Eliot 's The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is a poem unlike any I have ever read before. The poem starts off with the speaker taking what seems to be a potential lover along for a walk. The speaker first describes their surroundings and says that “the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherized upon a table” and that “the streets follow like a tedious argument”. The sky is described as someone who has been anesthetized, someone who can’t feel anything. The streets are like an argument, something that can tear two people apart. The similes used make the setting seem dark and dreary. The speaker then brings up that he has a question he wishes to

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 his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot subtly conveys a wide variety of Prufrock’s emotions; he creates pathos for the speaker by employing the “objective correlative,” which Eliot defines as “a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events [that] shall be the formula of that particular emotion” (“Hamlet and His Problems”).

“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.

Not only do these poems share differences through the speakers childhood, but also through the tones of the works.

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.

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.

Unlike other forms of literature, poetry can be so complex that everyone who reads it may see something different. Two poets who are world renowned for their ability to transform reader’s perceptions with the mere use of words, are TS Eliot and Walt Whitman. “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot, tells the story of a man who is in love and contemplating confessing his emotions, but his debilitating fear of rejection stops him from going through with it. This poem skews the reader’s expectations of a love song and takes a critical perspective of love while showing all the damaging emotions that come with it. “Song of myself”, by Walt Whitman provokes a different emotion, one of joy and self-discovery. This poem focuses more on the soul and how it relates to the body. “Song of myself” and “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” both explore the common theme of how the different perceptions of the soul and body can affect the way the speaker views themselves, others, and the world around them.

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

T.S Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is an examination of human insecurity and folly, embodied in the title's J. Alfred Prufrock. Eliot's story of a man's "overwhelming question", his inability to ask it, and consequently, his mental rejection plays off the poem's many ambiguities, both structural and literal. Eliot uses these uncertainties to develop both the plot of the poem and the character of J. Alfred Prufrock.

The use of allusions bring a sense of intimacy between reader and author. Prufrock wishes to be comforted.

T.S. Eliot, a notable twentieth century poet, wrote often about the modern man and his incapacity to make decisive movements. In his work entitled, 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'; he continues this theme allowing the reader to view the world as he sees it, a world of isolation and fear strangling the will of the modern man. The poem opens with a quoted passage from Dante's Inferno, an allusion to Dante's character who speaks from Hell only because he believes that the listener can not return to earth and thereby is impotent to act on the knowledge of his conversation. In his work, Eliot uses this quotation to foreshadow the idea that his

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 Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot and “To Julia De Burgos” by Julia de Burgos have very different stories but still share the same core message. They both represent that life is what you make of it, and whether you will be positive or negative will shape your experiences. The narrator of The Love song, shed some light into a very discouraging conscious full of internal conflict, which proves to be more than difficult to overcome. The narrator of To Julia represented the narrator as somebody very content and positive with themselves, which led her to a very pleasant and independent life.

The element of setting plays an important part in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot and "Something Whispered in the Shakuhachi" by Garrett Hongo as they give readers a sense of the narrators ' emotions and perspectives. Although the settings of both poems are presented in similar ways, they reflect on different aspects of the narrators ' mood.