Analysis Of The Poem ' The Love Song Of J.alfred Prufrock '

By looking through a critical lens at T Stearns Eliot’s poetry in light of his 20th century, modernist context, much is revealed about his personal and the rapidly evolving societal beliefs of that era. Through his repeating motif of time and fragmentation throughout his poems, Eliot reveals the prevalent feelings of isolation while in society along with the need to hide one’s feelings and emotions in this degrading society. His exploration of the use of ambiguity and stream of consciousness by Eliot, which is a characteristic of modernist artists, allows his work to resound over decades while being interpreted and differently understood by every audience that encounters them.

Poetry can sometimes allow one to explore the unknown. However, in some works of poetry, one can realise that some known ideas or values remain relevant to current society. This is certainly applicable to T.S. Eliot’s poems, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Eliot’s manipulation of poetic techniques in both these poems allows the responder to realise that some ideas prevail in both modern and post-modern society. These poems explore the unknown phenomena of the obscurity regarding the purpose and meaning of life. This unknown phenomena causes the persona in both texts to resort to a sense of isolation or alienation. Eliot uses poetic techniques such as metaphors and personification to convey his ideas.

In T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the author is establishing the trouble the narrator is having dealing with middle age. Prufrock(the narrator) believes that age is a burden and is deeply troubled by it.. His love of some women cannot be because he feels the prime of his life is over. His preoccupation with the passing of time characterizes the fear of aging he has. The poem deals with the aging and fears associated with it of the narrator. The themes of insecurity and time are concentrated on. This insecurity is definitely a hindrance for him. It holds him back from doing the things he wishes to do. This is the sort of characteristic that makes Alfred into a tragic,

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is an ironic depiction of a man’s inability to take decisive action in a modern society that is void of meaningful human connection. The poem reinforces its central idea through the techniques of fragmentation, and through the use of Eliot’s commentary about Prufrock’s social world. Using a series of natural images, Eliot uses fragmentation to show Prufrock’s inability to act, as well as his fear of society. Eliot’s commentary about Prufrock’s social world is also evident throughout. At no point in the poem did Prufrock confess his love, even though it is called “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, but through this poem, T.S. Eliot voices his social commentary about the world that

Loneliness is a feeling that we have all felt here and there. A man in the poem “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot feels trapped which caused him to have disorders. Nothing has never changed from living in the same city and not using his time wisely. He tried numerous ways to approach women but his low self esteem stopped him from moving forward. Although Prufrock seems like a miserable person, Prufrock suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, and paranoia that caused him to feel this way.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Elliot and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner are both about feeling inadequacies in one’s self, in the eyes of loved ones or society. J. Alfred Prufrock, the speaker in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, feels inadequate for the woman whom he intends to propose to due to his age, appearance, and perceived self-worth, as well as inadequate for an ever-changing society he no longer fits into. J. Alfred Prufrock makes comments to and about himself throughout the story regarding these attributes in a way that implies he does not think highly of himself. Emily Grierson, the subject of A Rose for Emily also appears to feel inadequate for the modern society, as she was stuck in the past, and has self-doubt in herself due to her relationships with the significant men in her life.

   Upon reading Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the first question which sprang to my mind was the question of how Eliot, a poet who was in his mid-twenties at the time, was able to write a poem dealing with the problems of aging in such a penetrating manner. Upon closer examination, however, I realized that Prufrock's aging was only incidental to his central problem. Prufrock's major problem is a problem of existential anguish. Prufrock's doubts about aging at a dinner party are merely one example of this anguish, and this party brings his psychology into sharp focus when the reader examines closely the moment in which the poem's events occur.

1) In the poem “the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" Eliot, there is many lines that put forward J. Alfred Prufrock’s loneliness. Alfred is alone, and not only that but he is growing old alone. He has no one to look after him to make sure he is safe, no one to make him happy or bring company into his life, no wife, no children, and Alfred also seems as though he is not happy with himself. In lines 73 and 74 : ““I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas”, Alfred is downing himself by mentally and verbally putting himself in that particular setting. He seems to believe that he does not deserve to live a life with everyone else in the world and that he deserves to be in the position that he is. I think this is why he chose the ocean floors also; it is one of the most isolated places you can get. He wants to be far away from where he is because he does not fit in and feels like people are always judging him. Lastly, when he says “ragged claws” he is referring to a crab. Crabs have a protective shell that keeps them safe from the dangers around them. This represents Alfred’s view of the world being a hostile place to live. Also, crabs move sideways and cannot move backwards and forwards. Eliot may have used this as a reference to Alfred not being able to go back and change things even if he might want to.

J. Alfred Prufrock constantly lived in fear, in fear of life and death. T. S. Eliot divided his classic poem into three equally important sections. Each division provided the reader with insight into the mental structure of J. Alfred Prufrock. In actuality, Prufrock maintained a good heart and a worthy instinct, but he never seemed to truly exist. A false shadow hung over his existence. Prufrock never allowed himself to actually live. He had no ambitions that would drive him to succeed. The poem is a silent cry for help from Prufrock. In each section, T. S. Eliot provided his audience with vague attempts to understand J. Alfred Prufrock. Each individual reader can only interpret these

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a uniquely styled piece of literature.  In this poem Eliot employs a literary method of writing called "stream of consciousness."  This is a difficult method to grasp outside of the literary genre to attempt to understand it within the context of the higher language of poetry can further confuse readers.

To many, the allure of poetry lies in the chance to draw our own understandings and conclusions. In this paper, I will be discussing T.S Eliot 's "The love Song of Alfred Prufrock” in comparison to Allen Ginsberg 's "A Supermarket in California." The first poem, "The Love song of Alfred Prufrock" by T.S Elliot, talks about a man who is quite doubtful and insecure about himself who kept questioning whether or not breaking out of his comfort zone was worth it. The second poem, "A Super market in California" by Allen Ginsberg follows a trip to a supermarket in California that the author takes while addressing his friend with questions. This paper will include an extensive analysis of my own interpretation of these two poems as well as the

The human psyche has perpetually been characterized by a nagging sense of doubt. When one makes the decision to follow through (or, rather, not follow through) with an action, it is unlikely that he does so without questioning whether he made the right choice; this is recurring theme in literature, evident in works such as Crime and Punishment and A Separate Peace. T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock explores the universal nature of hesitation and self-doubt as part of the human condition primarily through apt use of metaphor, syntax, and allusion.

The poetry of T.S Elliot portrays the nature of human conditions through the use of experiences such as alienation and how this leads to spiritual vacancy and paralysis which allow his poems to retain an enduring value. In Both the ‘The Love song of J.Alfred Prufrock’ (Prufrock, 1915) and Prelude (1917), poetic language convey the loneliness of humankind in a physical and moral way. Through a study of Eliot’s poetic forms, features and critical reception, we can better understand the message portrayed.

Eliot’s poetry is often difficult to decipher or to pinpoint certain themes within a work. Throughout his poems, Eliot strives to reach a higher understanding of “reality” and explores the various perspectives of different people, implying that each individual has

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Elliot begins with a quote isolated from the poem, and extracted from Dante’s Inferno, “If I thought my answer were to one who could to return to the world, I would not reply at all, but as none ever did return alive from this depth, without fear of infamy I did answer thee” This quote acts a preface to the poem, it clearly outlines the author’s intention in writing. From this quote we can interpret Elliot’s poem as a letter from Alfred to his deceased lover. Based on the assumption that this poem is written to sooth Alfred’s conscious as he grieves, without the regard of unintended readers, we can then label the piece as a soliloquy. The beginning of Alfred’s soliloquy is marked by his statement, “when the evening is spread out against the sky, like a patient etherized upon a table” (lines 2-3). Alfred suggests that he is “etherized,” or anesthetized in a state similar to that of his lover. His lover is on the other side, and he is detached in a state of grief. Throughout the remainder of the poem, Alfred reflects on their relationship.