Eliot’s stream of consciousness style evokes the central tone of ‘Preludes’ as being one of contemplation and discontentment. Eliot’s strategic use of language evident in the diction of “withered”, “vacant” and “broken” illuminates the omniscient perspectives negative tone, amplifying the persona’s own dissatisfaction with the negative consequences of industrialization. The dramatic epiphany “sordid images of which your soul was constituted” epitomizes the only suggestible character’s realization of the meaningless of life, vindicating the bleakness of her surrounding environment as an implication of her sordid outlook towards the natural world. The visual imagery of the “conscience of a blackened world” serves as a symbolic transition to Eliot’s own Modernist poetry style; no longer utilizing a metaphor to expose the underlying meaning behind his poetry, Eliot dictates a definite statement about the fate of society.
Eliot evokes a literal and impressionistic writing style, emanating a strong criticism of the individual’s development of solitary existence in response to the complications of modernity. Serving as an extension of Imagist poetry, Eliot utilizes unappealing imagery of separate objects, “gusty shower wraps”, “grimy scraps” and “broken blinds and chimney pots” to eliminate the reader’s awareness of the existence of other individuals within the modernist world. The reoccurring motif of ‘winter’ prescribed on both a literal and figurative level encapsulates the taciturn temperament associated with Winter, emphasizing humanities depersonalization towards the natural environment.
By referencing to the existence of a spiritual force “the notion of some infinitely gentle/infinitely suffering thing”, Eliot dismisses the capacity of divine power to redeem the casualties of industrialization; extending to the notion of modern society as irrevocably damaged and irreparable. The accumulation of “four and five and six o’clock” emanates a rhythm of an ongoing mechanical experience, evoking the individual’s replaced routine of automatism to expose the detrimental effects of the industrialization of early 20th century. Within the first Prelude, the negative description of the desolate city scape in “A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps” sparks the literary contrast when followed by “And then the lighting of the lamps”, evoking the possibility of hope and anticipation of the future. In a musical sense, Eliot’s symbolic manipulation of the title “Preludes” characterizes an introduction, evidently suggesting that the characteristics of society within ‘Preludes’ are merely an initial façade to what the audience should be viewing society as.