Rhapsody On A Windy Night

The lamps appear in all but one stanza. They illuminate and suggest a foreboding sense of destiny, as each one “[b]eats like a fatalistic drum” (Line 9). This is an auditory rather than visual image. It’s as if the lamps are pounding out a rhythm of life that cannot be altered, contributing to the poem’s evocation of futility and repetitive meaninglessness. The lamps are personified and speak. However, their speech is not clear and bright; rather, the lamps “sputtered” (Lines 14, 47) and “muttered” (Lines 15, 48); one of them “hummed” (Line 49).

They illuminate the streetscape while unlocking corners of the speaker’s mind, bringing forth old memories and images. However, the memories provide little clarity about the speaker’s life. Instead, they expose fragmented bits and pieces that do not contribute to a meaningful whole.

In the first stanza, the moon is indirectly invoked as an important actor in the street scenes and memories about to unfold. It brings things together in an unusual synthesis and utters “lunar incantations” (Line 4) that draw out images from the speaker’s memory. The moon is considered in detail in its personification as a woman. Eliot’s depiction deviates from typical portrayals of the moon as a beautiful celestial body in the night sky.