Rhapsody On A Windy Night Essay

Commencing in the late nineteenth century, the modern era sought to discard the certainty of Neoclassicism, rigidity of Industrialism and the ingenuity of Romanticism while developing contemporary socio-cultural norms and attitudes capturing revolutionary expressions of artistic innovation. The philosophical movement saw society’s tenuous fear of technological modification arise from an existential crisis following the First War period, sparking a newfound physiological state centring on the sensations of dislocation, alienation and anxiety. Thomas Stearns Eliot parades the very essence of modernity in his literal and impressionistic exploration of spiritual existence, Preludes, and the moonlit manifestation of personal contemplations in Rhapsody …show more content…
Eliot’s Rhapsody on a Windy Night reiterates the definitive nature of time, specifically, “twelve o’clock” similar to that in Preludes whereby the skies begin “whispering lunar incantations” replicating modernity’s illustrious fear of unveiling the lunacy, romance and secrecy in the deepest confines of the mind during the trance of the midnight hours. The feline imagery of the cat devouring “a morsel of rancid butter”, stands as a representation of the decaying fabric of civilization. This sparks the recollection of modernity instinctively “pocket[ing] a toy that was running along the quay” identifying this newfound instinct of self preservation and momentary dismissal of suffering as the primary flaws of Eliot’s own society. The allusion to Jules Laforgue’s The Lament of the Moon idealises the belief that the moon holds no grudges “La lune ne garde aucune rancune” obscuring humanity’s enigmatic memories rather than retaining them. This validates the mystery of the night that demoralises the quality of humanity, transpiring sexual perversion, corruption and …show more content…
The desolate “death’s dream kingdom” in Eliot’s the Hollow Men reiterates the darkness of modernity trapped in an allegorical purgatory of their own creation, accentuating the inadequacy and inaudibility of mankind’s prayers and religion to redeem them from their earthly limbo. The fragmentary “eyes”, “lips” and “broken jaw” sets a tone of oblivion, where modernity remains “paralysed” by its inability to speak or see beyond darkness and where the figments of hope and redemption are “dying stars”. Eliot’s allusion to Guy Fawkes’s gunpowder plot exposes the effigy of the “penny for the Old Guy” characterising the inhabitants of the era as faceless men plagued with disloyalty and betrayal. This validates modernity’s surrender to bare desires and nonsensical thoughts, anaphorically proclaiming, “We are the hollow men/ we are the stuffed men/ we whisper together”, acknowledging their nihility. A disguised humanity in “Rat’s coats, crowskin, cross staves” reiterates mankind’s need for concealment and fear of both the philosophical and metaphorical truth in Preludes, painting mankind humanism as a façade for the straw filled puppets that inhabit the bodies of Eliot’s own society. Eliot’s belief that the “world ends not with a bang but a whimper” echoes the worthless modern