Aunt Helen by T.S.Eliot

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                             Critical Analysis of the poem “Aunt Helen”

The title of the poem is lamentable and affectionate. The narrator in the poem is Aunt Helen’s nephew since Eliot states in the first line, “My maiden aunt”. The poem is much like a eulogy for Aunt Helen. The form of the poem consists of one stanza containing thirteen lines. The poem is one line shy of an Elizabethan sonnet, he intentionally did not included fourteen lines in his stanza due to his unconventionality and he was concerned with portraying his message more than the style and techniques of poetry. The rhythm scheme is irregular, abcdeeccfghij, perhaps because of the nephew’s sense of loss and awareness that humans are insignificant in this world and the idea of “Tempus Fugit”, which ironically is re-enforced by an inanimate object, the Dresden clock.

The reader is conscious of the fact that Helen is no longer alive; Eliot uses the past tense “was my maiden aunt” instead of referring to her in the present, “is my maiden aunt”. At the start of the first line, Eliot writes, “Miss Helen Slingsby” which tells the reader that Helen was not married due to the unmarried female title, “Miss” instead of the married female title, “Mrs”, which may perhaps be due to the age of this women or perhaps it is because this women is independently minded, the reader is aware that the aunt was privileged enough to not be finically dependent on a husband, Eliot states in line two, “small house near a fashionable square…” . An important factor towards marriage in the Victorian period was the idea that marriage would bring economic stability. We learn in the second line that Miss Helen Slingsby no longer lives in the house because Eliot writes in the past tense, “lived”, instead of the present tense, “lives”. The reader knows that Helen was middle class because Eliot writes “near a fashionable square” however she is not immensely wealthy because she lived in a “small house” this is re-enforced when Eliot states, “servants to the number of four” Eliot again users the past tense “cared” re- enforcing Helen’s absence, although aunt Helen wanted to give the impression to society that she was wealthy due to her choice of location, “a fashionable square” and due to the number of employees she employed. The reader has now become intrigued and wants to find out want happened to aunt Helen and her current location. In line four, we realise why Eliot refers to Helen in the past tense because “she died”.  In honour of her death there was “Silence in heaven”, as though even the angels were silent in honour of her life and grieving for her death. “Silence at her end of the street” evokes to the reader that perhaps she was popular among her community and that this woman was genuinely kind, warm- hearted woman.  

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In line six, Eliot writes, “The shutters were drawn” which is symbolic of mourning, people would not let light into the house and would wear black as a sign of mourning. Eliot also states, “the undertaker wiped his feet”, a sign of respect towards the deceased.  The undertaker seems to be “aware that this sort of thing had occurred before”, “sort of thing” is a euphemism for death and it is regarded as a minor circumstance, which on first reading may sound cruel or harsh, however the undertaker did not know this women, therefore he feels no personal or emotional ...

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