eng ts eliot

Question 1

“ His soul stretched tight across the skies that fade behind a city block” - Christian imagery: ‘His’ = Christ/saviour, cruciform position, suffering and ‘stretched thin’. A sunset - the fading light of Christ. Modern world seemingly has forgotten religion (despite appearing to desperately desire/need it). Urban living/ routines stifle spiritual growth. Eliot is still a Unitarian when he writes this, but he finds it ‘diluted’ and not spiritually fulfilling.

Answer 1

Preludes quote 1 and technique

Question 2

“Conscience of a blackened street” - Religious connotations: moral decay, polluted physical world reflects the corrupted spiritual world

Answer 2

preludes quote 2 and technique

Question 3

“Worlds revolve like ancient women” - Simile: cyclicality and monotony of human existence, eternal patterns of civilisation, inevitability of suffering. Only a smile.

Answer 3

preludes quote 3 and technique

Question 4

Here we go round the prickly pear - Parody of “Here we go round the mulberry bush” - unsettling. The prickly pear is barren, cactus, deathly. 5am is the hour of Christ’s resurrection. This is a pointless ritual.

Answer 4

Hollow men quote 1

Question 5

Gathered on the beach of this tumid river - Swollen river - the border of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, the entry to hell in Greek myth, even the Congo River. In HoD, Marlow steps into the river, an Inferno.

Answer 5

Hollow men quote 3 (q1) quote 2 (q2)

Question 6

As the hollow men, the stuffed men. - This is probably the good place. It matches Dante’s Paradise, but also Marlow’s experience in the forest, which is disturbing and tribal.The repetition goes to show there is no substance to these men - they are dead and empty.

Answer 6

Hollow men quote 3

Question 7

“cursing and grumbling and running away, and wanting their liquor and women,” Polysyndeton, enjambment: a litany (tedious, repetitive recital) accumulating the hardships experienced on the journey Verb choices describe the hired helpers as sinful (wrathful, slothful, greedy and lusting), controlled by vices (sex, alcohol)

Answer 7

Journey of the magi quote 1

Question 8

“We came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; with running stream stream” Imagery and allusion: Psalm 23: not a valley of death, but warmth + growth. Reflects shift in speaker’s psyche. WAter salvation

Answer 8

Journey of the magi quote 2

Question 9

“not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory.” Muted description of the climatic moment of Christ’s birth. He knows that this is the end of his religion.Irony, understatement: the stable: lowly and humble. The ideal place for Christ (and faith) to be born. Speaker needed to achieve complete humility. Contrasts with the emotional expectations, adopts a quiet and peaceful tone.

Answer 9

Journey of the magi quote 3