Literary Works of Early 20th

Century America

- How They Were Influenced by the Events of the Period

By Sahir Rafay

English IIIAssessment 05.05July 5, 2014

"RHAPSODY ON A

WINDY NIGHT" BY

T.S. ELIOT

"RHAPSODY ON A WINDY NIGHT"

BY T.S. ELIOT

T.S. Eliot’s Rhapsody on a Windy Night is a poem that was published in 1920, a

period in American History that was going through great change. The after-

effects of World War 1, and the effects of industrialization brought about

struggles and depression. With businesses like the Ford Motor Company that

had developed the modern assembly line automating human functions, creating

structure, process and mechanical processes. In addition, World War 1 brought

about depression, created loneliness and isolation. All of these aspects appear

to have influenced Eliot’s poem.

The poem’s passing of time, suggests movement of time like clockwork, just like

the people working through various factories. “Every street lamp that I pass

Beats like a fatalistic drum,” suggesting sounds of assembly lines in factories.

There is a sense of isolation, where the lamps are the only ones ‘speaking. ’

The author sees no life, or feelings “I could see nothing behind the child’s eyes”

suggesting signs of poverty or neglect. The cat “devours a morsel of rancid

butter” showing dirty, neglected streets. He speaks about the “weak, feeble”

moon as if to say nothing had life. These images suggest the signs of

unemployment, isolated society, lack of hope and a sense of mechanical life

carried from a mechanical job of night shift perhaps” “The little lamp spreads a

ring on the stair. Mount” leading the author home to bed.

"THE RED

WHEELBARRO

W"

BY WILLIAM

CARLOS

WILLIAMS

"THE RED WHEELBARROW" BY

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

The Red Wheelbarrow was published in 1925. This was a period of post World

War 1 and also of political and industrial change. Women were granted right to

vote in US in 1920, and the automobile industry was taking off, thanks to Ford

Motor Co.

William Carlos William was a poet and a doctor. So when he wrote this very

short poem on the Red Wheelbarrow, he may have been influenced by two

factors. First, “so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain

water” could signify the livelihood of the economy (which represents the wheel

barrow). It carries the essential resources to keep the population going.

Second, it could mean the health or heart of an individual, red in color because

it signified the organ that pumps blood (“glazed with rain water”) into the body to

keep it alive. There was a flu outbreak in the 1918 that killed over 600,000

people.1 This also supports the imagery of the red wheelbarrow that protects

and supports life, shown as white chickens (signifying life).

1. http://www.sphtc.org/timeline/timeline.html#a1900