The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Modernism

This poem is one of the major works by Eliot. The poem is an examination of the strenuous psyche of the ideal modern man. The love song has revealed the urban, modern landscape that he inhabits. The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock has posed many questions associated with societal norms and has pointed out the linguistic clichés and the empty social rituals. “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” (Childs, 692). This story that has imitated the today’s hollow society and has told a tale about the experience of a man who longs for more than cakes, tea ices, and unrequited love

Thesis

The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock shows an urban man with a dramatic interior monologue, stricken with incapability of decisive action and feelings of isolation that has been said to exemplify frustration and incapability of the modern individual and represent the modern disillusionment and thwarted desires.

Alfred is a pessimistic protagonist who seeks for a deeper meaning around the meaningless actions around him through the use of powerful literary devices that have enabled pull the reader more into his world. Prufrock has been caught between longing for a companion who he feels is part of the problem and his dismal introspection. The epigraph from Dante has allegedly thrown a special light on the meaning of the poem (Childs, 687). The poem is about self-consciousness where the personality of Prufrock has created an obstacle to understanding the poem. The love song has grappled with unbridled emotions and a deep introspection that has enticed the reader to think beyond their reservations. The love song has held meaning to most of the readers in a more modern era.

The poem is short, awesome and accessible. The poem has been stepped in allusions that have rendered an air of authority to the narrative.  This has also given the reader the impression that Alfred is an intelligent and well educated with an upper status in the society. It has also utilized Biblical references such as the death of John the Baptist as well other passages (Childs, 696). The poem is haunting as it has plunged into layered inferno through exploring what it means to have life in the modern world. The rhyme scheme of the love song is irregular with some sections of the poem have resembled free verse.

The poem has carefully used end rhyme though inconsistently and intermittently. It is a symbolist poem that has explored the consciousness of the narrator and his random thoughts that have been unified in the poem structure. The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock has also illustrated some themes which have revealed the emptiness of a modern life that has been made boring by habit (Childs, 691). This has revealed that self-awareness leads to existential paralysis but not self-knowledge. The poem has narrated the experience of Prufrock through the use of stream of consciousness technique.

The love song has revealed its irony hence suggested is an ironical poem. The poem is ironical in that Prufrock should be made to expose himself. It is ironical for him to see his mess but cannot remedy it. Prufrock has been a symbol of an intellectual, a wealthy young man but is completely incapable of his actions. This poem has been constructed as a fragment of his soliloquy as he walks through the streets and his reluctant decision about love. The poem has used a connection of imagery. For instance, the image of the fog as a cat has revealed another reflection of his mental state. “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes” (Childs, 693). The tensional images of stars climbing have revealed his weakness in the unromantic middle age and self-conscious disabilities.

Conclusion

The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock has been considered as a dramatic revelation of character and has revealed a stream of consciousness technique. Prufrock has been considered as a representative of a certain culture. In the sterile and superficial quality of his life in his inertia and vacillation, he is considered as a modern antihero representing the modern man.

Works cited

Childs, Donald J. “Knowledge and Experience in” The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”.” ELH 55.3 (1988): 685-699.