Being different from society often leads to exclusion and the over complication of even the smallest things. Due to a constant existing fear of society's response to what an individual may feel, an individual may maintain a feeling of isolation and would not want to demonstrate their feelings. When someone is different, they question every move they make because of how everyone else might react to the situation. T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is about a well educated and modern man who wants to ask a woman a very significant question. In the poem, it never specifically says what the question is, but it is likely about marriage or about her feelings for Prufrock. Prufrock is a middle aged and lonely man that has doubts over whether he should ask her or not, due to the fact that society will criticize him. Due to the fact that Prufrock knows that society is cruel and unforgiving, he chooses not to interact with the women in the end. Throughout the poem he continually ponders …show more content…
Prufrock is a well educated and shy man, but he is also able to notice the flaws in society. He is able to realize how people are materialistic and focus too much on what they have, rather than the bare necessities of human interaction. Everyone must learn to communicate effectively, but people are too cruel to see past just what they see on the surface. Prufrock’s able to witness distinctions between society and himself, but at the same time he is only setting himself apart from everyone else. His looks and thoughts set him apart from society, but he realizes that he will never really fit in, so he does not bother trying to be someone he is not. The idea of fear from what others have to say about Prufrock and what the woman might say is what, in the end, causes him to keep to himself, while at the same time remaining his true
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” the reader can clearly understand that T.S Eliot is straightforward as one can get within a poem. In the beginning of the poem, one can infer that Prufrock is being used as a facade to convey Eliot’s inner self who is an introvert that doesn’t quite fit in with the modern day society. “Prufrock” sees his personal life as a burden that he cannot mend while he tries to conform into the middle class society that everyone views as pristine. Meanwhile, being scrutinized by others he has also deemed himself as weak and unworthy of life. We are choosing to shed light on Eliot 's inadequate personal life and on how others perceive him as well as how he perceives himself, within
T.S. Eliot characterizes his speaker in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” based on his own personal experiences. In 1915, Eliot wrote one of his most famous poems as a skeptic (Schneider 1103). He constantly questioned the meaning of human life and the reasons why human beings were created at all. In the same way, Prufrock also has a difficult time in finding the purpose of his long life. The speaker of this poem takes the reader on a journey so that maybe the listener can aid him in finding meaning to his life. Throughout T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the narrator is overwhelmed by the nothingness in his life through the characterization of himself, the wandering to many different settings, and the feeling of death approaching him.
In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the speaker, Prufrock feels alienated
Society gives us a set of unspoken rules and regulations that must be abided by or else society becomes ones own worst enemy; thus is Eliot's' message in his poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." This poem has been given a cynical voice in which Eliot tries to convey his message of modern society and its expectations. He is in a position in which he knows what the flaws in society are but does not have the courage or the ability to convey the message to the rest of the people. He fears what "they" might say and how "they" will treat him, will ruin him if he exploits society. Eliot gives evidence of the mockery society exhibits in line 41: "They will say: `How his hair is growing thin!'"(775) He knows that there are certain things
American born poet, T.S. Eliot reflects modernistic ideas of isolation, individual perception and human consciousness in his many poems. His poems express the disillusionment of the post–World War I generation with both literary and social values and traditions. In one of Eliot’s most famous poems, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” which was published in 1915, a speaker who is very unhappy with his life takes readers on a journey through the hell he is living in. In this journey, Prufrock criticizes the well-dressed, upstanding citizens who love their material pleasures more than they love other people, while explaining he feels ostracized from the society of women. Eliot’s use of isolation, human consciousness and individual perception is quite evident in his dramatic monologue within the story of J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock wants to be seen as a normal citizen who can find friends or a lover, but his anxiety-driven isolation forces him to live a life that relates more to Hell than paradise. In over examining every fine detail of his life, Prufrock perceives himself as useless and even a waste of life. By using many poetic devices including repetition, personification, and imagery Eliot drives readers to feel the painful reality of Prufrock’s life. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S Eliot uses modernistic ideas and poetic devices to portray how Prufrock’s life relates to Hell while simultaneously criticizing social aspects of the younger post–World War I generation.
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.
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
We may never be given a second chance to do something daring ever again so we seize the day! However, people like in J. Alfred Prufrock make the attempt to do but it doesn’t work. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” written by T.S. Elliot, essentially is about a simple man that wishes to ask a question, although the question is never revealed, the reader is taken on journey the with the speaker, only to find that they have spent a lengthy amount of time of their lives without ever asking the question. Even more so, this poem is illustrates the idea that we must confront reality and take advantage or never take the chance. This claim is supported through poetic and rhetoric elements, such as repetition, and symbolism.
In The Love Song by T.S. Eliot, the imagery and symbolism that are shown have a deeper meaning than one may realize. At the beginning of the poem, Eliot uses an epigraph from Dante’s Inferno, which ultimately can be taken as Prufrock referring to how his self-doubt and 1over thinking are a living hell for him. Throughout the poem, Prufrock is in a daydream state of mind, until the very end when someone brings him back to reality and he drowns. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot exposes Prufrock’s insecurities and feelings in a way that he could not have done himself by adding meanings and hidden symbolism throughout the entire poem.
When reading the title of T.S Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” it is believed we are in store for a poem of romance and hope. A song that will inspire embrace and warmth of the heart, regretfully this is could not be further from the truth. This poem takes us into the depths of J. Alfred Prufrock, someone who holds faltering doubt and as a result may never come to understand real love. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” takes us through Prufrock’s mindset and his self-doubting and self-defeating thoughts. With desolate imagery, a tone that is known through the ages and delicate diction we see a man who is insecure, tentative and completely fearful.
In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," T. S. Eliot reveals the silent insecurity of a man, for whom the passing of time indicates the loss of virility and confidence. Throughout the poem, Prufrock struggles with his fear of inadequacy, which surfaces socially, physically and romantically. The desire to ask some "overwhelming question," of the one he wants is outweighed by his diffidence, reinforcing his belief in his shortcomings. Ultimately, this poem is the internal soliloquy of someone who attempts to know what he wants and how to get it, but whose social paralysis and lack of self-assuredness prevents either of these possibilities.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is not a love song at all—but an insight into the mind of an extremely self-conscious, middle-aged man. Prufrock struggles in coping with the world he is living in—a world where his differences make him feel lonely and alienated. Eliot uses allusions and imagery, characterization, and the society Prufrock lives in to present how Prufrock partly contributes to his own alienation. Our ability of self-awareness separates us from other species, making humans more intelligent and giving people the upper hand in social settings, but, like Prufrock, it can sometimes cause us to feel alienated.
Additionally, Prufrock is surrounded by a scene where impermanence reigns, where “women come and go talking of Michelangelo” and people seem less than eager to understand that time is of the essence. Prufrock longs to repeatedly convince himself that “there will be time” for anything he wishes to do, be it “murder and create” or “prepare a face to meet the faces that [he will] meet” (Eliot 27-28). However, he understands the precariousness of time, namely that it is a precious, finite resource that does not allow for an infinite number of modifications to one’s own life. A “hundred…revisions” to Prufrock’s lifestyle would not really matter if all of these are delicate enough such that “a minute will reverse” them anyway (Eliot 33, 48). Prufrock understands the grim underlying reality that there is not much time after all and implies this society in which he lives is drenched in its “empty fullness of its life” (Schneider 1104). In fact, the promise of time is a false consolation here, a “pathological insistence” by Prufrock to scrape up the seconds as they quickly fall through his fingers (Cahill 8).
On the contrary, Prufrock makes no attempt to overcome his insecurities, while he, instead, blames himself for his cowardice. Furthermore, he finds consolation in women’s ridicules and hostility due to the fact that they pay him some degree of attention. At this point, the narrator’s social anxiety and sexual frustration is readily apparent to everyone.
The Modern Poetry Era (1914-1945) was a time filled with many new and revolutionary poets. Of these poets was a man named T.S. Eliot, whom was considered by many to be the most significant poet of his time.