Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - Inability to Love
T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is not a poem about love, at least in any traditional sense. Rather It is a collection of the fragmented thoughts of a man without self-esteem. Far from being about love, it is about one man's inability to love (himself or the world around him.) It is the cynical statement of a man who does not believe good things will ever happen to him, or that the world has anything to offer him. The title is bitterly ironic; Prufrock does not love any body, least of all himself, (no matter how much he might aspire to the ideal of romance and passion), nor does he believe that any one could ever love him. His own life is devoid of love, so in his bitterness he brands his work a "love song".
Although the poem addresses the reader directly, saying, "Let us go then, you and I,"1 Prufrock is really just talking to himself. His is a tale of shame and insecurity that he would never dare share with another human being. The epigraph graphically illustrates this; being a passage from Dante's "Inferno"....
"If I thought my reply would be to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would remain without further movement; but as no one has ever returned from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I can answer you with no fear of infamy."2
When one considers the poem in the light of this prologue, one must see that Prufrock is basically telling the tale of his isolation and living hell, but without shame because he believes his words will never be heard. He speaks to himself, and poses questions to himself as many do when they are grappling internally with issues and problems of their own.
I wish to discuss two main thread...
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...nse it is indeed a song about love, but it is not a "love song" in the traditional sense. "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" is not radio friendly mainstream love.
Bibliography
Eliot, T. S., "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", in Leonard, John, Ed., Seven Centuries of Poetry in English, Third Ed., Melbourne: Oxford, 1994, pp.128-31.
End Notes
1 Eliot, T. S., "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", in Leonard, John, Ed., Seven Centuries of Poetry in English, Third Ed., Melbourne: Oxford, 1994, pp.128-31, l. 1. All subsequent line numbers refer to this text.
2 Leonard, p. 128.
3 ll. 13-14, 35-36.
4 ll. 32-33.
5 ll. 38, 45, 122.
6 ll. 45-46.
7 l. 122.
8 ll. 97, 110.
9 l. 55.
10 ll. 73-74.
11 l. 34.
12 l. 51.
13 l. 60.
14 l. 81.
15 l. 85.
16 l. 84.
17 ll. 87, 99.
18 ll. 129-131.
(U) IPB and MDMP: In order to fully understand the IPB process, an understanding of how MDMP and IPB are interrelated needs to be addressed. IPB is utilized to minimize unknown elements concerning an adversary, terrain, weather and civil considerations for a variety of operations including on-going and future operations. IPB provides a framework that assists in identifying information, facts and assumptions pertaining to the Mission, Enemy, Terrain and Weather, Troops and Support available, Time available and any Civil Considerations (METT-TC). While this does not answer everything that may occur, it does facilitate effective staff planning. By using the IPB Process and MDMP, the Commander and Staff are able to select a Course of Action (COA) and begin the orders process...
Artistically, Apoxyomenos deviates from the standard Classical representation of male athletes. The majority of Classical sculptors portrayed athletes actively engaged in competition. However, this figure is gazing into the distance while removing oil and dirt from his body using a strigil (Stokstad, 165). This practice was commonly associated with athletes in ancient Greece and, thereby, communicated to the viewer that this was a piece pertaining to athletics.
Somewhere in the middle of these two ideological extremes was James Baldwin. Baldwin's personal views were a mixture of both the ideas and ideals of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
Eliot, T.S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." An Introduction to Poetry. 13th ed. Kennedy, X. J., and Dana Gioia. Boston: Little, Brown, 1966. 369-372. Print.
Diabetes is a disease that affects the body’s ability to produce or respond to insulin, a hormone that allows blood glucose (blood sugar) to enter the cells of the body and be used for energy. Diabetes falls into two main categories: type 1, or juvenile diabetes, which usually occurs during childhood or adolescence, and type 2, or adult-onset diabetes, the most common form of the disease, usually occurring after age 40. Type 1 results from the body’s immune system attacking the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. The onset of juvenile diabetes is much higher in the winter than in the summer. This association has been repeatedly confirmed in diabetes research. Type 2 is characterized by “insulin resistance,” or an inability of the cells to use insulin, sometimes accompanied by a deficiency in insulin production. There is also sometimes a third type of diabetes considered. It is gestational diabetes, which occurs when the body is not able to properly use insulin during pregnancy. Type 2 diabetes encompasses nine out of 10 diabetic cases. Diabetes is the fifth-deadliest disease in the United States, and it has no cure. The total annual economic cost of diabetes in 2002 was estimated to be $132 billion, or one out of every 10 health care dollars spent in the United States. Diabetes risk factors can fall into three major categories: family history, obesity, and impaired glucose tolerance. Minority groups and elderly are at the greatest risk of developing diabetes.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” tells the speaker’s story through several literary devices, allowing the reader to analyze the poem through symbolism, character qualities, and allusions that the work displays. In this way, the reader clearly sees the hopelessness and apathy that the speaker has towards his future. John Steven Childs sums it up well in saying Prufrock’s “chronic indecision blocks him from some important action” (Childs). Each literary device- symbolism, character, and allusion- supports this description. Ultimately, the premise of the poem is Prufrock second guessing himself to no end over talking to a woman, but this issue represents all forms of insecurity and inactivity.
Eliot, T. S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in An Introduction to Literature. Ed Sylvan Barnet et al. 13 ed. New York: Longman. 2004. 937-940.
Eliot, T.S.. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H. Abrams. New York: Norton, 1996. 2459-2463.
Eliot, T. S. "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The Norton Anthology English Literature. 8th ed. Vol. F. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2006. 2289-293. Print.
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is about a timid and downcast man in search of meaning, of love, and in search of something to break from the dullness and superficiality which he feels his life to be. Eliot lets us into Prufrock's world for an evening, and traces his progression of emotion from timidity, and, ultimately, to despair of life. He searches for meaning and acceptance by the love of a woman, but falls miserably because of his lack of self-assurance. Prufrock is a man for whom, it seems, everything goes wrong, and for whom there are no happy allowances. The emptiness and shallowness of Prufrock's "universe" and of Prufrock himself are evident from the very beginning of the poem. He cannot find it in himself to tell the woman what he really feels, and when he tries to tell her, it comes out in a mess. At the end of the poem, he realizes that he has no big role in life.
T. S. Eliot wrote, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915). The Norton Anthology of English
The main theme of Macbeth-the destruction wrought when ambition goes unchecked by moral constraints-finds its most powerful expression in the play's two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of frantic, boastful madness. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination, yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts. One of Shakespeare's most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder's aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth's repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition helped, of course, by the malign prophecies of the witches is what drives the couple to ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one decides to use violence to further one?s quest for power, it is difficult to stop. There are always potential threats to the throne?Banquo, Fleance, Macduff?and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock has a plethora of possible interpretations. Many people argue that the poem represents a man who appears to be very introverted person who is contemplating a major decision in his life. This decision is whether or not he will consummate a relationship with someone he appears to have an attraction to or feelings for. People also debate whether or not Prufrock from the poem is typical of people today. While there are a plethora of reasons Prufrock is not typical of people today the main three reasons are he is very reserved, he overthinks most situations and he tries avoid his problems instead of solve them.
With time poems may have lost their voice, but not their importance. Up to this day, poetry is still one of the greatest forms of artistic expression; Poems speak to emotions and capture feelings. There is no right format of a poem, but yet a world of possibilities. Instead being unchangeable poems are innately open to interpretation; they should be spoken out loud in order to be “heard”, convey truth and cause impact. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot is an extremely meaningful poem; it is one of Elliot’s best-known works and without a doubt a masterpiece (Hillis). T.S. Eliot introduces the poem with a quote from Dante's Inferno (XXVII.61-66), and with that sparks our curiosity. He then makes statements and questions that perhaps everyone has done, or will do at some point in life (Li-Cheng, pp. 10-17). The poem is a legitimate work of the modernist movement, the language used is contemporary; the verses are free and the rhythm flows naturally.
The absence of a complete identity and the inability be whole is what creates a line between The Love song of J Alfred Prufrock with Eliot’s other poems The Hollow Men and Portrait of a Lady. These poems work together using imagery and characters to highlight the darkness that was weighting down most people after the First World War was finished.