning coffee stands" (PRELUDES)
This is an image of the dark side of the human condition, where the true side of people is revealed at night, a place where the dark is already present.
"the night revealing the thousand sordid images of which your soul is constituted" (PRELUDES)
This describes the evening in the city. A specific time is given;. A metaphor is used to compare the time of day to the ashes of a cigarette butt, giving the impression that the days are slowly wasting away.
"The winter evening settles down with smell of steaks in passageways.
Six o'clock.
The burnt-out ends of smoky days" (PRELUDES)
This is Eliot's own personal opinion. He adds this idea of gentleness to contrast the idea of never-ending painful suffering that the residents must endure (this second idea being somewhat sadistic).
"I am moved by fancies that are curled around these images, and cling.
The notion of some infinitely gentle. Infinitely suffering thing" (PRELUDES)
This reveals the true state of the human condition, where everybody has a dark side.
"The thousand sordid images
Of which your soul was constituted" (PRELUDES)
This is an allusion to acting, as a masquerade is a ball where people wear masks. This is a reference to this, as residents must seemingly 'put on a mask' just to survive 'everyday life'.
"with the other masquerades" (PRELUDES)
This is Eliot's own personal opinion. He adds this idea of gentleness to contrast the idea of never-ending painful suffering that the residents must endure
"the notion of some infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing" (PRELUDES)
"Assured of certain certainties is a paradox, as newspapers that people read will only show one side of the story. Therefore, they are only reading some certainties.
"And eyes
Assured of certain certainties" (PRELUDES)
This is a reference to the unending routine which the residents must keep doing. The phrase (last twist of the knife) is meant to convey a feeling of pain (akin to that of dying slowly but painfully).
Put your shoes at the door, sleep, prepare for life.The last twist of the knife. (RHAPSODY)
This is personification, as the moon is portrayed as a human. She has lost her history, meaning and identity.
"the moon has lost her memory" (RHAPSODY)
This women is likely to be a prostitute (although it is not explicitly stated). The street lamps tell the speaker to take notice of the corner of her eye "which twists like a crooked pin".
"Regard the woman who hesitates towards you in the light of the door" (RHAPSODY)
This is reflective of the speaker's inner anxiety, as the 'fatalistic drums beating' is in reality his very fast heart rate.
"Every streetlamp that I pass beats like a fatalistic drum" (RHAPSODY)
This quote reflects the death of life. This allows life to be portrayed as worn out, which reflects the speakers mental state. Physical images are used to convey this.
"a twisted branch upon the beach, eaten smooth and polished as if the world gave up the secrets of its skeleton" (RHAPSODY)
These are not pleasant smells, which fits in with the overall image of the poem
"female smells in shuttered rooms... cocktail smells in bars" (RHAPSODY)
This image conjures an image of the dark groundless place which the teacher is existing
"Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium" (RHAPSODY)
This suggests a never-ending pain (similar to that of slow death)
"The last twist of the knife." (RHAPSODY)
This personification allows the world to take on a human stance, and show that humans have less life than inanimate objects.
"The street lamp muttered" (RHAPSODY)
This is a modernist view of life, as Prufrock compares himself to a hopeless struggling beetle. He also compares his unfruitful days to cigarettes, which burn and waste away.
"When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall... To spit out the butt ends of my days and ways?" (PRUFROCK)
This is another point where he describes his life as boring
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons (PRUFROCK)
This is an image which suggests helplessness, and isn't an image one would want to see
Like a patient etherised upon a table (PRUFROCK)
He is annoyed that the women come and go, and do not talk about him
The women come and go talking of Michelangelo (PRUFROCK)
Prufrock compares himself to someone important, although he knows he is inadequate
"Though I have seen seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, I am no prophet" (PRUFROCK)
He temporarily gives himself importance, as he asks himself if he is going to do anything.
Dare i disturb the universe? (PRUFROCK)
The hollow men are devoid of any knowledge, and compare themselves to scarecrows, with straw in their heads. They are effectively empty shells.
We are the stuffed men leaning together headpiece filled with straw (HOLLOW MEN)
...
Lips that would kiss form prayers to broken stone (HOLLOW MEN)
They cannot even finish a simple task as they are unable to complete an action
For thine is.. life is.. thine is the (HOLLOW MEN)
This paradox paints them as humanoids instead of humans. They are simply shells
Shape without form, shade without colour, paralysed force, gesture without motion (HOLLOW MEN)
This suggests that they are not humans, and merely resemble them.
"such deliberate disguises" (HOLLOW MEN)
Life is empty
This is the dead land, This is the cactus land (HOLLOW MEN)
They have no identity, and as such, do not have voices.
"Our dried voices... are quiet and meaningless" (HOLLOW MEN)
The wise men question whether the birth of Jesus is really the death of their individuality
"Were we led all this way for birth or death?" (JOURNEY)
This is biblical illusion which references to judas, the crosses
- "And three trees on the low sky"
- "An old white horse galloped away in the meadow"
- "Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver"
- "Feet kicking the empty wine skins" (JOURNEY)
People not willing to abandon their beliefs for new ideas
"Like alien people clutching their gods" (JOURNEY)
They are not all that impressed with the birth of Jesus
"It was [you might say] satisfactory" (JOURNEY)
Emphasises his bitter and condescending attitudes to being isolated in a society full of secular and atheistic individuals
I should be glad of another death (JOURNEY)
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