The morning comes to consciousness
Of faint stale smells of beer
From the sawdust-trampled street
With all its muddy feet that press
To early coffee-stands.

With the other masquerades
That time resumes,
One thinks of all the hands
That are raising dingy shades
In a thousand furnished rooms.

About the headline (FAQ)

Confirmed with The Complete Poems and Plays of T. S. Eliot Faber and Faber, London and Boston 1969 p. 22

First published in Blast, July 1915

Text Authorship:

• by T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot (1888 - 1965), no title, appears in Preludes, no. 2 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Stanley Grill (b. 1953), "Prelude II", copyright © 1978 [soprano, violin and cello], from Preludes, no. 2, confirmed with an online score [ sung text verified 1 time]
• by Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 - 2016), "The morning comes to consciousness", published 1967 [TT(T)BB(B) chorus a cappella], from Two Preludes, no. 2. [ sung text not verified ]
• by Howard Swanson (1907 - 1978), "The morning comes to consciousness", published 1952 [medium voice and piano], from 4 Preludes, no. 2. [ sung text not verified ]

Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Malcolm Wren [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2009-04-24
Line count: 10
Word count: 48