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'The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock' By T. S.

Decent Essays

In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T. S. Eliot was sure to represent the Modernism Era. A key characteristic of the Era was having a pessimistic attitude. “Prufrock experienced the feelings of loneliness that the poem examined,…” (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”). Why is Prufrock so pessimistic? Even though some may think he is optimistic, I think Prufrock is pessimistic because he keeps talking himself out of asking his big question, questions his social acceptance, and by how gives up and accepts his failure. The first indication is by how J. Alfred Prufrock keeps talking himself out of his question. “The poem resonates on his inadequacy, the hesitancy in which he poses scenarios and then rationalizes inaction” (Gillam). As a reader, we keep asking …show more content…

The last indication is by how he gives up. The main point of the poem is based on how the narrator never asked his question. He never asks it because he is afraid of what her answer will consist of. He has convinced himself that she will say “that is not what I meant at all; That is not it, at all” (Eliot). “Instead, he accepts the onslaught of old age and decides that no romance awaits him” (Lewis). Prufrock has lost all hope in himself and in his future, due to his pessimistic attitude. Unlike optimistic, J. Alfred Prufrock is pessimistic due to talking himself out of his question, becoming concerned over social acceptance, and by giving up to acknowledge his defeat. “Eliot’s poetry examined the feelings of loneliness, alienation, and frustration that many people felt living in impersonal modern cities” (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”). Everyone in the Modernism Era experienced hardships and had pessimistic attitudes; (just like Prufrock) they were convinced that there was no escaping

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