Turning Point

Throughout this poem, the speaker talks about a time when he/she is neither young or old.  The last stanza stands out a lot due to its blend of science and fantasy.  Eliot uses images such as membrane and operations and atoms.  This part of the poem creates the feeling of a hospital room.  By using these words that suggest a natural change there is the belief that something that the speaker wants to change can be changed.  At a time where someone is in the middle of his/her life there is a question of who a person will turn out to be and how he/she will change over time.  There is also quite a bit of onomatopoeia in this poem.  The images in this poem make it a very visual poem.  The image of a tiger springing and devouring a person in the New Year shows a time of change.  The tiger devours the chance to start over because these people have not yet come to the chance to change because they have not yet completed the part of their journey that they need to be at.  Instead the speaker is at a turning point.  Being in a grey area is not necessarily comfortable, but it is exciting because there are different directions to go in.  This speaker is not stuck in a house and is not stuck in a dry time in life.  Instead being in between two stages of life carries the responsibility of finishing the journey but the option of having different paths.