The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by T S Eliot - Book Report/Review Example

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - By T. S. Eliot Contrary to what the implies, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, is anything but a love song. It is instead quite the opposite. Although the poem is open to several interpretations, after careful reading of the poem, the several underlying themes can be expressed by one central idea. In the poem, the narrator, J. Alfred Prufrock, portrays his disappointment with the society he lives in. By interpreting aspects of imagery, speaker and intended audience, one can easily assess Prufrock's views of life. His interpretation of everyday life can be described as vacant, lonesome, isolated, bleak, and repetitive (Critical Analysis of the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). The speaker of this ironic monologue is a modern man who, like many of his kind, feels isolated and incapable of decisive action. Irony is apparent from the title, for this is not a conventional love song. Prufrock would like to speak of love to a woman, but he does not have the nerve. The poem opens with a quoted passage from Dante's Inferno, which means "If I thought that my reply would be to one who would ever return to the world, this flame would stay without further movement; but since none has ever returned alive from this depth, if what I hear is true, I answer you without fear of infamy." Prufrock through these lines tries to say that he speaks only because he knows no one will pay attention to him and he won't be heard (Critical Analysis of the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). From the beginning till the end of the poem, Prufrock uses various phrases which make it very obvious that Prufrock is low-spirited and views life in an extremely negative manner. Early on in the poem, Eliot creates a scene that does not seem very inviting. Prufrock describes his surrounding on an evening out with phrases that insinuate melancholy and depression. For instance, he compares the evening to an anesthetized patient lying on a table, speaks about cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants, and finds the never ending streets similar to deceitful tedious arguments. The overall image of the surrounding presented emphasizes darkness and hopelessness. Prufrock also has a very negative view about himself. He sees many women are present in the room, but he is unable to gather courage to approach them. In line 38 of the poem, the phrase "Do I dare" reveals the lack of self-confidence in Prufrock. He thinks that it is time for him to turn back and leave. At this point he also discloses the fact that he is extremely conscious about his physical appearance. He worries that everyone in the room would only notice his bald spot, firm collar, necktie held by a simple pin, and his thin limbs. Prufrock imagines the words the people around him would utter on noticing his appearance. Prufrock is a timid man. He is extremely conscious of what others think of him and this has a great effect on his actions. This, in a way, also shows the disappointment Prufrock has with the way the world views things. He expresses his disappointment by stating that the world would judge him only based on his external appearance and not by what he holds in his heart. Prufrock concludes that this is how the world works and he wonders if he has the guts to disturb the universe. Prufrock, crushed under the pressures of modern life, crumbles from within. He shuts himself off from society and the woman that he loves: all because of his deep self-loathing and fear. Prufrock lacks confidence and lets him be caught in the web of his own imagination. He views himself as a modest and simple man who does not fit into the complicated society around him. This internal catastrophe describes the isolating and lonely nature of modern existence, where cultural norms become internalized and people watch themselves, as from the guard tower of a prison, hoping to catch themselves in the act of individualizing before becoming a deviant in the eyes of society (Masters Paul, 3). Prufrock then makes a decision to express his feelings to the woman he loves, but wonders how he should begin. He is again drifted into indecisiveness and negativity. Even as he tries to compose a love song for the woman he loves, it is only depressing images that come to his mind, like the narrow streets and lonely men leaning out of windows. This disheartens him so much that he feels he only deserves to be an insignificant creature that crawls by the sea. In lines 79 and 80 of the poem, Prufrock asks, "Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis" The phrase "force the moment to its crisis" reveals the point of desperation that Prufrock has reached. And for the first time in the poem, Prufrock directly states that he has seen himself go weak and that he was afraid to express himself. Prufrock considers his life so dull that he considers himself as good as dead. This can be seen when Prufrock begins to analyze the after effects if he ever spoke up. He weighs it to see if it would be worth the effort. He anticipates that he would right away be rejected by the woman. Hence he concludes that it would not be worth, after all, to reveal his love. He also finds it impossible to expose himself to such rejection. In lines 94 and 95, Prufrock wonders if it is worth "To say: I am Lazarus, come from the dead, come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all." Prufrock then confesses to the lord that he is no hero like Hamlet, but just an attendant who is careful and principled, even though a little tactless. Prufrock finally concludes the poem stating that he would grow old without anything significant happening in his life. He realizes that nothing about his character would have changed even then; he would still not have the courage to do anything different. He compares his life to the sea in which he has lingered so long and views the end of his life as drowning in that sea. Among the feelings that Prufrock expresses in this poem, no feeling comes across more clearly than his feeling of restlessness and wasted time. We get the feeling that Prufrock, who is aging, would do things differently if given another chance. In lines 49-54, Prufrock asserts his overall boredom with life. He says he has "known them all already, known them all-have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons." From this we can infer that Prufrock seems to feel as if his life is over and there is nothing more to expect out of life. He makes statements similar to this throughout the poem. He proclaims to have known "the eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase" and the "arms that are bracleted and white and bare." Prufrock feels he has seen all that he needs to and there is nothing else in life worth waiting for. We get more of a sense of Prufrock's disillusionment of life with his many references to time. In lines 24-34, he claims there is time to "meet faces," "murder and create," have a "hundred indecisions" and a "hundred visions and revisions." It is not as though Prufrock is doing this in a hopeful manner, though. Instead we get the impression that he is reflecting on time as if it is plentiful only if you take advantage of it and perhaps he feels he did not (Critical Analysis of the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). One of the aspects of this poem that is important is the interpretation of its speaker and audience. Although the audience is never clearly identified, several assumptions can be made. Prufrock in the first line says, "Let us go, you and I." This can be interpreted that Prufrock is inviting the reader to go along with him to view his life. Even while concluding the poem, he says, "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea" in line 129 of the poem. Again, by "we" he probably means the reader and himself. There can be yet another interpretation of who the speaker and the audience are. It also seems as though Prufrock is simply reflecting on life to himself. He makes several statements that would allow a reader to arrive at this conclusion. Throughout the poem, he asks several rhetorical questions of himself. In line 62, he asks "and how should I presume" He asks himself the same question again in line 68 and then follows with another "and how should I begin" These questions lead the reader to believe that the poem represents Prufrock's inner-thoughts about life (Critical Analysis of the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock). "Prufrock" displays the two most important characteristics of Eliot's early poetry. First, it is strongly influenced by the French Symbolists, like Mallarme, Rimbaud, and Baudelaire, whom Eliot had been reading almost constantly while writing the poem. The Symbolists, too, privileged the same kind of individual Eliot creates with Prufrock: the moody, urban, isolated-yet-sensitive thinker. However, whereas the Symbolists would have been more likely to make their speaker himself a poet or artist, Eliot chooses to make Prufrock an unacknowledged poet, a sort of artist for the common man. The second defining characteristic of this poem is its use of fragmentation and coincidence. Eliot sustained his interest in fragmentation and its applications throughout his career, and his use of the technique changes in important ways across his body of work: Here, the subjects undergoing fragmentation are mental focus and certain sets of imagery. Eliot's use of bits and pieces of formal structure suggests that fragmentation, although anxiety-provoking, is nevertheless productive; had he chosen to write in free verse, the poem would have seemed much more nihilistic. The kinds of imagery Eliot uses also suggest that something new can be made from the ruins: The series of hypothetical encounters at the poem's center are iterated and discontinuous but nevertheless lead to a sort of epiphany rather than just leading nowhere (Eliot's Poetry). "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is very different from other love songs. In fact, there is no love song in it since Prufrock finally does not gather courage or the means to compose his love song. Though the title of the poem states that it is a love song, the epigraph quoted from Dante's Inferno in the beginning sets the mood for the poem. In a way, the epigraph summarizes the idea behind the poem. However, once you get past the initial misconceptions about the poem due to its misleading title, you can easily see that this is a poem about what happens if you do not make the most of your life. Prufrock is a character that everyone can relate to as well as learn something from. Through an interpretation of this poem, it can be seen that even though a person's life may seem to be normal and in fact successful, sometimes that person may have a totally different view of their own life. From the poem we can conclude that Prufrock's life is like many others in the modern world. It talks of parties, drinking, and lovely ladies. This did not, however, bring happiness. As he aged, Prufrock was left very disenchanted with his life. This teaches one and all a lesson that opportunity, when knocks on the door, should immediately be grabbed. May it be in love, or otherwise. Bibliography Eliot T S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". 8 May 2009. "Critical Analysis of the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". 13 June 2006. 8 May 2009. "Eliot's Poetry: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". 8 May 2009. Masters Paul. "Critical Analysis of T. S. Eliot's the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". 17 January 2007. 8 May 2009. Read More