The Lovesong Of J Alfred Prufrock Analysis Essay

In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Elliot writes from the point of view of a lonely, antisocial middle age man named Prufrock, introspecting on the apathetic way he feels, resulting in his inability to propose marriage. The author uses a variety of techniques in his poem to help illustrate the type of man Prufrock is and to express his indecision, lack of initiative, and monotonous attitude toward life. From the start,Prufrock claims his purpose is to ask an important question, but only continues to beat around the bush, avoiding asking the question completely. Focusing on the fifth stanza of the poem, readers can easily gather the essence of the poem’s overall purpose through the allusions, repetition and imagery he uses.
Not only in the fifth stanza, but all throughout the poem, T.S Elliot mentions the

concept of time, and how he all the time in the world to ask his question. His mentioning of time is ultimately alluding to another literary work by Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress.” Elliot’s incorporation of Marvell’s poem serves the purpose of providing a juxtaposition to more effectively get the purpose of his own poem across; The purpose being to convince the reader that there is actually more than enough time,“Time for you and time for me. And time yet for a hundred indecisions…”(5,31-32) as opposed to Marvell’s claim that time is extremely limited, “Had we but world enough and time,”(To His Coy Mistress, line 1).
The allusion to “To His Coy Mistress,” is not only used as a juxtaposition, but T.S. Elliot also manipulates this idea along with the technique of repetition in order to portray Prufrock’s lack of initiative, his monotonous outlook on life,”...time yet for a hundred indecisions...for a hundred visions and revisions”(5,32-33). Prufrock stresses the excess amount of time he has as an attempt to justify the lack of action in his life. In this line, specifically, though, he is making up an excuse for why not to ask the question he mentioned in the beginning, which is a marriage proposal. Nevertheless, the idea is that Prufrock never really gets around to proposing. His manipulation of the juxtaposition of time along with repetition is introduced even before hitting the fifth stanza, which goes to show that it is very crucial to the understanding of the poem as a whole,”And indeed there will be time…”(4,1)
T.S.

Elliot also uses imagery to further illustrate the meaningless and empty life Prufrock leads. He uses very simple phrases to accompany his claims, in an effort to dismiss the actual importance of them , “...for a hundred visions and revisions, before the taking of a toast and tea.“ Elliot of course did not just choose to use this line because it followed the rhyme scheme of the poem, but because it supplies a certain effect to the stanza. Before using the line about “toast and tea” he is carelessly talking about the amount of time he has to make decisions and take action, which are two crucial responsibilities in life. He finishes it off with a very meaningless phrase about considering and reconsidering a decision “before the taking of toast and tea,” as if completely dismissing and remaining untouched by the actual importance of what it is to take action and make decisions in one’s life. Another instance, in which he uses imagery to communicate his purpose, is right at the beginning of the poem;He sets a sad, desolate mood right away with his description of “a patient etherized on the table,” “half-deserted streets,” and “restless nights”(1,

1-5).
T.S. Elliot cunningly steps into the shoes of the disillusioned J. Alfred Prufrock and constructs a poem illustrating all the introspective thoughts that could possibly burden a person like him. He manipulates each and every stanza, using allusions, repetition, and imagery to stress the helplessness Prufrock feels, in hopes of achieving a sense of pity from his audience.