Analysis of Purfrock´s Her Kind and The Love Song

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Recommended: Theme of individualism

In “Her Kind” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” both authors analyze the theme of the importance in being the person you are and being okay with it. One may argue that the characters in both poems are total opposites, coming to the question of how can the themes be anywhere near related? Well, the two characters definitely contrast each other, but that is where the beauty lies in how the central theme between the two literary works is deduced. “Her Kind” discusses that although outsiders view her as a strange character, she is content with maintaining her pursuit of what she wants to do. In other words, she will continue being herself regardless of what others think. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” explores the thoughts of a person who is too afraid to be himself around others and fails to take any action in his life as a result. By providing a character that majorly lacks self-confidence, Elliot, in a contrasting perspective, also highlights the importance in being satisfied with who you are. The authors present the theme throughout their work through deep-rooted symbolism and complimentary repetition.
To begin, both poems possess symbolism of threating persons to help further the theme. In “Her Kind,” Sexton uses strong symbolism through the entirety of the poem. The character calls herself a “possessed witch” who “haunt[s] the black air” and lives in a cave in the woods with her “worms” and “elves” (Sexton 1-11). The witch is a symbol for the bohemian lifestyle the character lives as an artist, while the cave is her quaint home, and the worms and elves are her husband and children. Witches are thought of as evil and threatening characters in pop culture, but they are also known to be misunderstood as we...

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...erstood life of that of a witch, while also maintaining some insecurities of myself and other people’s thoughts of me like Prufrock has. What does this all mean? What the authors are both getting at is that it is not always easy to be different, to be yourself, but it is something that is essential to the core of us as humans. I would much rather be living life as myself, like the witch, than living life full of inaction like Prufrock.

Works Cited

Sexton, Anne. “Her Kind.” Literature; An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Dana Gioia and X.K. Kennedy. University of Southern California. Pearson, 2013. 699. Print.
Elliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Literature; An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. Dana Gioia and X.K. Kennedy. University of Southern California. Pearson, 2013. 1038-1041. Print.

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