The 1900s was a period of increasing industrialization of which society saw a growing sense of disillusionment. TS Eliot conveys aspects of modernism through his poems Love Song by J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night, such as the increasing alienation of society, the loss of identity and the dismissal of functional traditional conventions. Eliot achieves this through the prevalent themes of time and memory, and the depiction of the urban environment.…
Prufrock, throughout lines 26-30, not only delineates his insecurity but also his indecisiveness and fear of rejection. These few lines give readers a snapshot of what the poem consists of: Prufrock’s constant self-doubt, ambivalence and passivity. Furthermore, it reveals that he overanalyzes situations to the point where it is unhealthy. As a result of his negativity and lack of initiative, Prufrock sends the message that he is an unhappy and lonely man who yearns for love but cannot even bring himself to open up to a woman, let alone ask her this “overwhelming question”.…
The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’s tone is sadness. This is proven when Eliot describes the setting in lines 4-9 as half deserted streets, muttering retreats, one night cheap hotels and streets like a tedious argument of insidious intent. Words like half deserted, muttering, restless, tedious and insidious portray this tone. However in Afternoons and Coffee Spoons the tone is more fearful. It’s as though the writer is having these health problems, and is seeing his life being measured out as he gets older. In lines 16-17 we see “Maybe if I could do a play by playback I could change the test results that I will get back” the lyrics display that he demonstrates fear of the future and fear of getting older. He hopes to go back and change the results for a better future. Therefore the tone in these poems…
The poem by T.S. Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a dramatic monologue written in 1915. Close to the end of the poem Mr. Prufrock stated “It is impossible to say just what I mean” (104). This statement will be analyzed to discover the hidden connotation of this phrase and convey the speaker’s ultimate goal. The questions that will be answered are: What does Prufrock mean when stating “It is impossible to say just what I mean” (104)? Is this statement stated due to a lack of vocabulary, words cannot convey his actual emotions, or is he just unable to express his own emotions to the listener? Are there other underlying circumstances to cause Prufrock not to speak his mind? By the end these questions will be understood along with the true…
In T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the author is establishing the trouble the narrator is having dealing with middle age. Prufrock(the narrator) believes that age is a burden and is deeply troubled by it.. His love of some women cannot be because he feels the prime of his life is over. His preoccupation with the passing of time characterizes the fear of aging he has. The poem deals with the aging and fears associated with it of the narrator. The themes of insecurity and time are concentrated on. This insecurity is definitely a hindrance for him. It holds him back from doing the things he wishes to do. This is the sort of characteristic that makes Alfred into a tragic, doomed character. He will not find happiness until he finds self-assurance within himself. The repetition of words like vision and revision, show his feelings of inadequacy in communicating with the people around him.…
In "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock," by T.S. Elliot, the speaker is Prufrock himself. He is debating with the two conflicting sides of his personality. One wants him to propose love, the other wants him to hold back. The setting is most likely in the early 1920s or so, taking into consideration the afternoon tea, the shawls the ladies wear, and "the skirts that trail along the floor"(102). The situation is fairly straightforward in some respects. Alfred Prufrock is on his way to a tea in the mid-afternoon and is indecisive as to whether he should declare his love or not.…
“The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is a story about a man that has a question to ask and wants to tell you about it while wandering the streets of a city that has yellow smoke in the streets (16, 24). The places that Prufrock chooses are not prestigious such as “half-deserted streets” (4), “one-night cheap motels” (6), and “sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells” (7). Prufrock has a question to ask, but he will get to that later. This walk takes place in October during the evening when all is calm and quiet “[l]ike a patient etherized upon a table” (3). Prufrock is delaying asking his question, insisting that there is plenty of time, even though he is now second guessing whether he should ask or not. Even though…
T.S. Eliot conveys the deteriorating state of humanity in the beginning of the twentieth century in the poems The Hollow Men and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Events, such as World War I, from the early twentieth century have influenced Eliot to express the superficiality and materialistic desire for wealth in modern society. The changing modern world with fallen morals and events such as the suffragette movement that brought a greater degree of freedom for women, have influenced Eliot to write about a breakdown in communication and society and its movement away from religion. Eliot uses a range of techniques such as metaphors and juxtaposition in the poems, The Hollow Men and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock to convey the deteriorating state of humanity.…
In T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot develops the character, J. Alfred Prufrock using allusions to other works of literature such as, Dante’s Inferno, Marvel’s “His Coy Mistress,”. In this way, Eliot sets forth a psychological comparison to assist the reader in understanding of Prufrock’s psyche and existentialist attitude toward life.…
In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” the various literary elements used is diction, repetition and allusion. It shows the poem main message stating that social rejection and a lack of ambusion has an outcome of a paranoid mental state.…
Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The Norton Introduction to Literature: Shorter Tenth Edition. Eds. Allison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2010. 1015-1019. Print.…
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T(homas) S(tearns) Eliot." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter, Deborah A. Schmitt, and Timothy J. White. Vol. 113. Detroit: Gale Group, 1999. 181-227. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. LINCC, Library Information Network for Community Colleges.…
The Adoption of Modernism in T S Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”…
of his divided and solitary self. He is a lover, yet he is unable to declare…
Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind.( http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/critical_define/crit_psycho.html)…