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 …show more content…
For example, in the poem, Prufrock made mention of how “ There will be time, there will be time/ To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”(27-28). In the quote the image “Face” used, means a facade. What Prufrock is actually trying to say is that people in the society are not exactly what they portray to be and that everyone is just putting on a mask or putting on an appearance to cover up the unpleasant and credible reality of their lives. Therefore, he means that people only pretend to be who they are not and hide their real identity or personality. Consequently, since he believes that everyone is just putting on a facade, he then feels that he would also have time to be able to prepare himself to have another personality, he would portray when he meets other people who have also created another false identity of
"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, T.S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." An Introduction to Poetry. 13th ed. Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966. 369-372. Print.
prophet like Lazarus or a prince like Hamlet, and he slips into the safety of a
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.
On the surface, ?The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock? is about an older man who is distressed by his own inability to tell a woman of his desire for her. He tries to relay his feelings to her but comes up with all kinds of excuses not to, and ultimately does not. The speakers? real problem is not that he is just too timid to confess his love for this particular woman, it is that he has a somewhat unproductive, bleak life and has a lack of willpower and boldness to change that life.
Eliot, T. S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in An Introduction to Literature. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. 13 ed. New York: Longman. 2004. 937-940.
In T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock many people see Prufrock as the ultimate loser. He’s too scared to step out and take a chance to court a woman. He is bogged down with critizing homself. He is divided, wanting to sing with the women, but also wanting to hide away from everyone. But is he really such a loser? Many parts of his song say that this may not be the case.
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 Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, a poem created by the late T.S. Eliot was a poet in the 20th Century (when Europe was at its peak of industrialisation) and this is considered to be one of his highly regarded pieces alongside The Wasteland. This poem is a monologue of the persona of J. Alfred Prufrock, (the speaker of the poem) a middle aged man, intellectual and described with little self-confidence with himself who has problems in dealing with self-image and anxiety. He’s a solitary man who is achingly shy and has little courage, when isolated, he isn’t subjected to a social lifestyle and this halts him when it comes to speaking with a female. The title to me is ironic, Eliot titled it a ‘Lovesong’, therefore, the language used in the poem cements a theme of pessimism, as hardly anything is written on love.
Reinforcing the central idea of the poem through fragmentation techniques, and through commentary from Eliot about the social world of Prufrock, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot is of a man in a human connection voided modern society’s inability to take decisive action. Through Eliot’s fragmentation, the social world of Prufrock is seen as disordered, empty, repetitive, chaotic, judgmental, isolated and a couple others, but nonetheless, he painted a good portrait of the society and has a good sense of the society in which Prufrock inhabits.
Elliot, T.S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Compact 3rd ed. Eds. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1997. 781-785.
In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” T.S. Eliot uses a man named Prufrock to describe the uncertainties in life and how they affect a person’s views. Prufrock does not have the confidence to give or receive love. There is an equal amount of unhappiness to the concept of time and space. He is unsatisfied with life and with the decision to think rather than act.
The original form of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a poem, made up of poetic prose. Prose can vary in lexical makeup, which is decided by the writer, but usually consists of descriptions of subjects that allude to, and are analogous of, the underlying thoughts of the writer. This gives the lines a sense of vague beauty that allows the reader to interpret meanings in his/her own mind in contrast to simply spelling out the meanings. Poetry has the ability to evoke upon the reader a sense of reflection and deep thought in an effort to understand the message that the writer is delivering.
T.S. Eliot is often considered one of the greatest and most influential poets of the 20th Century. Not only were his highly regarded poems such as “The Wasteland” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” influential to the literary style of his time, but his work as a publisher highlighted the work of many talented poets. Analyzing his poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” with psychoanalytic criticism reveals several core issues in the speaker of the poem, and may reflect Eliot himself.
T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" reveals the unvoiced inner thoughts of a disillusioned, lonely, insecure, and self-loathing middle-aged man. The thoughts are presented in a free association, or stream of consciousness style, creating images from which the reader can gain insight into Mr. Prufrock's character. Mr. Prufrock is disillusioned and disassociated with society, yet he is filled with longing for love, comfort, and companionship. He is self-conscious and fearful of his image as viewed through the world's eye, a perspective from which he develops his own feelings of insignificance and disgust. T. S. Eliot uses very specific imagery to build a portrait of Mr. Prufrock, believing that mental images provide insight where words fail.