The poem written by T.S. Eliot in the early 1900’s is titled “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and leads the reader to believe that they will be reading about the love story of a man. After the Italian stanza, the poem starts with the opening line “Let us go then, you and I” and the second stanza continues with lines starting with “Let us go” but then continues on to describe the journey of a man. This man, J. Alfred Prufrock, is a man that is on a voyage of self-discovery and is infatuated with his appearance and loneliness. “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, is a monologue written about the modern man on his journey, a man that describes his surroundings, defines his emotions, and silently invites the reader on this …show more content…
Eliot uses in his writing through J. Alfred Prufrock is his ability to allude and use other references. Opening the poem with words spoken by Count Guido da Montefeltro, a damned soul in the Eighth Circle of Hell in Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Canto 27, lines 61-66.), Prufrock is implying he is in hell on earth and can convey his feelings “without fear of infamy.” Another reference that T.S. Eliot uses is the line “There will be time to murder and create” (Perkins 177). This comes from the biblical passage Ecclesiastes 3 stating “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) Eliot then uses Lazarus in lines 94 and 95 and states “I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”— (Perkins 179). In these lines, Prufrock is exclaiming once again, his despair by comparing himself to Lazarus who comes back from the dead. Although not dead, Prufrock is living like death. Eliot also uses the similarity of Shakespeare’s Hamlet to describe his indecisiveness and imitative hero, but then turns it around and calls himself an “attendant lord”. The use of Hamlet to end the line with “was meant to be” echoes the famous “To be or not to be” and is indicative of questioning if there is worth in
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is about a timid and downcast man in search of meaning, of love, and in search of something to break from the dullness and superficiality which he feels his life to be. Eliot lets us into Prufrock's world for an evening, and traces his progression of emotion from timidity, and, ultimately, to despair of life. He searches for meaning and acceptance by the love of a woman, but falls miserably because of his lack of self-assurance. Prufrock is a man for whom, it seems, everything goes wrong, and for whom there are no happy allowances. The emptiness and shallowness of Prufrock's "universe" and of Prufrock himself are evident from the very beginning of the poem. He cannot find it in himself to tell the woman what he really feels, and when he tries to tell her, it comes out in a mess. At the end of the poem, he realizes that he has no big role in life.
"Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock And Shakespeare's Hamlet. Critical Essay - "The. The Explicator 1 (2004): 43. Academic OneFile. Web.
Prufrock even dreams of gaining knowledge from the afterlife on how to deal with women saying, "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,/ Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all. " (94-95) Unfortunately for Prufrock, he pessimistically assumes that even if his dream came true, he still wouldn't know what to tell them all, or how. Eliot doesn't give any sense of hope for Prufrock in the poem. He remains a doomed character until the very end.
The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem that was written by T. S Eliot. The poem introduces the character, Prufrock, as a man who is very pessimistic about everything and is incapable of change. Prufrock sees the society he lives in as a place that is full of people who think alike, and he thinks he is different from them. Though Prufrock, realizes that the society he is associated with needs a change and have more people who think differently, but the fact that he is very concerned about what people would think of him if he tries to speak up to make a change or that he would be ignored or be misunderstood for whatever he says hindered him from expressing himself the way he would like to. Prufrock then decides not to express himself in order to avoid any type of rejection. In the poem, Prufrock made use of several imagery and metaphor to illustrate how he feels about himself and the society he is involved in. Prufrock use of imageries and
Eliot begins the poem with the original Italian text of Dante’s epic, “The Divine Comedy.” It contains six lines borrowed from “Inferno” that are verbal quotes from a character in the eighth circle of hell, stating he will confide in Dante on the basis that Dante should not be able to escape hell, and therefore cannot divulge his secrets to the people still living (Alighieri, 61-66). This reflects J. Alfred’s willingness to lament to the reader since the reader has no means to share his secrets with those in his world. With the reader being Dante in this analogy, it puts Prufrock in the position of Guido da Montefeltro, the damned soul speaking to Dante. While Guido is not alive, his soul is technically still living, having to endure torture for his mortal misdeeds. Similar to how Prufrock is a searing soul inside a decaying body, evidenced by the lines “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair” (Eliot, 40) and “(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)” (Eliot, 44). Meanwhile, Prufrock’s inner psyche is tormented by thoughts such as “though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed” (Eliot, 81) and saying his place in life is “Almost, at times, the Fool.” (Eliot, 118). These descriptions of himself develop the idea that Prufrock is likewise in a figurative Bolgia of hell, unwilling or unable to climb out, and so, like Guido, confesses his woes. Prufrock is, however, physically more alive than
Most likely intentional, the entire poem can be considered a metaphysical conceit designed to create pathos: Eliot uses the extended metaphor of Prufrock not acting, except mentally, and thus dying alone as the objective correlative for Prufrock’s anxiety of choice and consequent despair.
T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock has a plethora of possible interpretations. Many people argue that the poem represents a man who appears to be very introverted person who is contemplating a major decision in his life. This decision is whether or not he will consummate a relationship with someone he appears to have an attraction to or feelings for. People also debate whether or not Prufrock from the poem is typical of people today. While there are a plethora of reasons Prufrock is not typical of people today the main three reasons are he is very reserved, he overthinks most situations and he tries avoid his problems instead of solve them.
The poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” written by T.S. Eliot is a depiction of sadness and a disillusioned narrator. While reading this poem, one senses that the narrator is disturbed and has maybe given up hope, and that he feels he is just an actor in a tedious drama At the very beginning of the poem, Eliot uses a quote from Dante’s “Inferno”, preparing the poem’s reader to expect a vision of hell. This device seems to ask the reader to accept that what they are about to be told by the poem’s narrator was not supposed to be revealed to the living world, as Dante was exposed to horrors in the Inferno that were not supposed to be revealed to the world of the living. This comparison is frightening and intriguing, and casts a shadow on the poem and its narrator before it has even begun. J. Alfred Prufrock is anxious, self-concsious, and depressed.
In conclusion, after exploring the theme of this poem and reading it for myself, Eliot has created this persona, in industrialised England or somewhere else. A man of low self-esteem, you embark his journey as he struggles with a rational fear of being rejected by a woman. Which gives the reader sympathy to Prufrock, as he lives within his own personal
It is not hard to see the love that that J. Alfred Prufrock has for a women in T.S. Eliots poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Specifically, he uses vivid descriptions to show his desire for her. With each stanza describing a different illusion, but each showing his tremendous love her. Three allusions stood out to me because they showed that nothing else in the world mattered except her. Although there are many allusions, three stood out among the rest, because of there way of making the reader feel about that one person that makes them feel the same as J. Alfred Prufrock.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” tells the speaker’s story through several literary devices, allowing the reader to analyze the poem through symbolism, character qualities, and allusions that the work displays. In this way, the reader clearly sees the hopelessness and apathy that the speaker has towards his future. John Steven Childs sums it up well in saying Prufrock’s “chronic indecision blocks him from some important action” (Childs). Each literary device- symbolism, character, and allusion- supports this description. Ultimately, the premise of the poem is Prufrock second guessing himself to no end over talking to a woman, but this issue represents all forms of insecurity and inactivity.
T.S. Eliot has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. His poem“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is different and unusual. He rejects the logic connection, thus, his poems lack logic interpretation. He himself justifies himself by saying: he wrote it to want it to be difficult. The dissociation of sensibility, on the contrary, arouses the emotion of readers immediately. This poem contains Prufrock’ s love affairs. But it is more than that. It is actually only the narration of Prufrock, a middle-aged man, and a romantic aesthete , who is bored with his meaningless life and driven to despair because he wished but
Eliot uses a number of notably modern techniques to construct his 'love song' which is, ironically, not a lyrical praise of beauty or confession of undying devotion. Instead, the reader is invited to explore the mind of a nervous man, presumably middle-aged due to the reference the "bald spot in the middle of [his] hair" (40), who is apprehensive about attending social functions where "the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo" (13-14). This refrain, repeated in lines 35-36, represents the nature of the socialites that Prufrock encounters, individuals that use an i...
The title T. S. Eliot chose for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is ironic. Mr. Prufrock does not love anyone, nor does he believe he is loved. He has disdain for the society of which he wishes he were a part, and he believes society views him no differently. The imagery of Mr. Prufrock's thoughts provide the audience a more detailed insight into his character than had Mr. Eliot simply listed Mr. Prufrock's virtues and flaws. Mr. Prufrock is seen as an exaggeration or extreme for the sake of literary commentary, but the world has many Prufrocks in many differing degrees, and T. S. Eliot has made them a little easier to understand.
The theme of Prufrock is the negative, individuality repressing effect that society has on its people. The Prufrock persona illustrates this, he is alienated by the inane social rituals that define his life, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” and make it insignificant and useless. The Waste Land’s theme is that the world, in particular western civilisation, is a culturally and spiritually barren place. Society is portrayed as a pile of “…stony rubbish…”, the ruins of a once great city now reduced to rubble where nothing can grow. Lives mean nothing, but the poem also offers hope through a return to basic religious values, ending with the repeated chant of “Shantih shantih shantih”, which means, “the peace which passeth understanding”. The poems both portray the same basic idea, but they have two main differences. Firstly, there is the way in which the themes are expressed. In Prufrock , Eliot uses a persona as an example of the debilitating effect of living with so many expectations, rules, standards and meaningless rituals has on a the individual. In many ways, this is a very effe...