T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (commonly referred to as “Prufrock”) poem marked a time period in literary history where the Nineteenth century Romantic era collided with the Twentieth century modernist approach. “Modernist literature is characterized chiefly by a rejection of 19th-century traditions and of their consensus between author and reader” (Baldick 159). This collision, which led to a change between the traditional form of writing, helped to shape the new poetic aspects that lie within “Prufrock.” T.S Eliot’s "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" embodies the common characteristics displayed throughout all modernist poetry, being that: “modernism is a reaction against the modern” (Menand 1). For T.S. Eliot, this poem …show more content…
For symbolism, the underlying messages are presented through a series of specific words and details written such as color: “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes / The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” (15-16) or creatures, comparable to the crab Prufrock yearned to be: “I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (73-74). Throughout “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” these symbols reveal more about Prufrock’s character. The heavy description of “yellow fog” and “yellow smoke” resemble much of his mind: cloudy. As well as the use of the color yellow, a color a part of “the secondary group” described as “derivative and restrictive” (Ryan 141), links to cowardice, thus enhances the notion perceived by Prufrock’s character. Such words related to “silent” make it clear that Prufrock longs to be alone, isolated from the rest of the world, wishing to escape it all. Overall, the idea of symbolism displays the character’s life which in turn showcases that the poem is indeed related to
"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.
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
In T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, he describes a man who is self
T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. ed. M. H. Abrams New York, London: Norton, 1993.
By a correct reading of "Prufrock," I mean a reading consistent with the central theme of the poet's belief made mute because the poet lives in a culture of unbelief--that is, the "silence" of the poetic vision in modernity. Prufrock renounces his inherited, romantic role as "poet as prophet" and renounces poetry's role as a successor to religion. The future of poetry may have once been immense, but that future no longer exists for Prufrock, who is faced not only with the certainty of the rejection of his poetic vision but also with a situation in which there are no grounds for rhetoric: "That is not what I meant at all. / That is not it, at all." Fear of rejection leads Prufrock to the ultimate silencing of the prophet and hero within himself, to being "a pair of ragged claws." He cannot share his poetic vision of life: to do so would threaten the very existence of that life. Paradoxically, not to share his light, his "words among mankind," threatens the loss ...
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
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.
This gives the persona paranoia as he thinks he’s not sculpted to perfection. When the poem was written, industrialisation boomed into new proportions, including mass production of items used by society. Eliot suggests an element of ‘Victorian London’, he expresses how the fog manoeuvres through the city streets. “The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” The image of a cat seems strong to the reader’s mind, as it makes its way through the city streets, then curls up beside the fire. The smoke is given a colour (Yellow) which symbolises a form of ‘Cowardice’ which reflects Prufrock’s own emotions when interacting with a female.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is hardly a love song at all. That irony is clear in that the narrator’s voice is anxious, self-conscious, and depressed. It seems he has wasted his life or that life was wasted on him, and he regrets not being born as a creature that lives on the bottom of the sea. The very last lines of the poem,
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is one of the most influential poems of the twentieth century (Williams 49). It is certainly not a love song like any that had been written before. The second and third lines shock the reader because of their unusual imagery that would be out of place in a traditional love poem, describing the setting sunlit sky as looking "like a patient etherised upon a table" (Eliot 3). This "etherised" outside world is the key to understanding all of Prufrock's views. He is afraid of the increasingly industrialized and impersonal city surrounding him, and he is unsure of what to do and afraid to commit to any particular choice of action (Mays 112). Paralysis is the main theme of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
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.
Eliot, T.S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014.
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.
Prufrock, the narrator of the poem, is a middle-aged man who is living a life void of meaning and purpose. His thoughts are depressing as he mulls over his dull, uneventful life. One of his most crippling traits is cowardice. He's v...