Essentially, the final lines of T. S. Eliot’s poem “Preludes” couple a gesture with an evocative image. The gesture, which expresses embarrassment, showcases the speaker talking to himself, with his intellect ordering a part of himself to stop being moved by religious fancies. The speaker suggests that religious impulses in the human imagination were “impatient” to take charge of the meaning of the world. However, in the end, the world revolves, moving circularly without an end. The preludes continue indefinitely, without a sign of meaning. Here, the perspective that there is no messiah or saviour who would come through the meaningless cycle of life and death is suggested.
Additionally, the last image conveys a paradox as the women maintain livelihood from an empty space in the city, i.e. the
“vacant lots” from the first stanza. Here, it is suggested that the world constitutes a spiritual void. Despite this and the absence of meaning, we continue to survive in it.
I hope this helps!
