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T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T.S. Eliot. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Imagery
T.S. Eliot. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Imagery
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Recommended: T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T. S. Eliot introduces “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” with an Italian quote, which is undoubtedly not indicative of a love song. Essentially, alerting the reader to an impending twist to their early expectations, regarding the title. The epigraph is an excerpt from Dante’s Inferno, Canto 27.61-66. In the Eighth Circle of Hell, Count Guido has been damned for all eternity due to giving fraudulent guidance, and when he meets Dante (who he also believes to be damned), Guido divulges his identity and his sins (Raffa). If one doesn’t take the time to translate the epigraph, the poem could seem bewilderingly incongruous with its title about love. Nonetheless, if one investigates the Inferno epigraph, there’s the impression that Eliot’s poem …show more content…
In the epigraph, Guido speaks of his sins due to his perception that living people won’t hear about them, and will therefore still hold him in regard, as he believes Hell is eternal, and that Dante is unable to leave (Raffa). Prufrock equates his life to an unrelenting hell, close to that of Guido’s. “Prufrock’s appropriation of these lines [Inferno epigraph] might suggest a similar horror to being quoted” (McCullough). When addressing the “other” other side of himself, Prufrock’s inner-thoughts are uncomfortable secrets, ones he’s hesitant to reveal to others. Though uneasy at revealing his secrets, he could think the revelations are in vain, for he sees everyone as damned and living double lives. Akin to Prufrock’s different facades, and his need to wear masks, to avoid dealing with reality. The private mask of rejection and contempt for himself and society, and a public mask of conformity. All to avoid more uninvited attention of his inadequacies. “Like Count Guido, the fraudulent Prufrock is also a self-deceiving man who uses hyperboles to avoid a situation” (Mandal and Arindam 3). Deception comes in many forms and incorporates lies, pretenses, and facades. This exemplifies how Prufrock and countless other people have different aspects of their identity, a public persona and one kept hidden. Prufrock claims that there’s …show more content…
“Life is an ironic picture, a meaningless pattern endlessly repeated everywhere. The epigraph indicates [Prufrock’s] view of life’s futility, since death is inevitable” (Anderson and Walton 234). Prufrock’s reflections on mortality and aging lead him to become regretfully aware of wasted time, but also the pointlessness in making life decisions. Prufrock wants to postpone making any choices when he states, “Time for you and time for me / And time yet for a hundred revisions” (Eliot 31-32). Prufrock’s time on earth is finite, as is everyone’s. Despite this, he continues to show inaction in making changes to his life. In the Hell of the Inferno, the damned repeat the same actions over again, as a sentence for their meaningless lives, whereas Prufrock is trapped in inaction and a life that never varies. He’s aware that his life measures up as small and unimportant and relates this with the sentiment of “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” (Eliot 51). He’s too scared to take chances, so he continues living a rigid life filled with mundane social routine. Though Prufrock’s emotional paralysis and emptiness stop him from making changes, it can’t stall time. He sounds mentally exhausted when he acknowledges “I grow old … I grow old …” (Eliot 120). Prufrock has an emotionally draining life, as one without
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...
Prufrock's dissatisfaction with his personal appearance is evidence of an underlying lack of self-confidence. Not only is he unhappy with the way he looks, having "To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;" but he is constantly afraid of what others will have to say about him: "(They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!')"(41) and "(... 'But ho...
T.S. Eliot’s breakthrough poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is expertly crafted to have a complex structure with various hidden themes. The poem acts as an inner monologue for the titular character, appearing as lyric-narrative poetry. However, it does appear to lean towards a lyric poem, with the hazy plot consisting of Prufrock describing what his life has been like, in retrospect to speculating on what is to come next. The monologue throughout is melancholy in nature, with Prufrock dwelling on issues such as unrequited love, his frail body, his looming demise, and a dissatisfaction with the modernist world. Eliot uses a variety of metaphor within the poem to showcase Prufrock’s indecision, between being unable to fully live, while
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 ...
For example in the poem he says, “…Time to turn back and descend the stair, With a bald spot in the middle of my hair- [They will say: “How his hair is growing so thin!] My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, My necklace rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin- [They will say:” But how his arms and legs are so thin!”]…” This quotation is an example of Prufrock overthinks situations. He wants to go to the party and ask a question but cannot stop thinking about if he will be judged by the people at the party because of his hair balding and thin body. But a typical person today would acknowledge the fact that the people who will attend the party will be concerned with the party they are attending rather than minor details on him. This is another instance where Prufrock is not typical of people today. People today do tend to over think things but Prufrock takes it to another level with overthinking about things normal people wouldn’t and allows it to affect each choice he makes even the simplest ones in his
Eliot paints a picture of the opening scene that depicts a drab neighborhood of cheap hotels and restaurants where Prufrock lives in his solitary gloom. He invites the reader to make a visit with him to a place that Prufrock imagines is filled with women having tea and engaging in conversation. Prufrock procrastinates on the visit and says, 'There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet:'; (lines 26-27) indicating to the reader that he is afraid of showing his real self to these participants. He further indicates his hesitation by stating, 'Time for you and ...
Eliot and Kafka characterize their respective characters as having negative self-images, a prior lack of success, and as being fundamentally lonely. Prufrock views himself as undesirable, and his self-image seems to grow worse with age. While Prufrock has the chance early on to make something of his life, he sits in a room, presumably one in which there is a display of artwork, and “the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” (ll. 13-14). Prufrock goes by unnoticed next to what could be the beautiful works of Michelangelo. It can especially be presumed that he feels inadequate next to the Statue of David, a sculpture for which Michelangelo is famous. As time goes on, his feelings of inadequacy increase when he begins to fear what others will think of his aged appearance, for “They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin!’” and “They will say: ‘But how his arms and legs are thin!’” (ll. 41, 44). Prufrock’s lack of self-confid...
He does not ask questions such as a “Do I dare?” The poem also relates Prufrock’s shameful life to Dante’s Inferno. In regards to the fact that he is in a dark lonely place where his life has no meaning and has little sureness in himself. Dante’s is confined to hell, where Prufrock is living a lonely life within the city. Another reference to Dante’s Inferno quotes a false counselor in Hell who will tell his crime only to those he thinks will keep it a secret. Prufrock, too, would not want his story of his life to be known he wants to create “To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet” but what he has to hide is insignificant. There is also reference to the Italian renaissance painter Michelangelo with the women coming and going talk to Michelangelo, that gets you to think that these women can be those of higher class. This may be in regards to the fact that Prufrock may be afraid of the fact that he will not fit the needs of these
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.
Prufrock’s insecurities make him feel like an outsider. “In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.” He wants to approach the young
Prufrock’s social world is initially revealed as he takes the reader on a journey. Through the lines 1-36, the reader travels with Prufrock through the modern city and its streets as we experience Prufrock’s life and explore his surroundings through his eyes. From the very beginning, the city is portrayed as bleak and empty with no signs of happiness. The setting as Prufrock walks through the street appears to be polluted, dirty, and run-down, as if it is the cheap side of town, giving the feeling of it being lifeless, still, eerie, sleepy and unconscious. Eliot uses imagery, from the skyline to half-deserted streets, to cheap hotels to sawdust restaurants to demonstrate the loneliness and alienation the city possesses. The city Prufrock resides in is, in a way, a shadow of how he is as a person, and the images of the city speak to some part of his personality. Just as the skyline is described as “a patient etherised upon a table” (3), it foreshadows and hints that Prufrock has an...
...ing line the eloquently depicts the act of daydreaming and having a quiet fantasy abruptly disturbed by reality (131-133). It is only in his ruminations that Prufrock can escape the demands of society and the expectation of rejection.
In conclusion,the cycle of this poem is wonderfully expressed in line 51, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." This signifies that he has broken down his entire life into small episodes. Prufrock's failure to act leaves him in fantasy world dominated by insecurity. Prufrock is afraid of himself and others; therefore, he is unsure of what to do and afraid to commit to any particular choice of action (Hart, pp. 174-80). He reveals his innermost thoughts to the reader, but ultimately accepts his own indecision and cowardice. McNamara's article articulates that the world of the poem is limited to a single consciousness.
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...