What does the “infinitely gentle, infinitely suffering thing” in T.S. Eliots Preludes mean? ?
context: I am moved by fancies that are curled Around these images, and cling: The notion of some infinitely gentle Infinitely suffering thing. – appreciated within its context, the prelude is replete with complex images and symbolism. I think, it is a subtle and ironical commentary on the nature of human guilt. The whole piece revolves around visions of a woman of ill-repute (a prostitute) and jumbled self-reflections of the persona (viewpoint of the night-partner) in the morn as rays of the sun evoke some fanciful images and a sharp sense of infinite guilt overwhelms him. Appreciated within its proper context, it appears to me as if the morn rays evoke some fanciful thoughts. As if in a dream, the narrator /speaker is moved by the images all around, feeling a certain accusatory albeit obligatory calling, ‘infinitely gentle’ ie guilt urges/reverberations to be gentle towards this ‘infinitely suffering thing’- the woman of ill-repute. Kind of a sense of guilt as he awakens in this brot
