Theme Of The Lovesong Of J Alfred Prufrock

T.S. Eliot 's The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock, published in 1915, is a prime sample of Modernist literature: the reader must tease out and untangle its central themes in order to fathom what exactly it is about. But we 'll still never be totally sure - this is what makes Eliot 's writing style so unique and so highly regarded. The Modernist writers, with their predilection for the abstract, thrived on leaving their audiences in a state of confusion, as a means of mirroring the distress caused by the looming threat of destruction and war in the early twentieth century. It could be said that all writers rely on metaphor as they can be crucial to creative expression, but Eliot avoids convention in that instead of creating understanding for

He reflects that he "should have been a pair of ragged claws / scuttling across the floors of silent seas," - Prufrock wishes he could be enveloped by vast surroundings that would allow him to go on with his monotonous lifestyle, such as that of a crab, without feeling crippled by the judgement of those around him. That this sentence is in the past tense encapsulates the Modernist style of writing like a stream of consciousness so the narrator is able to contemplate his beginnings and his essence, and how these affect later events. The use of "ragged," demonstrates Prufrock 's discernment that he is barely held together, tattered by the trials of modern life. His craving for "silent seas," insinuates a desire to escape, to rid himself of the "muttering" that plagues his every move and reside in a haven of quietude. Perhaps in this environment he could make sense of the thoughts that distract

But the cat as an entire being is absent; only its parts - back, muzzle, tongue - and its actions - rubbing, licking, leaping - are the explicit representations of the animal. Eagleton 's theory, then, of the "transition from metaphor to metonymy,"3 is epitomised here. The metaphor of a cat has been broken down into a series of metonyms, of parts only related through contiguity, a perfect reflection of Prufrock 's descent into an inability to communicate his thoughts. Metonyms in place of metaphor are apparent in the entirety of the text - the humans, too, who appear are hollowed out into parts, appearing as disembodied arms and eyes but never whole beings. This language is a foreshadowing of Prufrock 's worst fear: that he will suffer a "reduction", to use Kenneth Burke 's term for metonymy, which he does, in fact. As Prufrock asks himself, "Do I dare / disturb the universe?" the dreaded 'they ' exclaim notions such as "How his hair is growing thin!" and "But how his arms and legs are thin!" - while he philosophises on such broad, universal questions, his decaying body parts are pointed out by the omnipresent voices and eyes. The conjunction "but" suggests a dismissal of the other qualities Prufrock possesses and instead a hyperfocus on his physicality: that he grows "thin" is but another reminder that