Summary Of Prufrock's Love Song

The concept of identity is evoked through the complexity of human suffering evoked by Prufrock’s character. It parallels to Jeanette statements of Eliot having ‘a sensitive soul that he was easily overwhelmed by impressions, by situations, by events, by people’. This notion is apparent in the repetition of ‘Do I dare? repetitively questioning himself and his confidence on approaching women. The use of repetition ultimately represents Prufrock’s confidentiality which portrays his insignificance and loneliness. Despite this, Prufrock questions himself through the whole poem questions his identity thus creating an empathetic feeling towards his character due to his emotional suffering as he tries to find himsef. ‘I am no prophet / I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker … in short, i was afraid’, the biblical allusion to prophet reveals the idea that Prufrock cannot foreshadows his future revealing the notion that he had no ambition due to the rejection he had suffered. Therefore, lost of identity is exploited through the complex nature of human suffer as the persona loses her desire in the urban world. Eliot summarises Prufrock’s struggle with ‘I was afraid’, this creates an empathetic feeling towards the persona as Prufrock establishes the isolation she had suffered. Moreover, the

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.

T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” illustrates the poet’s fear of the fragmentation of modern society. In the poem, Eliot creates the persona of his speaker, J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock is speaking to an unknown listener. The persona of Prufrock is Eliot’s interpretation of Western society and its impotency at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. His views are modernistic, which idolize the classical forms while incorporating new ideas about psychology and the subconscious. Eliot illustrates his contempt for the faithlessness of modern society by illustrating its fragmentation with synecdoche, characterization of Prufrock, and allusions to literary traditions throughout the narrative. In his poem, Eliot illustrates his view of a great tradition that he is witnessing as it falls apart.

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

J. Alfred Prufrock has internalized all comments others have made about him – regarding his appearance and age – which in turn influence his thoughts throughout the poem. J. Alfred Prufrock describes his dislike in himself, in his appearance, such that he feels he looks too old. J. Alfred Prufrock repeatedly returns to his appearance such as, while lamenting over his decision, when he describes “a bald spot in the middle of [his] hair” (Eliot 7. 40), demonstrative of his feelings that he looks too old. He then goes on to say “(They will say: ‘How his hair is growing thin’)” (Eliot 7. 41), in reference to others who have made comments about him. J. Alfred

THESIS: In his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot shows readers that Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) can ruin a man’s life and send him into a spiraling pit of anxiety and depression.

Prufrock is a character who is stuck inside his own mind and feels as if he is unable to get anyone. He appears to hang in shady areas, shown in the opening stanza, “Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,/ The muttering retreats/ Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” (4-6) as he watch artsy women mingle that area. He is in this battle of desire and the lack of confidence. The lack of confidence is all in his mind as he is worried women will view him as unattractive based on physical appearance. As he watch women he says,“(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”) (41), which is entirely in his head. He beats himself up because he is blind to the reality. He has no courage to pursue anything and anyone, therefore, he rather stay stuck single and lonely. He continues to be hard on himself, “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be” (111). This type of treatment toward himself continues throughout the poem. He is in this world that is pure fantasy. He refuses to leave and pursue any sort of truth. Eliot is a dreamer because there is no cling to truth, but the only truth that this poem shows is the fact that there are major

Prufrock assures himself that he has enough time to do what he wants, “and time for all the works and days of hands” (Eliot 27-28). In this text, Prufrock alludes to Hesiod’s Works and Days, a poem that emphasizes the importance of making life meaningful and worthwhile, by having nothing held back in life, and living with no regrets. Contrast to the theme of Works and Days, Prufrock lives his life constantly regretting everything and has a meaningless life. Prufrock’s pressure to talk to women stems from wanting to seize the day and make his life fruitful and happy, but is more comfortable not trying than having a chance of failure. Prufrock explains how he can change his impression with a few minor changes, “For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse” (Eliot 34). In this text, Prufrock talks about how he can reverse time in terms of his feelings, how he can be unhappy, happy, and unhappy in seconds because of his decisions, and the revisions of those decisions. Prufrock explains what goes through his head when he talks about women, and how systematically he analyzes himself. Prufrock is a man who enjoys leisure, and his approach to women is very uptight and systematic, which is polar to his true self. Even if Prufrock makes the right decisions and revisions in talking with women, he will not be fulfilled with that women until he is his true, relaxed self. The narrator sets the tone of the poem To His Coy Mistress, “Had we but world enough and time” (Marvell 1). Throughout the entire poem, Prufrock consistently talks about his fading youth, and how he says that there will be time. This talk of time and a carpe diem theme alludes to Andrew Marvell’s poem, To His Coy Mistress. Similar to the narrator,

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

Prufrock is so forlorn that he asserts ‘I should have been a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas’. This denotes his self-pitying manner and announces that he places himself at the bottom of the social order, ‘floors of silent seas’ being the lowest point one can reach before descending into the molten core of the earth. He compares himself to a crab, a detritus feeder that cannot hunt its own prey and instead relies on scavenging the victories of others. Crabs are also solitary animals and this is perhaps Eliot having Prufrock admit that there isn’t time and he resigned to a life alone. ‘Scuttling’ is a verb that suggests sideways movement, highly indicative of Prufrock’s inertia and failure to move forwards with his life. His emasculation was typical of men in his day, affected by the aftershocks of the Great War, where they struggled to find their place in a radically altered society, where the foundations of the once great British Empire were crumbling. Prufrock is so concerned with his masculinity that he is hypersensitive to the voices of others, which say “but how his arms and legs are thin”. He feels that he does not represent the masculine ideal that women who talk ‘of Michelangelo’ desire. Prufrock’s tale is made immeasurably tragic when he claims ‘I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.’ The fact that he can even begin to think of measuring his life indicates how little he has achieved. ‘Coffee spoons’

In the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, the reader is being taken along with the main character, J. Alfred Prufrock, as he goes about his evening of life contemplation and self-evaluation. During the reading of this poem, one learns about Mr. Prufrock’s character and the current dilemma that he puts himself in. Mr. Prufrock is often seen throughout this poem with a pessimistic view on his current situation in life, explaining how he’s “measured out [his] life with coffee spoons;” and how he’s “seen the moment of [his] greatness flicker,”. With this idea about himself he begins to point out his flaws that others seen in him such as his “...bald spot in the middle of [his] hair-” and “how his arms and legs are thin!”. Due to this point-of-view towards life and himself, the speaker creates a very bleak attitude towards the way he currently lives and this ultimately leaves him to a desire to change himself or, in his words, “disturb the universe”.

This poem relates Prufrock's problems as they consume him, introducing a very psychological edge to this poem, allowing the reader to consider the emotional state of Prufrock, as he emotionally and mentally tears himself down. As shown in Eliot’s poem, modernism carries itself throughout the whole story. For one, Eliot used a term called move toward universality. Eliot uses J. Alfred Prufrock as a representative example of an urban man attempting to make sense of the world around him. As such, Eliot’s poem shows a move toward considering modernist poetry as a way for readers to understand the world around them, and not simply a way for reflecting on their own unique

The realistic narrative of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock as told by T. S. Eliot invited readers into the mind of an old man as he struggled against the social norm created by the new youth. As “the eternal footman” (Eliot 720) approached the aging, but relatable man, Prufrock began to question the world around him that was changed by the youth, but he failed to change with society, creating the mental prison he cannot escape.

J. Alfred Prufrock is not your standard heroic “alpha-male. He is a representation of the typical modern man. Prufrock is overeducated, fearful, timid, overly sensitive, and graceful. Throughout the poems, he continuously ponders lost opportunities and unanswered questions. This is the modern man, not strong and silent but weak and accessible. He represents the modern man by openly displaying disappointment and vulnerability. The modern man has lost sight of the quality of life and the truly important things in life. The character, J. Alfred Prufrock, represents all characteristics of a modern man; He is obsessed with his appearance and how much and how fast he is aging.