The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

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Recommended: The love song of J Alfred Prufrock as a modern poem

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” draws attention to the idea that time is of the essence. On the surface, Prufrock is portrayed as a man who is incapable of making decisions and lacks self-confidence. This is evident through his passive nature, where he continuously delays having to talk to women because he believes there is enough time. Written in the era of modernism, the reader is capable of unraveling that the poem’s true purpose was not only to show Prufrock’s inability to make decisions when it comes to love, but to show the desolation that one faces in times of a modernistic transition. Eliot depicts Prufrock’s transition phase through a gloomy and solemn tone, incorporating imagery, metaphor and synecdoche to fully illustrate Prufrock’s despondent state of mind and spirit.
Prufrock invites us, the reader, through his journey of self-evaluation and self-examination, as he say’s “LET us go then, you and I.” He uses personification in lines 5, “the muttering retreats” to describe his surroundings as if it were alive. The "retreats" are not "muttering," but it seems that way because they are the kinds of places where you would run into muttering people. Also, the restless nights mentioned in lines 4 and 6, “let us go, through certain half-deserted streets/Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” allude to modernism—young people walking around at night, in and out of one-night cheap hotels. Another indication of the party and city-life is how observing Prufrock appears to be as he recalls seeing “sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells” (7). Being that sawdust is supposed to soak up liquid that is spilled on dance floors of restaurants, and oysters are aphrodisiacs, this suggests modernity.
The use of i...

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...p-of-the-surface interpretation of this poem, of a man who is unable to make decisions for himself, avoids answering the questions at hand, whilst time continues to move, aging him and making him depressed. Another interpretation is that because of the time period that Eliot is writing in, Prufrock feels suffocated yet very isolated by the transition to Modernism, as it is not something is comfortable with or used to before. The use of metaphor allowed us to realize there were innuendos in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” whereas through imagery, the reader can visualize the movement of time through Prufrocks visual changes in appearance.

Works Cited

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. T.S. Eliot. 1920. Prufrock and Other Observations." 1. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. T.S. Eliot. 1920. Prufrock and Other Observations. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.

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