In a radical attempt to forge a new poetic medium, TS Eliot's poetry possesses an enduring appeal through its ability to lament the universal concerns of the modern age while simultaneously subverting the conventional literary content and structure. The poems "Rhapsody on a Windy Night (1915) and "Journey of the Magi" (1927) display Eliot's skills in thematic subversion and structural fragmentation to explore the immorality and aimlessness that blight modern existence. Taking a nihilistic approach to memory instead of the nostalgia favored in the Romantic tradition, the structural fragmentation in "Rhapsody" highlights the emptiness of the urban lifestyle undermines the joy of the nativity scene in The Journey of the Magi, Eliot intensifies the treatment of these concepts with fragmentary imagery. Thus, simultaneously raising universal concerns and challenging literary tradition, Eliot's work persists as a portrait of immorality and futility in the. modern age. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The innate immorality of modern society makes traditional sources of comfort, such as memory and spirituality, obsolete as forces for social change. Renouncing the Romantics' methods of escapism, in which memory was sought as a refuge from harsh industrial reality, Riquelme recognizes 'Rhapsody' as a collection of “unromantic verses” that do not hold back in describing the moral decay of society. Because “midnight shakes the memory like a madman shakes a dead geranium,” this absurd image foregrounds the omnipresence of death and madness in the character's memories and physical experiences. He notices a prostitute whose "eye spins like a crooked pin," this disturbing simile highlights the character's discomfort in observing the fall of modern morality. Even the vestal moon of the romantic tradition is subject to the moral destruction wrought by modernity. She “winks a faint eye,” as Eliot personifies the moon as the aforementioned prostitute, and “a faded smallpox splits her face,” this metaphor for disease indicating the degree of corruption of nature. While Eliot's depiction of modern immorality thus relies on the subversion of romantic clichés in the Rhapsody, the typically joyful nature of the Nativity scene is undermined in the Journey of the Magi. Transposing the spiritual concerns he personally encountered during his conversion to Anglicanism into the poem's biblical setting, the Wizard focuses on the sordid details of the journey. It recalls “the lack of shelter, and the hostile cities, and the hostile cities, and the dirty villages,” with polysyndeton highlighting the exhaustive hostility of urban society. The Magi “preferred to travel at night/sleep fitfully,” a symbol of the spiritual darkness that envelops the outside world. Eliot's focus on the obstacles of the journey contrasts with the Wizard's brief summary of Christ's birth as "(one might say) satisfying." His apathetic tone and use of the subjunctive are a contradiction to the celebration attributed to the advent of Christ, framing his spiritual journey as a largely amoral event. Thus the subversion of literary and religious clichés is a key feature of Eliot's poetry that ensures the universal appeal of his treatment of immorality. Exposure to destabilizing change wrought by the dominant forces of modernity increases the futility of human agency and spirituality in the urban world. The growing distrust of established modes of communication and the flourishing of Imagism in the wake of the First War.