An interesting idea once can further reflect on is: are people ever already prepared to “meet the faces that you meet”? Most people prepare for social interactions by obliging to a set of predetermined Folkways, laws, and ideas of what their “role” entitles. We create a set identity; an act we perform when in front of others. How many people act 100% themselves in every social interaction regardless of appropriation? I would hypothesis that very few. What Prufrock seems to be revealing to us in this poem is the underlining character behind social interaction, the mask removed. Prufrock reveals a vulnerable, insecure personality underneath. Perhaps when in front of his lover, he might want to act as someone else, to play a different role. But …show more content…
Another line that is correlated to the theme of time is, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” (line 51). These two sets of lines as almost contradictory. In, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” (line 51) Prufrock seems to be aware of the passing of time, his life passing by before his eyes and nothing changing, and an anxiety building within due to this phenomenon. On the other hand, the lines, "There will be time, there will be time/To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;" (26-27) demonstrate Prufrock putting off his actions for later, which ultimately leads him to the frustration of his time passing by. Furthermore, this prominent theme of time brings forward the question, exactly how much time has Prufrock been pursuing this lover without taking action? Days? Years? From his demonstrated unwise use of time, one can argue an extended amount of time has gone by where Prufrock has not taken …show more content…
Since Prufrock aware that his death is near. He observes the passing of time, yet it shows his negative emotions towards the end of life. Would having a lover cure this fear of death or is it a deeply rooted lack of satisfaction? Considering the textual evidence, it is likely that the foundation of Prufrock suffering is his lack of love for himself. Before he offers himself fully as a lover to someone else, he must learn to love himself first. This is an issue Prufrock presents throughout the story. Moreover, I disagree with the point that this moment of honesty from Prufrock is uncommon. Almost the whole poem can be viewed as a confession to a close friend he trusts with his intimate love and insecurity issues. For instance, when he confesses the “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;” but instead is, “almost at times, the Fool” (line 119). This is very trusting and honest to confess that he is no hero, but more of a
"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.
Before we are introduced to Prufrock himself, we notice that the initial scenes of this poem paint a landscape of apathy. The narrator mentions little about himself initially and beckons that we follow him down into a world without consequence “of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” (Eliot 6). The later “streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent” set the stage for Prufrock’s dilemma (ibid 9-10). Audrey Cahill says this scene foreshadows “Prufrock’s dialogue with himself, a dialogue which leads nowhere” and that thrusts the reader into meaningless chaos (6). Thus, even if these streets lead to an overwhelming question, the journey down them is rather mind-numbing and unnecessary if the answer gets us nowhere or, worse, merely emphasizes our own desolation. This is compounded by the appearance of a mysterious yellow catlike fog that “curled once about the house and fell asleep” (Eliot 22). Cahill also affirms that becaus...
Prufrock let time get the best of them and ultimately One thing everyone has in common is everyone wants to find someone to fall in love with. Most people are able to find that one person that they couldn’t live without. Others, like J. Alfred Prufrock, might find that love of their life, but they let them slip away from them.
"(10) which is never identified, asked, or answered in the poem. This "question" is somehow associated with his social status, but both its ambiguity and Prufrock's denial to even ask "What is it? " (11) gives some insight into his state of internal turmoil. Prufrock's dissatisfaction with his personal appearance is evidence of an underlying lack of self-confidence. Not only is he unhappy with the way he looks, having "to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet," but he is constantly afraid of what others will have to say about him.
As bad as he wants to go and talk with these women, he still will not do it in fear of being rejected. His scarce of being turned down makes his life lonely in a coffee shop for the rest of his life. J. Alfred Prufrock wants to be a hero and tries to compare himself to John the Baptist, Lazarus, and Hamlet. But his low self-esteem and self-consciousness caused him to think low of himself “Prufrock realizes that the best he can do in Shakespeare’s play is to be Polonius, who talks too much, annoys everyone, and is finally killed by accident when he is eavesdropping on Hamlet and his mother.” (Frazer, Timothy
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. In the poem, Prufrock made use of several imagery and metaphor to illustrate how he feels about himself and the society he is involved in. Prufrock use of imageries and
By a correct reading of "Prufrock," I mean a reading consistent with the central theme of the poet's belief made mute because the poet lives in a culture of unbelief--that is, the "silence" of the poetic vision in modernity. Prufrock renounces his inherited, romantic role as "poet as prophet" and renounces poetry's role as a successor to religion. The future of poetry may have once been immense, but that future no longer exists for Prufrock, who is faced not only with the certainty of the rejection of his poetic vision but also with a situation in which there are no grounds for rhetoric: "That is not what I meant at all. / That is not it, at all." Fear of rejection leads Prufrock to the ultimate silencing of the prophet and hero within himself, to being "a pair of ragged claws." He cannot share his poetic vision of life: to do so would threaten the very existence of that life. Paradoxically, not to share his light, his "words among mankind," threatens the loss ...
Prufrocks next thoughts tell of his old age and his lack of will to say what is on his mind. He mentions his bald spot in his hair and his thin arms and legs. This suggests that he knows he is growing old, and therefore contradicts what he had mentioned earlier in the poem about having plenty of time. Throughout the poem he is indecisive and somewhat aloof from the self-involved group of women. One part of him would like to startle them out of their frustratingly polite conversations and express his love for her, but to accomplish this he would have to risk disturbing their ?universe? and being rejected. He also mentions ?sprawling on a pin?, as though he pictures himself being pinned in place and viciously analyzed like that of an insect being literally pinned in place. The latter part of the poem captures his sense of overwhelming lack of willpower for failing to act daringly, not only at that tea party, but throughout his life.
Time’s passage, an unstoppable, eternal occurrence, manifests itself in our daily lives. Everybody has a different outlook on time: we either have plenty of it or are running out of it! Time, a construct developed by man, turns the tables and now controls the lives of its creator. We measure our own successes with how time affects us individually. Objects that are considered timeless are treasured whereas something worn down by time has lost most of its value. In As I Lay Dying, The Working Poor, The Great Gatsby, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Scarlet Letter, William Faulkner, David K. Shipler, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, and Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrate the classes differing attitudes towards time. Though the social classes
There are a few instances in the poem that refer to Prufrock as an introverted person distinguishing him from typical people today. For instance, in the poem Prufrock says “I
In conclusion, after exploring the theme of this poem and reading it for myself, Eliot has created this persona, in industrialised England or somewhere else. A man of low self-esteem, you embark his journey as he struggles with a rational fear of being rejected by a woman. Which gives the reader sympathy to Prufrock, as he lives within his own personal
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.
...ing line the eloquently depicts the act of daydreaming and having a quiet fantasy abruptly disturbed by reality (131-133). It is only in his ruminations that Prufrock can escape the demands of society and the expectation of rejection.
The title T. S. Eliot chose for his poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is ironic. Mr. Prufrock does not love anyone, nor does he believe he is loved. He has disdain for the society of which he wishes he were a part, and he believes society views him no differently. The imagery of Mr. Prufrock's thoughts provide the audience a more detailed insight into his character than had Mr. Eliot simply listed Mr. Prufrock's virtues and flaws. Mr. Prufrock is seen as an exaggeration or extreme for the sake of literary commentary, but the world has many Prufrocks in many differing degrees, and T. S. Eliot has made them a little easier to understand.
Prufrock, the narrator of the poem, is a middle-aged man who is living a life void of meaning and purpose. His thoughts are depressing as he mulls over his dull, uneventful life. One of his most crippling traits is cowardice. He's v...