Thomas Stearns Eliot’s Poetry Essay Example

is further amplified by his regular rhetorical question "Do I dare?".

In the poem Preludes, the main character experiences a sense of isolation which prompts them to defer any creative output. The recurring time cues "At four and five and six o'clock" intensify the protagonist's self-doubt. In a similar vein, in the poem Portrait of a Lady, Eliot portrays an outcast persona who grapples with his disconnection from a woman leading to a deep sense of self-reproach. The man is nearly entirely estranged from her thoughts and ideals.

His sole activity is listening to her speak, encapsulated by the metaphor of "violin's windings," which exacerbates due to a lack of emotional rapport and forms an irritating, repetitious rhythm in his mind, entranced by the aural image of "Preposterously pounding out its own prelude." The man notes; 'I can sustain my calm until a tired, automated street piano reiterates some hackneyed tune.' Here Elliot uses metaphor subtly implying that the man's association with his partner is tedious and uninspiring. He feels trapped, finding it hard to escape this relationship.

The man's ambiguous smile towards the pretentious woman who is frantically seeking some shared emotional connection elucidates the degree of their disconnected relationship, as well as his inability to entirely extricate himself from her. Upon reviewing this, it's clear that T. S. Eliot artfully depicted the theme of isolation, leading to a feeling of self-pity in an individual, through his utilisation of various poetic techniques. This theme is similarly and distinctively conveyed in his poems 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock', 'Portrait of a Lady' and 'Preludes'.