mod b trial prep Flashcards
modern world
yellow fog
prufrock
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
dramatic monologue, recurring motif, zoomorphism of “cat”, miasmic imagery symbolises industrialisation, urbanisation
* communicate persona’s sense of suffocation and futility
* reflection of toxic sordid world
* mirrors works of French symbolist Charles Baudelaire
* pollutes the foreclaimed of the poem as a “Love Song”
* graphically confronts realities of a grotesque urban world –> persona’s sense of disconnection
modern world/isolation
known
prufrock
For I have known them all already, known them all/Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons/I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,”
mexhausted repetition
* compounds sense of paralysis + resignation in his lifetime
* persona’s struggle for companionship in the modern world
* exploration of time - insignificance + loss of ontological ground to his life by “measuring” it wih “cofee spoons”
* invokes a futile sense of self in which the modern subject struggles through a dull and tedious routine that is imposed upon them by the nature of modern employment
isolation, futility
claws
prufrock
I should have been a pair of ragged claws, Scuttling across the floors of silent seas
fragmented synechdoche, ocean symbolism, subversion of traditional rhyme, free verse
* explores persona’s isolation in fragmented synechdoche
* symbolism of ocean - persona’s emotional distance from the modern world
* insecurity to compare oneself to a scavenger animal - overwhelming sense of worthlessness dominating the person –> from Eliot’s personal context due to the disconnection he felt in his milieu England, from America
* free verse - from French symbolist Laforgue - reflection of persona’s fragmented state of interiority - explores complexity of persona’s usolated struggle as he lacks genuine personal relations
* exasperated by subversion of romantic musicality trope and lack of an explicit recipient of romantic affection
futility, modern world
street-lamp
rhapsody
The street lamp sputtered, the street-lamp muttered
recurring motif, flaneur figure, fragmented structure
* chosen setting of midnight conveys an eerie sense of fatalism to continue throughout the poem
* “street-lamp” as only source of light
* darkness of modern world highlights sordid and solitary existence of the flaneur figure of the persona –> facilitates series of vignettes –> employs Eliot’s objective correlative
* structure - complexities and dispersed nature of modern psyche of decaying urban world - anti-aesthetic imagery
futility, modern world
geranium
rhapsody
midnight shakes the memory, as a madman shakes a dead geranium
fragmented structure, free verse, symbolism, anti-aesthetic imagery of flowers
* free verse - french symbolist laforgue
* symbolism of geraniums as a symbol of everyday life - subverted through connotation of once-possessed beauty –> inevitibaility of death approaches through the increasing passages of time
* absurdity of the image represents the complexities of the modern psyche + loss of ontological ground –> conveys persona’s struggle for deeper meaning, against futility
futility
paper rose
rhapsody
a washed-out smallpox cracks her face, her hand twists out a paper rose
subversion of musical ecstatic trope, anti-romantic imagery, symbolism, metaphor, morbid tone
* the depiction of disease, “small-pox” juxtaposed with the traditional beauty of a “rose” - exemplifies the disease of modernity which incurably infects his world
* “paper” symbolises the fragility of the flower, - artificiality which mirrors the superficiality of the bourgeois society Eliot was explicitly critical of in Prufrock
* “her face” is a metaphor for the persona’s identity “cracking” apart due to his disconnection from the modern world and his lack of companionship
* underscores the inevitability of death, morbid tone
futility
shape
hollow men
Shape without form, shade without colour,
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
interjection, paradox
* interjection and break of regular rhyme is a paradox in accordance with Eliot’s use of free verse in Prufrock and Rhapsody
* fragmentation to reflect the state of the collective persona’s psyche = ack of fulfilment and futile consequences of the modern world
* juxtaposition against the linear pentyamptic structure postmarked by Roman numerals
* anti-romantic imagery exemplifies the state of paralysis - liminal state the Hollow Men are trapped in
* incomplete prayers –> Eliot’s frustrated relationship with the tokenistic values of collective religion of Christianity in the evolving post-war Europe
futilty
cactus
hollow men
This is the dead land
This is cactus land
desert imagery, anaphora, metaphor
* symbolise the lack of water as the lack of spiritual fulfilment
* anaphora = unsuccessful quest for deeper meaning
* symbolic of how humanity attempts to sustain themselves on inadequate substance in the face of developing modernity - they are met with an absence of salvation
* lack of water refers to the spiritual emptiness that embodies the poem, as the water is suggested as a metaphor for baptism
modern world
prickly pear
hollow men
Here we go round the prickly pear
Prickly pear prickly pear
Here we go round the prickly pear
At five o’clock in the morning.
subversion of musical trope, anti-aesthetic imagery, parody, irony, motif
* anti-aesthetic imagery of the “prickly pear” to subvert the traditional nursery rhyme
* satirical commentary on the modern world
* ironic reference to youth contrasts with the morbid mention of death throughout the play - mirrors a similar anti-romantic ending to Prufrock and Rhapsody
* continued motif of desert imagery emphasises the lack of fulfilment and dry nature of the “prickly pear” to the “cactus”–> in the strong portrayal of Eliot’s criticisms towards the modern ennui
* collective sense of futility as a detrimental, morbid result
complex nature of spiritual rebirth and suffering
weather
journey of magi
“The ways deep and the weather sharp, the very dead of winter,”
pathetic fallacy, geographical and seasonal imagery, symbolism
* symbolism of winter and cold to allude to death and moral decay - depciting the existential crisis before epiphany which foreshadows the spiritual journey the persona embarks on
* setting reflects feelings of alienation through pathetic fallacy
complex nature of spiritual rebirth and suffering
villages
journey of magi
“And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices”
polysyndeton, descriptive language
* language of “lack”, “hostile”, “unfriendly”, “dirty” -> journey towards enlightenment is arduous but necessary
* eliot is not subverting images in the same was as of Hollow Men or Prufrock
* magi has not chosen easy road of pleasure, chosen demanding path of virtue - spiritual fulfilment > materialistic desires of a capitalist world
* high prices show impact of increasing modernity which results in the existential crisis that can only be resolved through finding a spiritual meaning
complex nature of spiritual rebirth and suffering
satisfactory
magi
“(you might say) satisfactory”
tone of confusion, low modality, irony, euphemism
* result of spiritual journey is not entirely fulfilling nor does it resolve their existential crisis
* euphemism to mask the true nature of magi’s feelings
* ambivalence is couched in faith to mirror the complex emotional and spiritual states the magi experience throughout their journey
