The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock Analysis

In the poem, Prufrock believes that he has endured a monotonous life and constantly expresses his discontent and restlessness. Prufrock emphasises on his discontent of what he perceived as the emptiness and meaningless of modernistic life. During the WW1 era where society was saturated by disillusionment and discontent, life was seen as unpromising and meaningless. This directly correlates to the attitude of the poem, as Prufrock constantly relays the desolateness of his life. He asserts his overall boredom and perceives life as futile when he states “I have measured my life with coffee spoons”. Through T.S Eliot’s use of metaphor, Eliot refers to the mundane aspects of Prufrock’s life as the most significant moments of his life, which confronts responders with the mendacity of their lives and reflects Eliot’s perspective. Here, Eliot’s nihilistic perspective of life directly relates to Jeanette Winterson’s critical perspective, stating that he was ‘such a sensitive soul that he was easily overwhelmed by impressions, by situations, by events, by people...he suffered continually.’ Winterson implicates that Eliot was a highly sensitive individual as such the experiences he faced personally and those that others faced deeply affect him, therefore accounting for his nihilistic view of life and humanity itself. Furthermore, T.S Eliot utilises repetition through, “For I have known them all already, known them all-” to reinforce Prufrock’s realisation of the meaningless life he leads. The repetition of ‘known them all’, infers that Prufrock’s life is absent of intrinsic value and completely worthless as he has no more to offer. Prufrock surrenders to the superficial, barren aspects of life and society, perceiving human existence as futile when he states he ‘Shall wear the bottoms of my trousers

T.S. Eliot, was a renowned poet within the early 20th century whose poetry was largely influenced by the effects of the modernism era. His poems were reflective of contextual concerns such as the Enlightenment period, and largely explored the thematic concerns of desire whilst simultaneously exploiting the tension of human suffering. Eliot, in his poems, explores the ambiguity of identity explicitly through both The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, and Prelude. Both poems examine the complexities of human suffering through a post World War climate and capitalises upon the revolution of industrialisation. Concurrently, the excerpt of Jeanette Winterson's critique and commentary of Eliot's poetry within the BBC documentary, Arena: T.S. Eliot

Allusions are scattered all throughout the poem, there are so many that it’s difficult to pick up on all of them. Focusing more on the literary and religious allusions that are referenced gives the reader into the teachings and religions that are near and dear to Eliot’s heart, which helps understand him better as a poet and gives the reader an idea of what the overall tone of the poem is. The Bible is referenced many times starting in line 20,

Throughout the poem, Eliot places rhetorical questions that not only indicate the passing of time, but also provide insight into the slow toll that time takes on the pondering mind of the speaker. One such use of this method occurs

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 was one among few poets and authors that dominated the years between the First and Second World Wars. Eliot showed his use of modernism techniques through “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, creating a powerful reputation around the world, particularly as a member of The Lost Generation in the 1920s. Eliot moved to and settled in London where he worked with famous poets including Ezra Pound, and published his first collection of poems (McMichael 1358). “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a famous work that was almost a mockery of the romance-driven main character of the story, as it represented the indecisiveness of a personality and the superiority of an anti-romanticism ideal.

Eliot masterfully uses simile and figurative imagery in “The Love Song of J, Alfred Prufrock.” Eliot's use of simile is best found in the poem's famous opening line: “Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table” (1,2,3). Here, Prufrock punctuates his personal invitation to the reader with simile intend to create vivid images in the mind of the reader. Prufrock's descriptive control of the poem is of subtle but crucial importance to the poem.

Despite the fact that T.S.Eliot has called for the impersonality of poetry yet, all the assets in this poem of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock infer that of T.S. Eliot himself.

Eliot uses metaphor to relate accessible, physical entities and concepts to more abstract themes present in the poem. In

The context of any given text whether poetry, novels or a movie is always integral to its understanding. Social and historical context of not only the given text, but the writer’s context and reader’s context play an important role in the interpretation and understanding of the major ideas, issues, values and beliefs within the text. T.S (Thomas Stearns) Eliot was one of the twentieth century’s major poets and still remains relevant today. For many, Eliot and his works synonymous with Modernism; his “use of myth to undergird and order atomized modern experience; its collage-like juxtaposition of

The poem uses the use of sound from the very start. With the words “dreams deferred”, and “Does it dry up?” In addition to that it also uses the words “syrupy sweet.” This poem uses Rhyme with the words sun and run likewise with meat and sweet and with load and explode. The symbolism is communicated through similes "dry up like a raisin in the sun," and, "stink like rotten meat." To talk about meter, the poem is a rundown of inquiries and the first stanza alongside the last one are comprised of one line and the second stanza is seven and the third is just two. The syllables in every line appear to be conflicting with one another a few lines having seven syllables and others running from three to

The excerpt from T.S. Eliot's work "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" highlights some of the modernist theories that were forming during the time. Some of the themes that this poem shows are the omissions of introductions, conclusions, and continuity and the fragmentation of experience. The modernist ideals can be seen in the form and the theme of poem. The poem and the ideals reflect the general anxiety and confusion of the time. The excerpt from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T.S. Eliot, shows some of the ideas of the modernist movement, ideals like fragmentation of experience and omission of introduction, conclusion, and continuity, which can be seen in the form and the tone of the poem, all lead to the theme of the poem and the sentiments of the time frame.

Eliot is not solely criticising modern life in the poem, it also serves as a reflection of Eliot’s social context and his own life, a product of its time.

Many people throughout the world have social disorders that prevent them from being what they want to be, it is evident from the amount of pharmaceutical commercials on television, and in newspaper ads. It is a scary feeling to not be comfortable in your surroundings, to not know what is proper and to be self-conscience every moment of the day , Eliot's usage of imagery, theme, and metaphor allows the reader a glimpse into this cold and depressing train of thought and allows them to walk side by side with someone who suffers from this

Q5 "Much of what Eliot writes about is harsh and bleak, but he writes about it in a way that is often beautiful". Comment fully on both parts of this assertion.