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Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock Essay

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Recommended: T.S. Eliot: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

It has been debated through the years whether true love exists on Earth or if it is merely a false creation of the human mind. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” poet T.S. Eliot explores the concept of love through the perspective of a self-deprecating man seeking companionship wherever he can find it. Eliot examines Prufrock’s self-loathing psyche, questioning fate and the existence of true love through a stream of consciousness, metaphorical comparisons, and the use of an anticlimax as an ending. The entirety of Eliot’s poem is written from the perspective of Prufrock and outlines all of his thoughts through a constant stream of consciousness. This allows the reader to view his thoughts as they come from his mind rather than only hearing what he decides to say through dialogue. The things …show more content…

The entirety of the poem acts as build up to when Prufrock can finally overcome his romantic awkwardness and his self-doubt, but Eliot ends it with Prufrock once again withdrawing from what he desires so greatly. “I do not think that they will sing to me… / We have lingered in the chambers of the sea / By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown / Till human voices wake us, and we drown” (Lines 125, 129-131). Prufrock compares the women in his life to mermaids or “sea-girls” that will not ever sing back to him, meaning they will never reciprocate his love. Once again Prufrock allows his self-doubt to overcome his being and deter him from grasping what he truly wants. The final line depicts Prufrock drowning, perhaps in his sorrow of the realization that he will forever be held back from love by his crippling anxiety. This ending rejects the idea of true love and romance in general, replacing it with the disparity of eternal loneliness and emotional isolation, stating the idea that a love between two people can never truly

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