T S Eliot Poem -- Rhapsody on a Windy Night. A Critical Analysis
James Parsons - Feb 9, 2009
T. S. Eliot's poem, Rhapsody on a Windy Night, is full of blunt imagery that evokes the individual's increasing isolation in a depleted, worn-out society. " Rhapsody on a Windy Night" is one of the best-loved poems by T S Eliot and one which is sometimes characterised as lyrical and pensive, and more to do with the function of memory than anything else. This misses the point. The imagery piles up relentlessly to present a picture of a worn-out society in which no one communicates. The first obvious feature of ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’, and perhaps the key to understanding the poem, is the procession of regular time calls throughout the poem – ‘Twelve o’clock’, ‘Half-past two’, etc. A first reading might suggest that this a picture of someone strolling home after a night out. But then comes the realisation that this ‘stroll’ starts at 12 midnight and doesn’t end till 4 o’clock? A 4 hour ‘stroll’ in the wee small hours is remarkably odd behaviour. This is the first clue that the poem is about isolation and a society of isolates.
The Isolation of the Individual
This ‘stroller’ has no purpose; he is deliberately putting off going home, because home is as empty and lonely as the world in which he has been walking. It is a place where a single ‘toothbrush hangs on the wall’ – he lives alone. His room is up a flight of dimly-lit stairs and has a number on the door: it is very likely a cheap hotel or boarding house, the sort of residence where men who have no one in their lives frequently end up. T.S. Eliot has given the persona or ‘voice’ in this poem the task of representing the isolation and alienation of the human condition. Not only is the persona clearly a loner, but the world his eyes scan for the reader also reeks of loneliness, decay and lack of communication.
Lack of Communication
Is there any communication evident in this poem? The street lamp is the only speaker. The woman in the doorway (at this hour, perhaps a prostitute) doesn’t approach; she ‘hesitates towards him’. Even she cannot make the necessary contact for a human act. Normally, children are portrayed in fiction with bright, eager eyes, because they are naïve and open to all, but when this persona remembers a child, he ‘could see nothing behind that child’s eye.’ This is perhaps Eliot’s greatest indictment of society – to suggest that even the children can no longer communicate.
The Imagery of the Barnacled Crab
Eyes are, of course, the ‘windows of the soul’. It is telling that the eyes in this poem ‘peer through the shutters’. They want to pry but not be present in a relationship. The persona’s only ‘communication’ is with a crab in a pool. That communication is at arm’s length – the crab and the man each grasp the end of a stick. Eliot has chosen a hard-shelled, evasive creature to characterise humankind - there are overtones of ‘crusty’ ‘crabby’ and, of course, crabs have the potential to ‘bite’ with that same ‘hand’ of friendship.
A Society decaying – a shell of its former self
Coupled with these striking images of isolation are images that speak of decay and disuse. Does Eliot suggest that our social fabric is disintegrating, needs repair – is perhaps beyond repair? There are certainly no positive images of the persona’s world: “A madman shakes a dead geranium”. The first human the reader encounters is a social outcast – a madman. Most home gardeners would tell you that it’s near impossible to kill a geranium: they live in arid soils and with very little maintenance. Yet this geranium is dead. The woman’s dress is “torn and stained with sand”, and her eye ‘twists like a crooked pin’. There is a’ crowd of twisted things’, including a broken spring (that symbol of resilience), of which he recalls that “rust clings to the form that the strength has left.” That is a most enduring image of a society sapped of moral and physical energy.
No Hope Offered for Society
All else is old, dull, dusty sunless and shuttered. There is no reprieve, no hopeful ending- not a glimmer of hope - to society’s woes. The examiner of all this tawdry world returns home – a word not used as it has too many happy and comforting connotations - and tells himself to “sleep – prepare for life.” This is a final ironic thrust: people are normally told to prepare for death. Thus, Eliot equates this sort of meaningless, non-communicative life with death. He spells it out through his persona. For this man, arriving home is ‘the last twist of the knife.’ There is sufficient evidence here to offer isolation and alienation as a theme analysis.