Yes, Rhapsody on a Windy Night is a beautiful poem indeed. It is rather grotesque, especially with such disturbing images as that of the woman whose eye "twists like a crooked pin," yet it is such imagery that gives the poem its eloquence, its urbane understanding of human nature. It is therefore rendered a beautiful thought by means of its potential to enlighten the reader.
Eliot's emotive power is grounded in his stark symbolic imagery, which burns his distinctive vision into the contours of his reader's brain. He also relies heavily on abrupt juxtapositions, which startle the reader with all the brusqueness of the unexpected vicissitudes of life, as when he ends Rhapsody on a Windy Night with the visceral line "The last twist of the knife."
Eliot really has a talent for last lines in general. In the dismal conclusion of Preludes, Eliot uses his talent for crafting emotive last lines with an unexpected, precise image which acts as a summation of the poem: "The worlds revolve like ancient women/Gathering fuel in vacant lots."
That's my take on Eliot. What do you all think about his poetry, with regard to style, structure, etc.?
