"Preludes" jumps from night to morning to midday and then it makes an even bigger jump: back in time. No matter when the poem settles, the conclusion is the same: life has always been rough. You could set this poem forward or backwards 100 years, implies the speaker, and it wouldn't change much. Humanity will always face bleak times. It's just that some of them have more distractions than others.
Questions About Time
- How does Eliot use imagery to signal when the poem is moving ahead or backward in time?
- Are there any clues about the era in which the poem takes place? Is the time period important to this poem? How can you tell?
- Why does Eliot mention specific times of day, like "four and five and six o'clock?" What happens at those times of day in a city and why would that be significant for the poem?
- In the poem, what is revealed during the daytime, and what is revealed during the nighttime? Why do you think Eliot made those choices?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Poetry can achieve time travel (no DeLorean required), but the human condition will always be essentially the same.
Eliot uses the different times of day to reveal what's going on in our souls.