City Preludes
N an earlier session we included the " Journey of the Magi," by T. S. Eliot, a very unconventional account of the journey of the Wise Men of the East to Bethlehem at the birth of Christ. Here is something by the same poet much more unconventional, ‘a series of city scenes, presumably in London. They are called " Preludes." These " preludes" illustrate the tendency of the modern poet to take everything for his province, even steak being cooked, and
sawdust smelling of beer, and newspapers blown about in the streets. Nearly everything observed in these scenes is sordid, and little or no attempt is made to invest it with beauty, It is like an untidy room, with the remains of the breakfast still there-congealed bacon and eggs on the plates. The poet seems to represent the disillusionment of the nineteen-twenties. Criti-
cising that generation of disillusionment, someone said that they threw up the sponge; but since Eliot wrote these poems these dingy streets have been thrown into the most fiery ordeal, and we all know how the people have conducted themselves.(Poetry Hour, 2YA, May 2.)
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19410516.2.11.6
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 99, 16 May 1941, Page 5
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186City Preludes New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 99, 16 May 1941, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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