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. Prufrock never allowed himself to actually live. He had no ambitions that would drive him to succeed. The poem is a silent cry for help from Prufrock. In each section, T. S. Eliot provided his audience with vague attempts to understand J. Alfred Prufrock. Each individual reader can only interpret these

Detail 2: As can be deduced from the poem, Prufrock spends all of his time pondering how to behave, and to act in society, as he wants to become a man of action. Prufrock imagines himself achieving great things for himself and having everything he desires. Nonetheless, he cannot find a way to realize his wishes. Prufrock is well aware of his tragedy, and he makes sure the audience understands that he is a flawed man full of fears, whims and self-fancies. Again, just as we find in Hamlet’s character, Prufrock’s personality makes him cautious of acting towards any goal he might have, and his over-analytic persona makes him incapable of taking control of any situation. Prufrock explains his problems through a simple example from one of his failures. He recounts that he was incapable of asking a girl to date him, and despite his loving for her, he did nothing to make his love count.

In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” the main character of the poem, Prufrock, expresses the theme of isolation and introduces the reader to his sense of feeling isolated because of how he thinks he is perceived by others. Prufrock’s search to end his isolation is shown by the conversational monologue that he carries out as he searches for a way to connect with other people. Prufrock’s isolation is shown through both an epigraph from Dante and multiple types of imagery spread throughout the poem such as music, sex, and nature.

Prufrock is very insecure about himself. This is especially seen in the first ten lines. He is insecure when he talks of his

'I have measured out my life with coffee spoons'; (line 51), shows how Prufrock thinks of his own life, unexciting and unheroic. In his mind he has nothing to offer these women. He returns to wrestling with his thoughts that allow him to desire the love the women have to offer but talk himself out of the task by gentile reminders of the risk. He tells the reader that he knows these women and even begins to rehearse an opening remark, 'Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets / And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes'; (lines 70-71). This thought is quickly lost however as Prufrock imagines how easy it would be to be a creature that had no need for love, 'I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas'; (lines 73-74).

Since conducting research on TS Eliot and The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock my understanding of who the narrator is and who he is talking to have changed and I now believe that J Alfred Prufrock is an appropriation of Eliot by himself. Also, I now believe that Prufrock is not talking to himself but is talking to the audience and urging them to come along with him as he talks about

In the struggle of everyday life, taking a somewhat small risk can sometimes feel like an incredibly daunting task. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot describes one such experience as a man, Prufrock, describes his evening with a woman with whom he’d like to be in a relationship with. However the task of bringing this up to the woman appears too daunting for Prufrock, and as his insecurities overtake him, he fails to gather the courage to ask her. “The use of allusion in the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by Andrew McCulloch analyzes several literary allusions throughout “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and eventually comes to the conclusion that only those who relate to the poem will gain full emotional satisfaction from it. The article begins by giving a brief description of modernism in literature and how “The Love Song Of J.

The monologue style of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” is interesting because it doesn’t clearly identify whether or not the speaker is talking to another person or his inner self. A monologue is like a conversation, but uses the language of poetry. This particular dramatic monologue tells the story of J. Alfred Prufrock, a man who is so wracked with insecurity and worried about how others perceive him that he is afraid to live his life.

When reading the title of T.S Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” it is believed we are in store for a poem of romance and hope. A song that will inspire embrace and warmth of the heart, regretfully this is could not be further from the truth. This poem takes us into the depths of J. Alfred Prufrock, someone who holds faltering doubt and as a result may never come to understand real love. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” takes us through Prufrock’s mindset and his self-doubting and self-defeating thoughts. With desolate imagery, a tone that is known through the ages and delicate diction we see a man who is insecure, tentative and completely fearful.

The Story of Prufrock starts out with him deciphering with himself if he should make this “change” in his life; he has always been a loner who only observes the world, instead of joining it, but

If one applies the Freudian concepts of id, ego, and super ego to Prufrock’s troubled mind, a clear delineation of three sections is made in the poem. A short explanation of id ego and super ego is necessary in connecting them to the spaces in the text. Freud’s theory stemmed from a need to classify the parts of the ‘mind’. From this stems the organization of personality into three parts all of which are demonstrated in the “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The id is the impulsively and instinctually driven section of Freud’s personality complex and is based on seeking pleasure. An especially important factor for “Prufrock” is that the id encompasses is sexual desire. It is largely accountable for the unconscious mind. The ego is the most rationalized and outward facing of the personalities that creates a practical approach in

Eliot’s “Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” presents a world that is motionless, as “Prufrock” describes a life where individuals are paralysed to act and consumed by indecisiveness defying a real existence. The dramatic monologue of the poem becomes “the voice of a generation” conveying their inability to fully live life. As the domination of extending modern industrialisation and the outbreak of WW1 had dampened the morale of individuals in the modernist era, as they are left socially paralysed and unable to face the real world . Also the poetic formal features of irony and imagery allows Eliot to relay his message of damnation and interiority to the audience of any context, unravelling retrospectively through irony a defiance to the true meaning

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Elliot is a poem that tells a character’s story with the use of emotions and imagery. The character J. Alfred Prufrock is first introduced as taking a walk and describing the surroundings such as vacant streets and dreary sights. Women are also introduced as talking about Michelangelo. The setting is covered in a yellow fog that stretches over every detail of the town. Prufrock’s emotions at first seems to be confident with the ladies. As the poem progresses, Prufrock is seen more as an average middle-aged man, but also a sad honest man. He seems to stick to a routine and does not stray from it much. His bland personality is not much of an appeal to the women, thus making him pathetic. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T.S.

When looking at the poem ‘Prufrock’ we must first notice that the full title is ‘The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock.’ This title seems almost ironic as, after reading the poem, we realise that the poem

J. Alfred Prufrock is a slightly older gentleman who frequently visits the darker side of town. He often accompanies the ladies to tea, but never seems to be very comfortable with his social standing within the group. Perhaps it is due to his failing physique , or perhaps he simply dislikes the gossiping conversations. It appears, to me, that he puts on a facade to face the people he meets in the streets in order to secure acceptance from his peers.