Modern Poetry through The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.Eliot - Research Paper Example

?Michael McGuire Dr. McDonnell English 253 July 19, Modern Poetry through ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by T.S. Eliot Poetry as part of human culture has evolved overtime. Since the beginning of the literary civilization, different variations on literary works such as poetry and other forms of literary writings have evolved in forms and formats that depicts the era when they were written. Such differences can be read between the lines of old poems versus the poems written from the era of modernization up to the present time. Old English poems, aside from being mostly written without a title and without an author, have a tight structure with strict rules of writing. On a personal point of view, old literary piece, especially old poems, are really hard to understand due to their strict structure and deep use of words. Thematic of old English poems are mostly about heroism, bravery, battles, loyalty, feuds and meditation on life and fate. They are mainly used as medium of inspiration for religious beliefs, royalty, politics, nationalist ideas and cultural movements. The common structure of the old English poetry has two half-lines with each half-line composed of two stresses or beats. In addition, the lines are linked by alliteration but also have an internal rhyme and have repeated phrases which are reused (Lee). On the other hand, after so many years, democracy and science have insisted on man’s poetic growth for they have shaped the course of man’s thought and imagination (Scudder 4). Freedom and the discovery of so many things have changed the views of man in many social forms such as politics, social structure, culture and the arts. The twist of modernization has changed the views and interests of poets, thus, have changed the face of poetry from the medieval Anglo-Saxon times of battles and defeats to the modern civilized world of peaceful movement and social reformation. The inspiration and aspiration of the modern culture have evaded the minds of the contemporary poets and so the point of interest no longer lies in heroic battles and bravery and was rerouted to the ideas of social problems and spiritual life. Scudder fondly defines modern-age poetry to be a transition of ages and phases. According to Scudder, poetry of this age has a vital unity and it witnesses to an advance of the spirit from doubt to faith and cheer (Scudder 4). For modernist poets, modern poetry is a depiction of the modern life and society where hope of social structure is abandoned and contemplates essentially on the role of life as an individual (Hauk 1). This explains why poems of the modern times mostly feature man’s daily activities and life situations. The freedom of expressions has opened the limitless possibilities and independence a modern poet can deliver a poem. One important character of contemporary poetry is the awareness of the value of ordinary moments and the emotional importance of the everyday. That is why contemporary poets write just about anything that signifies human living (Brinton 10). Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965) was one of the great figures in the development of modern poetry. Eliot’s poem ‘The Wasteland’ published in 1922 shocked and bewildered many contemporary readers. It was reviewed to be a mad medley that ordinary readers would make nothing of the poem. The reaction implies the resistance of some old aged literalist to the abrupt change from the usual poetic form to the fierce leap for fresher ideas of the modernist times. Nevertheless, some took Eliot’s head start in unknowingly modernizing the face of poetry on a positive account. The review in The Times Literary Supplement in November of 1923 suggested that Eliot’s poem is a collection of flashes which seem to be an expression of his vision of the modern life (Brinton 10). In this review, the following was written: We have here range, depth, and beautiful expression. What more is necessary to a great poem? This vision is singularly complex and in all its labyrinths utterly sincere. It is the mystery of life that it shows two faces, and we know of no other modern poet who can more adequately and movingly reveal to us the inextricable tangle of the sordid and the beautiful that make up life. (Brinton 10) Eliot has been one of the most daring innovators of twentieth-century poetry. He believes that poetry should aim at a representation of the complexities of modern civilization in language. But according to Eliot, such representation necessarily leads to difficult poetry that other people find it difficult to understand (Nobel Prize). Modern poet writes from the influence of Eliot with unceasing experiment in form and technique that have vastly increased the scope of poetry by subjects, allusions, and phrasings far from the old ways of writing that are never previously deemed appropriate to poetry. The composition of the modern poem’s daring rhythms and irregular metrical patterns have created an exciting freshness unknown to earlier poems. The modern poet has explored beyond the limits of language and literary imaginations (Hauk 2). One example of the modernist poems of Eliot is ‘The love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’. Reading upon the verses of the poem in the form of a monologue will make a reader conclude that the theme of the poem is about loneliness, solitude and abandonment. At the beginning of the poem, Eliot brings the readers into the exact time and place of Prufrock by the use of concrete imagery. In lines 1-15 of the poem, Prufrock, who plays the narrator, is inviting the readers to walk with him through imagery. The words are put in vision as an image of a lifeless and quiet street at almost at the end of the day where the streets are no longer filled with people as described in the line: as the muttering retreats (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 3-5). The use of a wide array of imagery tickle’s the imagination of the readers and made it easier to see the scenery that is within Eliot’s poem. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ plays upon the complexities of poetic form that uses broad figures of speech and giving a concrete imagery by the use of words. Simile can be observed in the poem and an example can be seen in the first two lines that compare the sky to a patient written as: When the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherised upon a table (The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 2-3). Moreover, metaphor was used in the poem as well when Prufrock compared life to coffee or when the universe becomes a ball to be rolled that can be seen in the lines: I have measured out my life with coffee spoons (51), and: To have squeezed the universe into a ball / To roll it toward some overwhelming question (92-93). The use of personification was noted when Eliot has given life to smokes and fogs to have its back rubbed on a window pane (15-22). Also Eliot personified the streets in the line: streets that follow like a tedious argument (8). Moreover, it can be clearly observed the use of repetition of words and phrases throughout the poem that most of the time suggests strong affirmation of thought or feeling such as the clause ‘there will be time, there will be time.’ The repetition of words added more feeling into the thought. The use of anaphora or the repetition of words in the beginning of several clauses expressed the idea more distinctly in the minds of the readers (Fowler 606) that can be observed from the following lines: To have bitten off the matter with a smile,  To have squeezed the universe into a ball  To roll it toward some overwhelming question,  To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead (91-94) Although Eliot’s works are deemed contemporary and different from the old English poetry of lyrical arrangement and rhythm, still the art of Eliot’s poetry is an evolution of the old ways. The topic may have changed due to change in interest but still the way of writing still patterns the previous styles and forms. For example, alliteration as a distinctive characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon poetry can still be seen in Eliot’s modern poetry. Alliteration is the repetition of the same letter at the commencement of two or more words at short intervals (Fowler 607) that can be seen within the context of the lines of the poem such as: Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap, /  And seeing that it was a soft October night (20-21) -- where the letter ‘s’ is repeated in the words ‘sudden, seeing and soft’. Another example can be seen in the lines: Before the taking of a toast and tea (34) and fix you in a formulated phrase (56). All these lines have the repetition of letters within the corresponding phrase.   Modern poetry has the character of freedom and free-form-writing which is different from the strict methods of writing. From Eliot’s up to todays the freedom with the use of words has made poets write within the context of the modern culture. Poetry and literary forms are now written by an author with freedom to express feelings in writing in any which way as long as readers finds meaning and message between the words. Eliot have written ‘The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ beautifully, a true example of a modern poem that expresses a person’s thought of what he is experiencing. The modernist in Eliot’s works such as this poem have engaged the readers from a boxed typed poetry with word and sound pattern to the endless free-versed possibilities of writing. Eliot have rerouted from the usual numbered line length and meters to the exploring differences. Some of the lines of Eliot’s poem have only three words while others contain as many as fourteen. Deciphering the true meaning of the poem’s every word was really a hard task and on a personal point of view, the true meaning of poems are not on the author’s feelings hidden within every word but on the interpretation of the readers. Only the author knows what he really means with the poem but, nevertheless, it gives readers variance in imagining through the lines that gives differing interpretations. This makes a poem more elusive, thus, more sought after and readable. Therefore, Eliot’s ‘The love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ is a true setter of the modernist poetry. Work Cited Brinton, Ian. Contemporary Poetry: Poets and Poetry Since 1990. Cambridge Contexts in Literature. Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Fowler, William Chauncey. The English language in its elements and forms: with a history of its origin and development: designed for use in colleges and schools. Harper & Brothers, 1850. Print. Hauk, Gwen. Characteristics of Modern Poetry. Web. 19 July 2012. Lee, Stuart. “The Birth of English Poetry”. University of Oxford. Web. 3 Nov 2009. Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1948: T.S. Eliot Biography. Web. 19 July 2012. Scudder, Vida Dutton. The Life of the Spirit in the Modern English Poets (1972). Ayer Publishing, 1972. Print. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by Thomas Stearns Eliot. Prufrock and Other Observations (1920). Filiquarian Publishing, 2007. 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