Aunt Helen Lyrics
And lived in a small house near a fashionable square
Cared for by servants to the number of four.
Now when she died there was silence in heaven
And silence at her end of the street.
The shutters were drawn and the undertaker wiped his feet —
He was aware that this sort of thing had occurred before.
The dogs were handsomely provided for,
But shortly afterwards the parrot died too.
The Dresden clock continued ticking on the mantelpiece,
And the footman sat upon the dining-table
Holding the second housemaid on his knees —
Who had always been so careful while her mistress lived.
About
T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) is an American-born poet, publisher, playwright, and critic. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 at the age of 25. He is most known for his poem The Waste Land (1922), and also The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948 and is considered one of the best poets of the English language. He often mocked the behavior and snobbiness of the upper-class, which is present in his poem Aunt Helen.
This poem has no specific form, meter, or rhyme scheme, which hints at the emptiness of Aunt Helen’s life. The tone is formal and detached, showing the narrator’s indifference towards his aunt. Aunt Helen was very self-important, but this poem shows the lack of importance she had in anyone else’s life.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 3.Preludes
- 7.Aunt Helen
- 8.Cousin Nancy
- 10.Hysteria