Prufrock Drowns in a Sea of Insecurity

1793 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Comment on “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," T. S. Eliot reveals the silent insecurity of a man, for whom the passing of time indicates the loss of virility and confidence. Throughout the poem, Prufrock struggles with his fear of inadequacy, which surfaces socially, physically and romantically. The desire to ask some "overwhelming question," of the one he wants is outweighed by his diffidence, reinforcing his belief in his shortcomings. Ultimately, this poem is the internal soliloquy of someone who attempts to know what he wants and how to get it, but whose social paralysis and lack of self-assuredness prevents either of these possibilities.

Eliot begins the poem with an epigraph from Dante's Inferno. "If I thought that my reply would be to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would remain without further movement; but as no one has ever returned alive from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I can answer you with no fear of infamy," (CowboyJunkies.com). These words, spoken to Dante, signify an important aspect of Eliot's poem--Prufrock's confused vacillation and neurotic ambiguity are entirely contained within his own mind, allowing them to occur without concern for the reaction of peers. Eliot chooses to emphasize the insecure nature of his character Prufrock throughout the text, exemplified in his self-questioning, "Do I dare...to turn back and ascend the stair, with a bald spot in the middle of my hair--they will say: `How his hair is growing thin!'" This concern over social perception strengthens the importance of the introductory message: Prufrock is desperately afraid of being rejected, and if he thought that his nervous wonderings would be heard by "someone who would return to Earth", or could repeat th...

... middle of paper ...

... and brown, till human voices wake us, and we drown." The chambers of the sea are the habitats of the beautiful women he has been surrounded by, but never known. They, Prufrock and his companion, "have lingered" in their social setting, surrounded by beautiful women and other beings worthy of passing judgment. This judgment passed upon such a sensitive ego will ultimately lead to Prufrock's downfall. He is woken from his private world of contemplation and tossed into a sea of his fears, of public rejection, to drown.

Works Cited

Eliot, T. S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Class handout.

The Love Son of J. Alfred Prufrock. 18 December, 2005. Cowboy Junkies. 15 April,

2006.http://www.cowboyjunkies.com/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=002954

Show More
Related

  • Comparing Winterbourne and Prufrock

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    "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.

    Read More

  • Pinned to the Wall: J. Alfred Prufrock and the Inability to Change

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before we are introduced to Prufrock himself, we notice that the initial scenes of this poem paint a landscape of apathy. The narrator mentions little about himself initially and beckons that we follow him down into a world without consequence “of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” (Eliot 6). The later “streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent” set the stage for Prufrock’s dilemma (ibid 9-10). Audrey Cahill says this scene foreshadows “Prufrock’s dialogue with himself, a dialogue which leads nowhere” and that thrusts the reader into meaningless chaos (6). Thus, even if these streets lead to an overwhelming question, the journey down them is rather mind-numbing and unnecessary if the answer gets us nowhere or, worse, merely emphasizes our own desolation. This is compounded by the appearance of a mysterious yellow catlike fog that “curled once about the house and fell asleep” (Eliot 22). Cahill also affirms that becaus...

    Read More

  • Comparison: Marriage, by Gregory Corso & The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T. S. Eliot

    2128 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Imageries And Metaphors In The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Prufrock by Eliot

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the end Prufrock realizes that the life he dreams of is out of his reach. He still imagines attaining his desired position but realizes that he isn't recognized in that world. "I do not think that they will sing to me." (125) He is in effect a man with no place in society and no identity. His "overwhelming question" remains unanswered and he can only dream about being part of that society he idolizes, "Till human voices wake us, and we drown." (131)

    Read More

  • 'The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock'

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who is destined to find the right women to with for the rest of his life. He always holds off finding the perfect women to another day, but time is ticking against him and he does not have much time left. In T.S. Eliot’s, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” Illustrates Prufrock’s inability to interact with women in the coffee shop, fear of being turned down, and the significance of love and time.

    Read More

  • T.S. Elliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

    1115 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, Eliot weaves several layers of symbolism into Prufrocks’s narrative. This ambiguity shows largely through the vehicle of the yellow fog, which Eliot personifies with cat-like characteristics using phrases such as, “…rubs its back…rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” and “…curled once about the house, and fell asleep” in reference to the mist (Eliot). This feline depiction of the city smog creates an eerie setting which serves to further the tone of unsteadiness in Prufrock’s ramblings. The seeping movements of the fog also mirror the uncontrolled movements of Prufrock’s thoughts and his polluted self-concept which causes him to question his every move to no end (Childs). The smog is uncontainable and indefinable, much like Prufrock’s emotions when dependent upon his non-existent actions (Childs). In another instance, Eliot breaks up the deep, incessant wanderings of the speaker’s mind with the phrase, “In the room the women come and go talking of Michaelangelo” (Eliot). These women symbolize the society in which Pr...

    Read More

  • The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock Analysis

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first one is how Prufrock wishes to be a crab “Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (73-74). By thinking this, Prufrock describes what his current life is like, a bystander not affecting anything or anybody. His human life is wasted for all the potential it had when he could have been a crab instead doing the same thing, which would be a fair life for a crab. Akin to the crab metaphor, Prufrock also states how he “shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk along the beach” (122). The white his trousers could signify the blankness that white represents, while a beach is an edge between land and ocean. The land is the world he belonged to in the past, while the sea is where he now feels he belongs by becoming a silent crab sunk beneath the depths. It can be gathered that Prufrock intends to clear his head like the whiteness of his trousers, and then to walk the line between the warm life he has known, and the cold slumber under the ocean. While Prufrock has been in agony overthinking this decision he decides the best course of action is to empty his thoughts and see what he

    Read More

  • The Midlife Crises in Death of a Salesman, Alfred J. Prufrock, and American Beauty

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eliot, T.S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1996. 2459-2463.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Love Song Of Prufrock

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Inadequacy In T. S. Eliot's The Love Song Of J.

    214 Words  | 1 Pages

    The main character of T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a man named J. Alfred Prufrock, who is extremely insecure. Prufrock clearly has an inferiority complex, throughout the poem he shows his feeling of inadequacy. For example, Prufrock is very concerned with his own appearance. Due to his inadequacies he is unable to enter into a romantic relationship with a woman. Prufrock often feels judge and scrutinized by women making it impossible to pursue any sort of relations with women. He eventually admits, “in short, [he] was afraid” (86). Prufrock keeps trying to convince himself that he has plenty of time to seize his opportunity with women, despite the fact that he “grow[s] old” (line 120). He not only feels anxious

    Read More

  • Analysis Of T. S. Eliot's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock

    733 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of The Lovesong Of J. Alfred Prufrock

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Character of J. Alfred Prufrock

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...r than to be some lower form of life (l. 73-74). Even in Mr. Prufrock's fantasy world at the beach, he acknowledges that he doesn't expect even the mermaids to sing to him (l. 125). He is unworthy in both worlds.

    Read More

  • The Inward Turn of Modernist Literature

    1707 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of T.S. Eliot’s earliest poems, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is a prime example of a text that takes a turn inwards in terms of conveying the experience it presents. The poem provides a look into the distressed mind of an archetypal modern man of the times. It does this using the speaker’s stream of consciousness presented as a dramatic monologue. Prufrock, the poem’s speaker, seeks to advance his relationship with a woman who has caught his eye. He wonders if he has “the strength to force the moment to its crisis” (Eliot, 80). Prufrock is so entrenched in self-doubt that he is uncertain whether he is capable of having a relationship with this woman. His knowledge of the world he lives in and his circumstances keep him from attempting to approach this prospective lover. He contemplates the reasons for which he believes he cannot be with her and scolds himself for even thinking that it was possibl...

    Read More

More about Prufrock Drowns in a Sea of Insecurity

Open Document