mod b: preludes Flashcards
coffee
physical representation of moral decay
“With all its muddy feet that press/To early coffee-stands.”
continued musical motif, inversion of romanticism, synechdoche, symbolism
* continued musical motif of “Preludes” exemplifies his characteristic inversion of romantciism
* reflects disconnection between traiditional notions of Victiorian era and influence of industrialisation which ultimately results in individual existential crises
* attributes a mundane, robot-like quality to the modern urban way of living –> symbolises moral decay of humanity
dingy
“That time resumes,/One thinks of all the hands/That are raising dingy shades.”
continued motif of time, synechdoche, anti-aesthetic imagery
* explores ability of time to hold control over working class as it is controlled by capitalist class
* continued motif of time –> deepens understanding of drudgery of modern routine –> lack of fulfillment, psychological + social alienation –> loss of ontological ground
* criticism of working class - supported by Philosopher Henri Bergson + idea of “la duree”: subjective experience of time + discrepancy with modern-day understanding of “clock time” as an objective
* parallel moral decay of humanity in capitalist context –> carries forward to 21st century
* critical comment on working class in 1910s - disempowering nature of capitalism on working masses - rising desire for the materialistic only comes at the compromise of one’s humanity
city
physical representation of moral decay
“His soul stretched tight across the skies/That fade behind a city block,”
flaneur figure, modernist metaphor, biblical allusion
* creates a morbid image of a “soul fading” to symnbolise inevitable demoralisation of humanity
* corruption of post WWII world
* biblical allusion to Jesus’s crucifixtion
* spiritual redemption has been jeopardised in the rising face of modernity –> moral decay in the restrctions of continuing time
