Alfred J 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.

“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.

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.

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.

In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the speaker, Prufrock feels alienated

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

4. One of the most demanding aspects of this poem is its allusions, as Eliot expected his readers to be as well educated as he was. Some allusions are fairly accessible. The allusions to Michelangelo—an artist most people are familiar with—in line 14 and again in line 36 help us imagine the women Prufrock is talking about. The function of the less accessible allusions—such as “works and days of hands” (l. 29)—may serve a different purpose. Why might Eliot have included such esoteric allusions? How do they affect your reading of the poem?

The poem “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Eliot is one extended metaphor depicting the trials the character must go through in his attempt to achieve his quest for the ideal. In this case, the ideal is the world inhabited by the ladies he wants to talk to. The perils the character, Prufrock, has to contend with are low self-esteem and his fear of rejection. The poet illustrates his character’s low self-esteem with the image that Prufrock paints of himself as a man “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair” (39). Prufrock’s poor self-image is also evident in his

In “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock” the author, T.S. Elliot, uses various elements of fiction to describe Prufrock’s internal struggle as a priest who has abandoned celibacy and is struggling with this decision throughout this earnestly desperate lyrical poem. Through characterization, tone, theme and shifts The intro to this poem is a stanza from Dante’s Inferno, Canto 27, Dante meets Guido de Montefeltro who was absolved of his sins before they were committed by Pope Boniface VIII, yet still lies in the eighth circle of hell. He, similar to the narrator because of the shame and guilt he carries with these sins lead him to be dishonest and selfish when addressing Dante. J Alfred Prufrock is a priest engaging in his own confessional

Correspondingly, the next major theme of fear, seen throughout the poem also ties back into Prufrock not having much time left. By far the mans greatest issue and fear throughout the poem, is his inner turmoil over the fact that he is growing old. Prufrock states that when “I grow old… I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled” and “part my hair behind.” This expresses his inner fear of growing old and becoming much like the stereotypical old people when it comes to style and dress. By the same token, the last theme underscored throughout the poem is

In the poem, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", it does not take the form of an average “love song”. It appears to take the form of a dramatic soliloquy given to us by Prufrock. Throughout the poem, there are multiple poetic devices that lead you to the main point of the poem. The words “let us go” are repeated multiple times throughout the first stanza. The three times they are stated are, “LET us go then, you and I”(1), “Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets”(4), and “Let us go and make our visit”(12).

In “The Love Story of J. Alfred Prufrock” a self-conscious man tells of his story of love. Prufrock deals with him believing he isn’t good enough for some women and that he is growing old and running out of time to fall in love. Prufrock notice his flaws and stated them throughout his song. Prufrock sings a song of love but it is contradicting. His song is the contents of “a timid, middle-aged man, painfully self-conscious about his thinning hair and his emotional and physical limitations as a romantic suitor. Much of Prufrock’s personality and his journey are described in negative terms” (Loy). His love songs consist of many imperfections that aren’t very lovely. Prufrock talks about his idea of dates being “restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” (451), which doesn’t seem very romantic. Today if a male were to propose a one-night stay in a motel they would be completely rejected. Prufrock struggles with being romantic and is so self-conscious he cannot work on this imperfection.

A tragedy in a poem is usually characterized as an event that has a tragic or unhappy ending. They generally are used to teach morals or lessons.

While exploring his fantasy of a night out in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S. Eliot, Prufrock encounters insecurities he has developed with his age and experience. After knowing the thoughts and hearts of women, Prufrock fears rejections and wonders if he should even consider pursuing romance. Furthermore, Prufrock contemplates his chances of winning a romantic relationship with a woman and concludes that it would be a waste of time to attempt love because of his age and overall irrelevancy.