Personification In The Lovesong Of J Alfred Prufrock

In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the point of view of an indecisive, self-conscious young man is given. He is constantly questioning himself and has a fear of introducing himself to people and into relationships. The author illustrates the difficulties of overcoming self-doubt and insecurities by using personification in order to stretch the boundaries of reality and make the poem more understandable, using similes to create distinct images throughout the poem, and using symbols to connect the speaker’s thoughts together in one piece, all conveying the damage one’s mind can cause to their own personal image.

Eliot begins by deploying personification in order to further the reader’s understanding of the poem and convey the speaker’s perspective of life around him. Specifically, the speaker uses personification whenever he personifies the yellow fog as a cat-like creature. “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, / The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes, / Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, / Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains, / Let fall upon its back the

The main symbolism is that throughout his love song, Prufrock comes to accept himself and his feelings. He shifts from using “I” to using “We”, symbolizing how he has come to understand that he is not alone in this feeling of hopelessness. Another piece of symbolism, which I mentioned earlier in my essay, is the yellow fog. The yellow fog represents light, which shines bright in the city on an October night. In stanza 6, we get a fragmented view of Prufrock’s appearance. This convey show Prufrock himself is also fragmented. He closes himself off but he wants to become more open. The use of these symbols is that they connect the pieces of Prufrock’s thoughts and give readers a more complete view of