COMPARE CONTRAST PRUFROCK
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is an important, multi-layered poem that has numerous interpretations. The 2 essays by Leon Waldoff and John Halverson respectively, are illustrations of how the poem can be dissected and interpreted completely differently, with both interpretations having their own unique insights into the psyche of Prufrock. Waldoff takes the stance that poem is “a dramatic monologue that presents an inner conflict between the need to be loved and the failure to satisfy that need”. Waldorf believes that Prufrock and Eliot are looking at their life and existence with great regret and sadness and with it, controls how this makes the reader feel. Within the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T.S Eliot writes about an inner conflict between the need to feel loved and the fear of failing to do so. “Prufrock’s Defenses and Our Response” by Leon Waldoff, an essay response to the poem, and explains how and why readers respond to literary works. Specifically in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, Waldoff argues that the readers response to the poem is controlled by the ironic defences, or defence mechanisms, against love’s impulses. Waldoff argues that the poem includes a Freudian theories of psychoanalysis and coping mechanisms called regression, denial, and passivity as a defence “against [his] fear of reprisal and rejection”. Prufrock states that he would rather “turn back and ascend the stair” than to go in a room where “women come and and go”. This of regression prompts readers to understand Prufrock’s perception of himself, and accompanying feelings of anxiety to do with his lack of self-confidence. Denial is also a defence that supports Waldoff’s idea that how the reader respond to works is in direct relation to control of defences. Prufrock admits that “It is impossible to say just what I mean”, which contributes to the fact of his acute sense of denial. The other supporting point that are actually the