In Your View, How Does Eliot’s Portrayal of one Idea Continue to Resonate with Audiences over Time?

“In your view, how does Eliot’s portrayal of one idea continue to resonate with audiences over time?”

Through his poem, Eliot communicates the lack of individuality within a modern industrialised society, characterised by the urban deterioration and the mundane nature of living. This idea continues to resonate with audiences today because as a society we are often consumed by technology, which has caused us to shift away from expressing our individuality and forming meaningful relationships.  

Eliot’s Preludes demonstrates the impact of a modern industrialised city on the fragmentation of the society and the individual. Throughout his poem, he represents the decomposition of the urban environment through a pungent depiction of a city devoid of hope, which is exemplified through the metaphor, “the burnt-out ends of smoky days,” My interpretation is that Eliot cleverly used this lingering bleakness attached to the image of spoke, in order to epitomise the crumbling state of modern existence in which substance is lacking. Eliot further reveals the impacts of modernity on an individual’s life through the laborious routine of living and the reluctance to forge meaningful relationships. This is exemplified through the defamiliarisation of body parts through synecdoche in, “muddy feet that press/all the hands,” in which individuals are stripped of their identities and reduced to generic nameless bodies; emphasising the disconnection of individuals from themselves and from the world that surrounds them. I believe that Eliot’s poem is confronting in its negativity, as it depicts a stabbing indictment about the anguish and inaction of humanity. Through the use of incantation and second person in, “you tossed a blanket/you lay upon your back, and waited” he paints a careless appraisal about the consequences of action. The rhythmic mechanics of routine are exemplified through abstract implying the vapid nature of moving through a world without direction. However, we can also deduce that he also critiques on the inability to form connections with others, through the enjambment, “one thinks of all the hands that are raising dingy shades in a thousand furnished rooms”.  My interpretation is that he is trying to reveal that individuals in this society are trapped in their repetitive nature of living, resulting in their inability to form connections directly correlates to our society as technology impedes communication within our society. Therefore, we can clearly see why Eliot’s poetry still resonates with the audience as his social commentary on one’s lack of individuality and inability to form meaningful connections is still relevant in today’s society.

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