In “Preludes”, Eliot gives us very different senses of evening and morning. Usually when we think of evening, we associate it with a positive warm family union and dinner time. And of morning, we associate it with a positive fresh starting time of a day with birds singing. Rather than a warm union time, when describing evening time (stanza I and III), Eliot gives us visual imageries of dark, smelly and isolated motel type living place and of woman, who is physically aging fast, cannot go to sleep looking at the ceiling thinking of life. Eliot is also very alert that he is giving a different sense to reader. He intentionally tells us that the time is evening in line 1 of stanza I (the winter evening settles down) to make us recall our established association of evening before he gives us the different sense. In this way, Eliot can make the different sense of evening even more dramatic. In stanza II, Eliot also starts off by giving us the time in line 1 (the morning comes to consciousness) before he gives the different sense of morning to the reader. In stanza II and IV of “Preludes”, Eliot portraits morning as, instead of a fresh start, a continuation of the previous evening and a repetition of daily routine. For example, in stanza II, Eliot mentions the “smells of beer” in stanza II and “evening newspapers” in stanza IV which are objects which are associated with the negative side of the previous night.
Together, the form involves one stanza about evening, one about morning… This form helps to create a day cycle, and Eliot sense of day cycle is still different. When we think of day cycle, we think of life growing. Yet, Eliot uses repeated mention of “o’clock” and the rhymes to create a negative repetitive and pressurized feeling of day cycle to readers.
In “To Autumn”, Keats depicts autumn as a relaxed time. Yet, people normally think of autumn as harvest time. Keats, simply through description of various workers resting at their work place, in stanza II to show that autumn can be a resting time. Keats also give music to seasons in stanza III such as “songs of Spring” and speaking to the persona of “Autumn” that “thou hast thy music too”.
In both “Preludes” and “To Autumn”, Eliot and Keats creates persona for some non-humans such as the sun, autumn, street, etc. In “To Autumn”, Keats addresses autumn as if autumn was a person. This personification gives a live sense of seasons which is different from our usual perception to readers. Keats also employs simile to personify autumn, for example, comparing autumn to “a gleaner” in stanza II which is a human job. Not only is autumn personified in “To Autumn”, Keats also, in stanza I, uses anthropomorphism for the sun by giving the sun characteristics such as “maturing” and personification for the bees by saying they “think”. In “Preludes”, Eliot also personify the street, for example, by giving the street “conscience”.
In both “Preludes”, Eliot gives different association to objects such as coffee stands, bed, etc. In stanza II, Eliot wants to show the repetitiveness of day cycle by mocking people’s drinking coffee habit. Therefore, instead of the refreshing morning coffee drinking, Eliot associate coffee stands with “masquerades” saying coffee masks people’s faces and souls. In stanza III, Eliot uses description of the persona’s activity on the bed of reflecting life on the ceiling and not able to sleep. Through experience, bed is usually associated with quiet, peaceful rest. In this case, through description, Eliot gives us a different idea of bed as people lying on a bed may still not get any sleep just like the persona he created.
In conclusion, poets give readers a different sense of human experience of things. By doing that, poets allow us to look at the same things from a different perspective and learn something new. The techniques they use vary from personifications, similes, imageries and even mere descriptions.
