Mod b hsc - notes for mod b - t.s. elliot PDF

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notes for mod b - t.s. elliot...

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THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK

PRELUDES

RHAPSODY ON A WINDY NIGHT

THE HOLLOW MEN

JOURNEY OF THE MAGI

No overarching form, mix of rhyming couplets, imager, speech patterns. Fragmentation and stream of consciousness Dramatic monologue Repetition of key lines, phrases, questions – cannot find a solution Post WWI disillusionment About mood rather than events

Urban decay, reflecting inner man Fragmented structure with irregular rhythm, 4 sections Short lines = fragmented thought Mimesis Stream of conscious allows readers to see decay of city through the persona’s eyes. Vignettes

“Rhapsody” – free flowing, emotional music piece > irregular, unstructured Subverts romantic idea of rhapsody Stream of consciousness, Lamp = subconscious Some rhyme, not regular, free verse Context of French slums and philosophical and psychological influence

Lexical and semantic patterns, episodic free verse in 5 parts. Irregular rhyme and fragmentation. Use of negation (talking in negatives) and binaries Intertextual references: The heart of darkness, Dante’s inferno, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Guy Fawkes

After conversion to Christianity -> account of transition between old and new faiths About three wise men, but deliberately unconventional Dramatic monologue Epic poetry – long narrative poem usually centred around a hero on an important journey

“Pinned and wriggling… I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the silent seas”

“And then the lighting of the lamps”

“And dust in crevices… And cigarettes in corridors…And cocktail smells in bars."

“We are the hollow men… stuffed men / Leaning together… walking alone”

“This Birth was / Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death.”

Eliot subverting the romantic tropes and replaces them with unpleasant, stale olfactory imagery to highlight that all that is left is reminiscent of the mundane and decaying world.

Paradox of ‘hollow’ and ‘stuffed’ > modern man is both empty, lifeless and full of substance less matter

Human existence as meaningless by illustrating its paralysis > endless cycle of monotony and stillness; a purgatory, if you will He does so by collapsing the supposed binary opposites of birth and death

Paralysis and aimless movement. Indecision, selfconsciousness and regret

FUTILITY Paralysis Mundanity

Body dismemberment, aimless disordered movement, purposeless and inhumane. The zoomorphic imagery of the crab with “ragged claws” The sibilance “silent seas” emphasises the lack of communication and identity an individual hold within modern society. Michael North: ‘disembodied so as to be deferred of progress’

Light would usually indicate a moment of epiphany or enlightenment. Light would also usually indicate some kind of hope for the future. The ultimate irony is that it does not alleviate the mundanity of life. Ambiguous tone Can link to the title if talking about irony > talk about context Marion Montgomery: ‘emphasizing the futility of such light to be unable to dispel the darkness of society’

The mundanity is further emphasised by the anaphora of ‘and’ three times to reflect the endlessly mundane society. expresses the endless mundanity and decay of modern life which results in an individual conforming to the alienating routines that encapsulate modern life. David Spurr: ‘Nihilism of modern lives’

modern society has the potential to disrupt and destroy individuals as they are ‘full’ but of substance less matter of routine and mundane rituals. together in their emptiness and futile existence > juxtaposition and cold imagery highlights the paradox of the Hollow men “leaning together” but stand in solitary as they “walk alone”, highlighting the lack of communication between self and society which has resulted in a spiritual vacuity and loss of purpose.

If there no longer exists a demarcation between a beginning and an end, it is expected to continue on in an eternal cycle. There is no progression towards a divine afterlife, nor even an agonising one, only a stagnation of time as the natural progression of human life therefore proves unnecessary death of old self, and birth of new religion, new self

“Do I dare disturb the universe?... Do I dare to eat a peach?” Questioning the futility of existence only to succumb to the monotony of life > reflected in shift of tone of existentialism to the mundane (Lists pathetic rhetorical q’s, life has nothing to offer, contrast to previous dramatic questions) Repetition = fear and inability to act decisively > repetition of q’s conveys his crippling self-awareness of his own flaws and the procrastination that ultimately sees him unwilling or unable to do anything about the dilemma he finds himself in. Circular pattern of repetition of questions, allude to ennui of life, tedious monotony Colloquy + Dramatic Monologue > insight into the challenges and triviality associated within the mundanity of life - Internal thought process - Indecision

“Six o’clock… At four and five and six o’clock”

“Twelve o’clock… half past one…”

In this line, the mention of multiple hours shows how – regardless of the division of time – that the speaker’s soul will be trampled or blocked out eternally. In the first section of the poem, the speaker notes that the time is “six o'clock,” and it is the last hour mentioned in this final section. The use of the same hour makes the actions of the poem appear almost cyclical– enteral–in nature, a grim foretelling of what history will deliver, of what humanity will have to endure.

motif of time obsessed enjambment

motif of time enhances this inertia > punctuated time presents that regardless of the fragmented and division of time, the persona’s humanity will be paralysed eternally cyclical structure = inaction and entrapment in which humanity will have to endure endlessly The rapid succession of time conveys the meaninglessness of temporal progression in the daily lives of urban dwellers as a result of excessive routine.

The persona is trapped in his own subjective memories. There is a sense of restlessness, futility and isolation in the ironic use of time “half-past one” etc. as there is no measure of time in memories. motif of time enhances this inertia > punctuated time presents that regardless of the fragmented and division of time, the persona’s humanity will be paralysed eternally highlighting the modernist concept of monotony, whereby the rapid succession of time conveys the meaninglessness of temporal progression in the daily lives of an urban dweller as a result of excessive routine

“Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion” The use of binary opposites here is an indication of the supreme emptiness of the modern man. Sense of inertia, spiritual paralysis. Lacking agency. Formless entities. Oxymoronic phrases reflect the superficial nature of humanity, as although individuals may appear to have shape, shade or gesture, each of these features metonymic of human character lack any substance

“Birth or Death? ...I should be glad of another death.” Motif + Alludes to Easter story of death and resurrection of Christ, reflecting the persona’s spiritual conversion where he finds asylum within life through death. Provokes life/death continuum of salvation Images of suffering and isolation with spiritual conversion, reflects the indefinite nature of a world where positives and negatives coalesce. After spiritual conversion, modern man still suffers, only escape is death. Parallel’s Magus experience to Jesus’ resurrection (equated death with life) Dispels the disillusioned and isolated personas of the other poems as the Magus instead sees purpose and transcendence – showing the redemptive quality of spirituality even in the fragmented world

“By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown.” End Rhyming couplet interpretation that Prufrock returns to reality, ends his futile existential quest and metaphorically drowns in the sea of human voices – ‘they’ have reminded him of his inadequacies. He accepts that he will never find the answer to his ‘overwhelming question’ regarding his existence, and he returns to donning his social ‘face’. Poem ends recursively and self-reflexively with the reader ‘we’ and as the sea is an archetypal symbol of the unconscious perhaps Prufrock - the ‘attendant’ - has assisted us on our journey to find meaning and understanding through the poem about life.

Rhyming couplet, drowns, futility of reality. Entrapment within water > imagery for entrapment within society’s constraints Metaphorically drowns in sea of society’s voice > acceptance of defeat that he will never get answers regarding his existence

“Soul stretched tightly across the skies / That fade behind a city block, / Or trampled by insistent feet.” Accumulation of industrial imagery The “soul” represents selfexpression and individuality. Thus, the trampling of his soul by laborious “insistent feet” or obstructed by “a city block” communicates Eliot’s perspective of monotony as a severe consequence of industrialisation and modernity, as it suppresses individual freedom and expression

“tooth-brush hangs on the wall / Put your shoes at the door, sleep, prepare for life." The caesura proceeding ‘prepare for life’ ironically and sarcastically predicts how his life will be one of mundanity/routine “toothbrush hangs on the wall, put your shoes at the door” and alienation. Only option left for the observer is to return to his mundane existence as memory instead of helping him escape from the monotony of life intensifies it with images of hopelessness and hollowness that a modern industrial urban life has to offer Asyndeton of banal conventions typical of modern life emphasises the sheer amount of actions we have become accustomed to and as a result the difficulty associated with breaking the ‘metronome’ of modern life Subject tries to escape via sleep only to realise that sleep is a place where recollections are realised in fuller detail, therefore in fact there is no escape and any attempts to do so are futile.

"Between the conception / And the creation / Between the emotion / And the response.” Dispersed sentences as a reflection of The Lord’s Prayer: Indented verse. Compounded religious fragments represents their inability to gain spiritual understanding Breakdown of communication with the divine (flawed connections) Short, Fragmented lines undercut the enjambment which gives an overriding sense of incompletion/an inability to resolve questions of faith. Anaphora and rhyme intensify the connection that Eliot simultaneously dispels through his reference to the individual’s ability to conceive and feel but inability to act which places humans in a state that as M.S Sana states “disconnects cause from effect” David Spurr: ‘stuck in meaningless circularity’

“And the silken girls bringing Sherbet” Decadent imagery > juxtaposed to with the harsh imagery that fills the rest of 1st stanza. Indicated longing for home/the past. Magi pity themselves as they reminisce about their previous luxury, now deprived of comfort → contributes to stanzas regretful, questioning tone as the persona struggles with transition between his previous and current life. References to the modern context as society struggled with transitioning between the Victorian and C20th worlds and their contrasting values

CORRUPTION Alienation Isolation Suffering Flawed connections Anxiety Identity Loss

(They will say:’ “How his hair is growing thin!”...“But how his arms and legs are thin!”)

“Of withered leaves about your feet. And newspapers from vacant lots”

“Midnight shakes the memory As a madman shakes a dead geranium.”

Parenthesis to enforce social distance - his inaction is linked to his social interactions. His self-consciousness that has intensified with aging is paralysing. + shows that he cares about what people are saying about him. The anonymity of the third person 'they' represents his inability to connect and fore relationships because of his paranoia

The newspapers and leaves which blow around ‘your’ feet, as well as the vacant lots → loss of Romantic ideals/nature. Replaced by grime, decay and pollution → emptiness. Vacant building lots suggest a lack of people and business; a barrenness and wastefulness of landscape and personality which we see arise in Eliot’s other early works

Diction of shakes, madman is the modernist man, modern paradox as modernists try to redefine and create, they are destructive. Irony as the geranium is strong, hardy plant, its death symbolises decay, metaphor for how the modern world has killed even the toughest of plants.

The personal anonymity of 'them all' conveys Prufrock's lack of connection and communication with others

portrayal of the cityscape > loss of Romantic ideals modernist values of emptiness > ‘vacant lots’ = cyclical structure > mundanity’s endless cycle= social insecurity

memory is uncertain > random memories > perceptions based on disparate images that come together = disrupting geranium > symbol loss of romantic ideals metaphor for the modern world = decaying, corrupted motif of a fragmented memory to symbolise the fractured psyche of the modernist society as seen through the personification and simile to express the mental fragility of modernist individuals resulting from living in the desolate setting of the decaying modern urban environment, one that lacks hope, meaning or fulfilment.

“Eyes I dare not meet in dreams… The eyes are not here / There are no eyes here” Symbolic reference to the eyes (common in Eliot’s poetry). Note in section I the others with ‘direct eyes’ passed on, however the hollow men cannot meet eyes. They avoid the window to the soul → unattainable? Soulless? Avoiding of the eyes → links to Prufrock? Anxieties of modern life? Ironic use of ‘dreams’ → aspirations or the distorted plane of the mind? Again, hell is a dream to the hollow men in the purgatorial prison. Epistrophe of “here”, again gives a sense of immediacy to the reader. Motif of “eyes” → and lack of eyes at that continues. No sight or vision of salvation. Lacking hope anxieties of modern life as the modern man is fearful of judgement from society, thus conforms to the mundanity of routine resulting in alienation.

“A cold coming we had of it… The very dead of winter” intertextual reference to English Bishop, Lancelot Andrews’ nativity sermon establishes the sense of fear and anxiety foreshadows the tone of the uncertainty present throughout the poem, mirroring the suffering and decay Eliot experienced in the midst of urban squalor

“I grow old… I grow old” The recurring motif of aging highlights Prufrock’s own insecurity over his middleage, the loss of youth and the inevitable physical demise that accompanies growing old. He is having to come to terms with middle-age and the repeated reference back to the aging process reveals his distress at its inevitability. The preoccupation with time in the poem and the shifting between past, present and future tense characterise this ‘entrapment’ by and in time; his fear of aging, fear of the judgment of others and his paralysing indecision

“The thousand sordid images of which your soul was constituted”

“A broken spring upon a factory yard, / Hard and curled and ready to snap.”

Life is made up of sordid images - depravity of human existence. Hyperbole of dreams, inner self has been corrupted. Sense of moral decrepitude.

Bleak imagery The imagery of fragility, as created through the “broken spring”, is presented in the context of industrialisation, portrayed through the symbolism of the “factory yard” An aspect of superficiality is also created by the contrasting imageries of the fragile “broken spring” and the firm façade of a “factory yard” represents societal insecurities as a whole, rather than personal anxiety > all of society is together in isolation and anxiety

“We whisper together / are quiet and meaningless”

“Six hands at an open door for pieces of silver”

breakdown of language, loss of ability/willingness to communicate

Religious allusion to the sins of Judas in betraying Jesus Christ for money

“together” > ironic as they feel a loss of connection Flawed relationships

parallels modern society’s shunning of religion, and rather, seeks satisfaction through material comforts, reflecting their inherent greed and inability to escape human vice and inevitable suffering Therefore, Eliot’s subversion of this religious tale reflects the anxiety discord between traditional religious values and the corruption of modern individuals

“Settling a pillow by her head/Should say: ‘That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all.’” The caesura here offers a momentary pause that creates a contrast between the intimacy of the pillow image and the anti-climactic, distant response from the woman that Prufrock fears. The caesura defines a separation and contrast between the persona’s thoughts and experiences and that of the woman, highlighting the point that all individual experience is incommunicable and each person’s existence is completely separate from another’s. Meaningful relationships and connections cannot be made.

“Masquerades” Prufrock > “to prepare a face to meet,” metaphorical ‘mask’ for conformity to societal expectations symbolism and irony > disconnect > masquerade was a popular form of social interaction The symbolic reference to “masquerades” highlights the artificialities of society, leading to alienation of oneself by concealing the truths behind masks of deceit.

“Every streetlamp that I pass beats like a fatalistic drum” onomatopoeia > displays the themes of isolation as the conversation with a street lamp will not evoke a meaningful relationship, instead lead to despair The irregular pattern of the poem alludes to the alienation of the persona as they walk through the empty streets in the early hours of the morning

“Lips that would kiss / Form prayers to broken stone” “Lips that would kiss” → use of the conditional would indicate inaction. Unable to be intimate. Paradoxically the hollow men are alone, yet together - lack interaction with each other. These lips instead “form prayers to broken stone” → metaphorical representation of broken rituals/lack of spirituality. Broken stone > gravestones Society is a graveyard for individuality (corruption)...