Poetry is a form of art; it is one's imagination taking on the world at a certain era and place. Poets use it as a tool to express their ideas on an issue or concept of the world around them. T.S Eliot is an artist of such genre and his poetry is considered to be among the most powerful and influential works of all time. Although it is often difficult to understand at a literal level, it is full of meaning and insight. Throughout his works he expresses his view that human life is debased, trivial and fragmented. "Preludes" and "Hollow men" are both poems written in the early 1900's that exemplify Eliot's cynical views and gives little promise of spiritual regeneration. The poet puts across these views through the use of numerous poetic techniques as he both challenges the reader at an intellectual level and horrifies them at an emotional level. .
"Preludes" and "Hollow men" are poems in which Eliot expresses his negative view of the human condition. Throughout both poems, Eliot continuously portrays human life as debased. In "Preludes" Eliot presents a vivid description of the composition of a soul in today's society:.
" The thousand sordid images of what your soul is constituted they flickered .
against the ceiling",.
exemplifies his view of human life as being that of reduced quality and degraded in its ability to be moral and ethical. The soul symbolises the morality of a human being and when considered in relation to God it is believed to be immortal. It is the emotional aspect of a human and is distinguished from the intellectual. However Eliot states, that this very soul is degraded and corrupt as it is composed of images related to material possessions and money. This conveys to the readers that humans have become consumed by this materialistic way of life. Furthermore they are no longer driven by compassion, ethics, and virtue but by material possessions. Thus implying that their souls are not composed of any substance but moreover by superficiality; this is depicted through the use of the word "flickered".