He shows discontinuity by going from one subject to another. In "Geronition," Eliot first mentions an old man "being read to by a boy. . ..," (1182). Then he talks about waiting for rain, a decayed house, a goat, a woman, the wind, a tiger, and back to the wind and a draughty house. In the last part of the poem, he talks about a tiger, a man's senses, and finally back to the wind. When he goes from one subject back to another, he makes the poem have discontinuity. However, he still maintains unity in his poetry because he goes from the present to the past and back to the present. He ties everything together. For example, in the beginning he talks about "an old man in a dry month," (1182). At the end, he mentions "thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season," (1184). He makes the poem unified when he ties the end to the beginning. If he didn't return to a subject throughout his poetry, he wouldn't maintain unity.
He also uses allusions throughout his poetry. Allusions cause his poetry to have discontinuity. For example, he mentions the following: Mr. Silvero, Limoges, Hakagawa, Madame de Tornquist, Fraulein von Kulp, De Bailhache, Fresca, and Mrs. Cammel. All of these names are from the past and are names that people do not recognize. As a result, these unfamiliar names cause discontinuity because people stumble over words they do not know. Even though Eliot uses allusions, he still maintains unity, coherence, and structure by bringing everything together.
Eliot also has discontinuity in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Just like "Geronition," Eliot goes back and forth from the past to the present. He goes from one subject to another. As a result, his poetry has discontinuity. He begins his poem by talking about the evening sky and of the "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels," (1177). He is discussing a man and woman's affair. After that, he brings up the past when he mentions Michelangelo. Then he returns to the present and talks about yellow fog, smoke, time, and indecisions. After that, he mentions Michelangelo again before he talks about time, voices, eyes, arms, smoke, fingers, and head. He returns to the past again and discusses Lazarus being raised from the dead. Finally, he talks about clothes, hair, the waves, wind, the sea, and the affair he mentioned in the beginning. Even though Eliot talks about different topics, he still maintains unity in his poetry by tying everything together from the beginning to the end.
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