Sweeney Among the Nightingales

I selected T.S. Eliot's (didn't select that part) "Sweeney Among the Nightingales," a modernist poem from 1919. On first reading, the poem is a bizarre and unclear story; it turns out to be chock-full of illusions I would absolutely have missed were it not for these two sources: http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides6/Sweeney.html and http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Ts-eliot-sweeney-among-the-nightingales-annotated.

The plot of the story, as best I understand follows here. First, the poem quotes the Greek drama Agamemnon, "Alas, I am struck deep with a mortal blow" (an allusion that recurs). A man, Sweeney, sits on a chair. He looks unflatteringly like an animal, and he guards the gate to another world. The night sky is dark. A caped woman tries to sit on Sweeney's knees but falls to the ground, taking his tablecloth with her. She sprawls and yawns on the floor (suggesting drunkenness). A man stares in from the window. A waiter brings in tropical fruits. Another woman, Rachel, eats the grapes as an animal might. Sweeney suspects Rachel and the first woman of conspiring against him so he ignores them. He leaves, looks in through a window, and grins. The host of the location (unspecified, likely either a restaurant/cafe or a brothel) talks to someone, and nightingales sing near a convent. Nightingales also sang when King Agamemnon died, and they defecated on his funeral shroud.

The plot, confusing and unclear, does seem in line with modernist tendencies away from linear, logical plot and towards fragmentation. The poem also fits well with the modernist trait of allusion: throughout, Eliot regularly alludes to Agamemnon; indeed, the story means nothing without that allusion. Nightingales (which tattle on those who are promiscuous) and the horned gate (the Odyssey) are also allusions.

The poem is very human-centric, so it does not quite fit that trait of modernism; it also doesn't emphasize the environment or surroundings very much.

Overall, the poem is a rather harsh, often sardonic look at the human condition. Agamemnon, a might Greek king, was felled by his wife's retribution on account of his infidelity. Sweeney, while never clearly romantically involved with either of the women in the story, is compared to Agamemnon. In this comparison, neither of them looks particularly good. As a result, the poem portrays Agamemnon as a mortal, not some immaculate (in fact, the word "maculate" is even used) higher being. The thrust of all this is a truly modernist idea: humans are flawed, difficult, and prone to error/cruelty/lapses of character.

One note: there are many literal definitions of this poem, ranging from the women being drunk, to being his lover/s, to having seizures. Who knows what Eliot intended?