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”.…
Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot represents age and time through parallelism and situational irony to show that one must not squander his opportunities in life. Parallelism is prevalent throughout the poem and is used to present age in a nagging, incessant way. The phrase “there will be time” is paralleled throughout the piece, including in the stanza “There will be time, there will be time / [...] There will be time to murder and create, / [...] And time yet for a hundred indecisions” (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” 26, 28, 32). Prufrock, the protagonist of the poem, repeatedly reminds himself of how much time he has; he uses the concept of time to console himself due to his embarrassment of being too afraid to act on his desires. As the poem goes on to explain, Prufrock does not actually have an endless amount of time, and he begins to age and die. He is “unable to act [... and] he consoles himself with the repeated speculation that ‘there will be time’ to act on his social [...] anxiety” (Persoon and Watson 4). Eliot himself connects with the character of Prufrock because he was known to be extremely introverted and shy; he over-analyzed things until his chance had long passed, much like Prufrock (Bush 1). Another tool that Eliot uses to display the ubiquity of death is situational irony. In the stanza “Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherised upon a table,” situational irony is used between lines 2 and 3 to show how death disturbingly appears into Prufrock’s thoughts (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” 1-3). The reader is not expecting to read such a morbid phrase; “the opening line [...] invites [the reader] to imagine strolling ‘When the evening is spread out against the sky,’ but [the] expectation of romantic reverie is quickly undercut by the macabre image of ‘a patient etherised upon a table’” (Bloom, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” 3). Prufrock is haunted and…
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.…
“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…
It is because he does not want the ritualistic banal talk but instead wants to talk about his fundamental question with other people. He says that if he goes to the party, he has to become a different person in order to socialize with people: “Streets that follow like a tedious argument / Of insidious intent” (Eliot 8-9). Also, Prufrock talks about how women talk in a schoolgirl way, name dropping to sound smart and to socialize with other people. For example, in lines 13 and 14: “In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” (Eliot 13-14), Eliot uses trochee and true rhyme to imply the women’s shallowness and how they try to just look…
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.…
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?…
3. McCormick, Frank J. "Eliot 's THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK And Shakespeare 's HAMLET." Explicator 63.1 (2004): 43-47. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 Mar. 2012…
"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.…
Is love worth the heartbreak? This is a question that every person has asked at least once in their life. If you could go back and forget every moment you had with someone so that you wouldn’t feel the pain of losing them, would you? The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot explores this question through Prufrock who is on a journey through life and whose anxieties separate him from the rest of society. Prufrock’s fear of judgment debilitates him, rendering him unable to create human connections. He is in complete denial of his incompetency and by not facing his fears, he robs himself of the life he desperately wants leading to a heart full of regret.…
In the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Elliot, Prufrock is a man that is pessimistic, has low self-esteem, and has much internal conflict. He believes that he isn't good enough for the women of his desire; this theme also becomes a motif.…
Insecurities are an inevitable part of life, everyone posses their own. Similarly, in the poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S Eliot, the narrator dwells on his own insecurities when trying to find his place in life. Prufrock gives any excuse so he does not have fit in with high society. Eliot's poem utilizes many repeated refrains, including: "there will be time", "for I have known" and "do I dare”, highlighting the narrator’s lack of self-confidence.…
Love is a powerful emotional drive that many authors write about. Many seek to obtain love, but never do. In the poem The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufock by T.S Elliot, this is true of Alfred Prufock. The meaning gathered from this poem is that, Prufock isn’t skilled at engaging in social intimacy because of his negative perceptions of the world. Three shifts in the poem amplify this meaning are shown in his dark descriptions of his surroundings, his self-loathing and later his doubts of the possible negative outcome of his attempts.…
<br>The most obvious stylistic device used by Eliot is that of personification. She uses this device to create two people from her thoughts on old and new leisure. The fist person is New Leisure, who we can infer to be part of the growth of industry in the 19th century. He is eager and interested in science, politics, and philosophy. He reads exciting novels and leads a hurried life, attempting to do many things at once. Such characteristics help us to create an image of New Leisure as Eliot sees him.…