TS Eliot’s, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, is a dramatic monologue, from the view-point of a middle-class male. Many themes can be found in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, which will later define modernist or 20th century literature. Prufrock’s ultimate problem is caused by his own weakened fear of failure and his depressed outlook of the world. If Prufrock continues on this path his future will be a loveless one, hence the irony of the title, he cannot bring himself to articulate his emotions to another woman. This poem conveys the protagonist as someone who is indecisive and often has trouble relating to women; he fears having his sexual advances turned down.
Analysis of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" J. Alfred Prufrock constantly lived in fear, in fear of life and death. T. S. Eliot divided his classic poem into three equally important sections. Each division provided the reader with insight into the mental structure of J. Alfred Prufrock. In actuality, Prufrock maintained a good heart and a worthy instinct, but he never seemed to truly exist. A false shadow hung over his existence.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” draws attention to the idea that time is of the essence. On the surface, Prufrock is portrayed as a man who is incapable of making decisions and lacks self-confidence. This is evident through his passive nature, where he continuously delays having to talk to women because he believes there is enough time. Written in the era of modernism, the reader is capable of unraveling that the poem’s true purpose was not only to show Prufrock’s inability to make decisions when it comes to love, but to show the desolation that one faces in times of a modernistic transition.
If you want people to like you you have only to spend a little money” (237 SAR). Here, Ja... ... middle of paper ... ...like the narrator of the Hollow Men. The narrator of the Hollow Men is distressed at their issues, compelling them to dream of a reality they use to reject the one at their hands, wondering “Is it like this in death’s other kingdom walking alone at the hour when we are trembling with tenderness, lips that would kiss form prayers to broken stone” (839 THM). Works Cited Eliot, Thomas S. "The Hollow Men." Norton Anthology of American Literature.
However, over the course of the poem, Prufrock seems to be shining an almost pathetic light on himself. This is most clearly shown through his failure actually to succeed in his “love song” and acquire a lover, his allusions to Hamlet and fools, and his constant worry over what seem to be trivial anxieties. Because the poem is a “love song,” it is immediately apparent that women will play a very large role throughout the poem. The fact that the women in this particular poem can be placed under one of two categories, neither of which contains attainable objects of Prufrock’s affection, is a prominent example of his failure. The first grouping contains women of Prufrock’s class who are ultimately undesirable to him.
Passivity led to a belief that women were more spiritual than men, meant to contemplate rather than act. “It is just because women are defined as wholly passive, completely void of generative power that they become numinous to male artists,” they write on page 599. It was this celestial quality that separated them from earthly men capable of lives of action, and thus, capable of handling the pen. Lives without action, of course, were hardly worth recording, so the passive woman had no story to tell, no book to write. According to our two authors, a woman without her own story became an angel in the house, one who heard others’ stories but never told her own.
An Analysis of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock "Prufrock" is a dramatic monologue, in which it is possible that the speaker is talking to another male, or just talking to himself; his alter ego. Throughout the poem Prufrock is too scared to make a move and seize the day because he keeps saying, "there will be time." His destiny is that he will be old and loveless, hence the irony of the title, because he cannot bring himself to articulate his emotions to another woman. This is actually a pathetic parody of a Lovesong because there is no one to listen to it. Prufrock fears that he will not be heard and this is manifested in the line that refers to the Sirens that sing to Odysseus to lure him to his death in the sea, but Prufrock fears that they will not listen to him.
The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem that was written by T. S Eliot. The poem introduces the character, Prufrock, as a man who is very pessimistic about everything and is incapable of change. Prufrock sees the society he lives in as a place that is full of people who think alike, and he thinks he is different from them. Though Prufrock, realizes that the society he is associated with needs a change and have more people who think differently, but the fact that he is very concerned about what people would think of him if he tries to speak up to make a change or that he would be ignored or be misunderstood for whatever he says hindered him from expressing himself the way he would like to. Prufrock then decides not to express himself in order to avoid any type of rejection.
This allusion shows his inferiority and this is where his back and forth on declaring his love comes to an end. Prufrock then proceeds to repeat “I grow old” saying that he is has run out of time to find love and that “[he does] not think that [the mermaids] will sing to [him]” or that the young women will want him. So instead of facing his fear and anxiety he gives up to a “dream like world.” A final note on “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is its fragmentation, which is a modernist theme that gives a chaotic feel. Most markedly, Prufrock’s thoughts are scattered and all over the place with repeating thoughts and jumping from one thought to another. The imagery of the streets is also very fragmented with the streets being scarce of people but knowing they are there, “restless nights” and “restaurants.” Overall, the bleakness and anxious themes of this poem comment on the modern world’s
Prufrock is on earth but it is being considered as Hell. There many themes for this particular poem, a few would be love, passivity, and time. Prufrock in the poem speaks about himself a lot and never decides to talk to the girl he would like to. He is constantly saying “do I dare” to every decision that comes to mind. When he says “Do I dare” about approaching the woman it shows he’s shy and may fear rejection.