A Song Which Isn't Sung At All

(I condensed my two entries into one entry, because I feel it is easier to read as one rather than two entries)

T.S. Eliot's "Love Song" starts with a quote in Italian, which I googled and found to be a quote from Dante's Inferno, where a suffering soul tells Dante his story, because he believes Dante to be dead and thus incapable of telling people on earth of his misdeeds. The man who "writes" the poem, the main character, believes that no one will read or talk of the poem to he may speak freely.

The poem then describes a dreary and dejected midnight scene, with sort of no hope for something better. The whole poem has a sort of sad, gloomy and conformist attitude. The poem doesn't advise questioning life or the order of it, just going with it even when it doesn't make up happy. The line "In the room the women come and go /Talking of Michelangelo" seems to reference women in a bathroom, doing something somewhat disagreeable but talking of high class things like the artist Michelangelo, which makes society sort of hypocritical, with a false air of grandeur. Next Eliot says "The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, /The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes / Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening" which provides a living animal element to commonplace things like smoke and fog which pervade in the night time, which gives night the sort of uncomfortable feeling of being around a large wild animal, a feeling which seems to be present in cities for Eliot, because smoke would only be a city element, and city lights would turn smoke and fog yellow. It is also covered in soot from several chimneys (also a city element) and falls asleep inside the house, which means the feeling of uneasy found in cities invades even people’s homes, giving them no peace.

“There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.”

This whole paragraph shows the impersonal and difficult nature of city life (which seems to be a central theme in this poem). It shows people use a fake prepared face to deal with other fake faces that hide bad deeds like murder or even a creation that cannot be appreciated because no one shows themselves. It also shows how hurried life is, as in the small amount of time before taking toast and tea, a daily activity, there is time for everything. Self-doubt, due to never being true to yourself in front of others also shows itself in the presence of numerous indecisions, fantasies, and plans that are made and remade. Eliot then repeats the Michelangelo line, which no take son the taint of people having superfluous conversation when doing more personal things rather than be sincere. The speaker continues to show indecision and a desire to be sincere but is at the same time plagued by the opinions of others. He realizes that being more open and honest would change things and society, so he make and breaks those plans in his head, while outwardly doing nothing. He knows people will likely react adversely, and he also sees little value and importance in his own life, belittling it by saying “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” He also knows that society and people are always watching, he is an insect speared to a corkboard, helpless and powerless to change his situation, even when he has a deep desire to do so. He also feels that trying to change things would be presumptuous of him. He feels so separate form other people that he wishes to be a pair of claws (ragged claws, again he does not appreciate his life) on the floor of the quiet ocean so he doesn’t have to talk falsely and hear others do so, or even encounter others, the whole poem rings with disillusion with modern human society. The speaker doesn’t find peace even in sleep and considers all the possible places to break free, so to speak but everything seems too mundane, such as when eating. He is also, fundamentally to afraid to really act, because he fears that he will be misunderstood or shunned, and that changing will not really be worthwhile. He also repeats that his life is somewhat foolish and ridiculous, by actually calling himself a fool and also saying that he is currently useful in a simply defined role, something that would be possible if he was honest with himself. He is still very concerned with people’s opinions, though he still desires to be free, he sees it impossible for him and everyone else to break out of their dreary lives, because they are afraid and likely unworthy and unimportant. People are free only in their dreams, but they must always return to being trapped in human society.