The love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem that tells the story of a man who once had the confidence to talk to women. The man loses confidence because of him getting shot down by women. The main dilemma of the poem is that Prufrock no longer has the confidence to talk to women and he becomes old and lonely because of this. The main dilemma is expressed through the speaker’s voice and the unusual syntax of the poem. The unusual syntax of the poem makes it so that it there is not a definite rhyme scheme and the repeated patterns to help emphasize the main dilemma. Throughout the poem the speaker’s voice changes as it shifts from Prufrock having the confidence to talk to women to him lacking the confidence to women. The unusual syntax of this poem is shown in the beginning of the poem when T.S. Eliot alludes to another poem. The alluded poem, Dante’s Inferno, shows Dante getting a tour in hell because of the plethora of sins he has committed. While in hell, Dante meets Guido someone who has also committed terrible sins. Guido’s sins are so atrocious that hell didn’t even think he deserved a body. Guido tells Dante the sins he has committed because he believed that Dante would not return to the earth like him. The reason T.S. Eliot alludes to this poem is to show that Prufrock was in his own personal hell. Prufrock doesn’t commit sins like Dante and Guido, but he is filled with despair at the end of the poem because he wasn’t able to talk to women. Prufrock’s voice in the beginning shows that he believes he still has time and the confidence to talk to women. Prufrock’s confidence is shown in the quote “The muttering retreats of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels...” (Eliot 5-6). Prufrock confidence is shown when he says Let us go then, you and I. What is more interesting is how Prufrock describes the hotel and the scenery around it. When someone goes on a date with someone normally it would be in a nice place and the hotels wouldn’t be cheap. This is not the case for Prufrock because the neighborhood where he is going is not very vibrant and the hotels are cheap. Prufrock has the confidence to talk to women in the beginning, but he doesn’t have high levels of confidence. If Prufrock had high levels of
“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
The “eyes” (55) and “arms” (62) that Prufrock claims to “have known” are synecdoches for women; since he does not say he is familiar with their hearts, which would metaphorically imply experience with their love, Prufrock only knows women physically. He gives one explanation for this by noting the “perfume” and “dress” (65) that make him “digress” (66) from presumably his goal: instead of fostering relationships, Prufrock focuses on sexual/sensual aspects. In spite of this, Eliot provides insight to Prufrock desiring more than physical intimacy through the repeated mention of meals: “toast and tea” (34), “tea and cakes and ices” (79), “marmalade” (88), “tea cups” (102); these references indicate a wish to no longer dine alone, and Prufrock saying, “Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me” exemplifies his aspiration for domestic life.
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 T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the speaker, Prufrock feels alienated
Images and allusions aren’t Prufrock’s only fragmented features though; Eliot also uses the rhythm, and the rhyme is irregular throughout this poem. Throughout the poem, the rhyming schemes differ and constantly changed and evolved. There are instances when it is an unrhymed free verse, and instances where it would go for a longer period of time, then to shorter periods. The rhyme scheme creates a chaotic feeling, as well as feelings of disorganization and confusion, just as the world Prufrock resides in, and it does a good job portraying the anxiety that is rooted in the social world. He is afraid to confront those talking pointlessly about Michelangelo as well as he is intimidated by the thought of engaging in a gathering, believing that “there will be time” (23), and that he has "time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions", indicating that his life and his social life is a bore, with repetitive routines that remains the same. Prufrock’s constant worrying is also shown in not merely the
1. How does the epigraph from Dante’s Inferno help Eliot comment on the modern world in“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”? What does it tell us about the setting of this poem? How is Montefeltro’s miscalculation related to the poem?
The monologue style of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” is interesting because it doesn’t clearly identify whether or not the speaker is talking to another person or his inner self. A monologue is like a conversation, but uses the language of poetry. This particular dramatic monologue tells the story of J. Alfred Prufrock, a man who is so wracked with insecurity and worried about how others perceive him that he is afraid to live his life.
“And indeed there will be time” (23). Prufrock is musing about all the time there will be for gossip later. Again the yellow smoke slides down the street, tempting Prufrock to give in. With the gossip goes the gossipers and as they arrive back at their homes you see the yellow smoke of gossip “Rubbing its back upon the window-panes” (25). Now, Prufrock has time to think about what he has to do. In the poem he seems to be in a dream-like state. He is wondering, the rhythm in lines 26-34 gives me the impression that he is pacing the floor. He is preparing to meet someone, a woman, and he is conflicted about how to tell her what he must tell her. Prufrock feels overwhelmed by what he must do, and yet he is trying his best to focus on the task at hand. Just as
He is clearly incapacitated to act, trapped by his own fear that he will be unable to garner any interaction from the women with whom he wants to converse. Prufrock plans his approach and reminds himself often that; 'there will be time.';
Prufrock's fear to live never allowed him to accomplish anything. The issue of death emerged again in lines 26-27. In these lines Eliot said, "There will be time, there will be time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet."(ll. 26-27 Eliot) This statement showed that Prufrock spent the majority of his time preparing for death. In lines 37-39 Eliot said, "And indeed there will be time to wonder, 'Do I dare?' and 'Do I dare?' time to turn back and descend the stair."(ll. 37-39 Eliot) This line showed that Prufrock felt that he was bound to Hell. Prufrock constantly lived in fear of death. This fear caused him to not be able to live. In the second section Prufrock realized the error of his ways. He came to the understanding that being afraid to live was no way to live his life. Eliot summed up the entire reasoning of Prufrock in the following line, "And in short, I was afraid."(l 86 Eliot) Prufrock spent his entire life in a wasteland, because he did not have the courage to live. At this point he knew that there was no opportunity to regain the years that he lost. In lines 92-98 Eliot said, "To have squeezed the universe into a ball To roll it towards some overwhelming question, To say: 'I am Lazarus, come from the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'- If one, settling pillow by her head, Should say: 'That is not what I meant at all. That is not it, at all.'"(ll. 92-98 Eliot) These lines showed how
Eliot also uses syntax to establish thematic concepts. In stanzas 7 to 9, Prufrock muses about how he has “known them all,” (lines 45, 59,62) referring to the people and
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Elliot is a poem that tells a character’s story with the use of emotions and imagery. The character J. Alfred Prufrock is first introduced as taking a walk and describing the surroundings such as vacant streets and dreary sights. Women are also introduced as talking about Michelangelo. The setting is covered in a yellow fog that stretches over every detail of the town. Prufrock’s emotions at first seems to be confident with the ladies. As the poem progresses, Prufrock is seen more as an average middle-aged man, but also a sad honest man. He seems to stick to a routine and does not stray from it much. His bland personality is not much of an appeal to the women, thus making him pathetic. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T.S.
In the poem, The Love song, written by T.S. Elliot, J Alfred Prufrock is a man who is very lonely and insecure. He goes throughout his life wishing for a change, but never stepping up to the plate and actually making a change. The title of the poem portrays to the reader that the poem is going to be full of love and romance. The reader soon found out later that the poem is just the opposite from the title, a sad, lonesome man who is not only lacking love, but also lacking self confidence and self esteem.
T.S. Eliot was an outstanding author and an exemplary representation of the ideas of modernism. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," despite being one of T.S Eliot's earliest publications, still manages to remain one of the most famous. He uses this poem to not only draw out the psychological aspect of members of modern society, but also to draw out the aspect of the time that he lived in. The speaker of this poem is a modern man who feels alone, isolated, and incapable of making decisive actions for himself. Prufrock desires to speak to a woman about his love for her, but he continuously hesitates while attempting to do so. This poem demonstrates a theme of fragmentation, which is a theme that we can see throughout the entire
If one applies the Freudian concepts of id, ego, and super ego to Prufrock’s troubled mind, a clear delineation of three sections is made in the poem. A short explanation of id ego and super ego is necessary in connecting them to the spaces in the text. Freud’s theory stemmed from a need to classify the parts of the ‘mind’. From this stems the organization of personality into three parts all of which are demonstrated in the “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The id is the impulsively and instinctually driven section of Freud’s personality complex and is based on seeking pleasure. An especially important factor for “Prufrock” is that the id encompasses is sexual desire. It is largely accountable for the unconscious mind. The ego is the most rationalized and outward facing of the personalities that creates a practical approach in