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Themes In The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock

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In T.S. Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, he describes the hardships that certain people face in their lives. Through imagery, allusions, and repetition, he supports a message of social struggles and hardships. Overall, the tone of the poem is ironic, romantic, helpless, and timid. T.S. Eliot depicts Prufrock’s environment beginning with an evening that was “spread out against the sky” with “half-deserted streets” and the “restless nights in one-night cheap hotels” in order to show that Prufrock’s image of the world is gloomy, unhappy, and low-spirited. He completes the picture with the restless nights filled with “the yellow smoke that slides” along the gritty streets and “rubs its back upon the window panes.” This portrait draws on the senses because it sets a solemn mood that immerses the reader into the poem and causes him or her to feel the isolation that Prufrock felt. Eliot helps the reader grasp the inner conflict slowly deteriorating Prufrock’s mind and diminishing his insecurity about his appearance and what others think about him. His self-doubt and lack of confidence within his own mind reject the perpetual hope of having a romantic relationship with a woman. Eliot’s sensory details help the reader reflect on opportunities in life they may not take. The idea portrayed of …show more content…

I have struggled with similar problems such as social anxiety and self-confidence just as Prufrock did. Although times may seem hard, this poem teaches me not to overthink things. All of society struggles, and I firmly believe that if we were to recognize this, we could come together to support one another, rather than isolate ourselves. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is an example of how tragic life may be if you never build up the courage to overcome your struggles or hardships. Do not let the voices wake you when it is too late; take advantage of the time you have now because this is the only time you

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In T.S. Eliot’s poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, Eliot uses the literary devices of allusions to further explain how Prufrock sees himself throughout the poem. The author often refers to Renaissance art, the Bible, and classical mythology. By reading the poem, the reader will see Prufrock from his own perspective. The poem reflects on Prufrock’s insecurities and thoughts. Eliot made his character seem not only frail and weak, but also sad.

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Alfred Prufrock are an echo of To His Coy Mistress’ “Let us roll all our strength and all / Our sweetness up into one ball” (41-42). Here an allusion is made to bring forth that contrast between the two characters. With only two lines, Eliot is able to draw a potent connection between the difference in the characters. The inclusion of this allusion can also be interpreted in a myriad of ways that is dependent on the reader and their understanding of the source alluded to. Eliot may not have wanted to address a certain issue directly so he shifted the responsibility of interpretation to the

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In his essay “Here,” Philip Larkin uses many literary devices to convey the speaker’s attitude toward the places he describes. Larkin utilizes imagery and strong diction to depict these feelings of both a large city and the isolated beach surrounding it. In the beginning of the passage, the speaker describes a large town that he passes through while on a train. The people in the town intrigue him, but he is not impressed by the inner-city life.

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Have you ever read a love story before? Well, according to writer Harper Lee, her book To Kill a Mockingbird is a love story. When people first read the book, they would never in a million years have thought that it would be a love story. However, after you finish To Kill a Mockingbird and read it over a couple of times, you will soon realize that she was right to call her story a love story. Although it is not your typical love of kisses, it has a different type of love, which the Greeks call philia love, the love in deep friendships; storge love, the love of a parent and their child, and vice versa; and finally, agape love," the highest level of love, in which you love someone no matter what.

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Although both “Araby” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are narratives revolving around the characters’ unrequited love, there are more differences than similarities in the boy and Prufrock’s love style. Apart from the obvious difference in the characters’ age, the enthusiasm level and the activeness in action are also noticeably different. James Joyce’s short story, “Araby”, is about a boy’s puppy love on his friend’s sister. The boy expresses his love in various ways. In his excessive flow of emotions, he uses a simile and poetically states, “my body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers running upon the wires” (2169).

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This self-denial gives him further resolve at the end of the poem to still refuse to propose. Eliot’s allusion to Shakespeare’s Hamlet is clever in this way because in the play Hamlet is also indecisive; so much so that he needs a reminder from his father’s ghost to kill his uncle, Claudius, who killed his father, took the throne, and married his mother (Shmoop). In this same portion of the poem as the Hamlet allusion, Prufrock admits that he thinks he’s too old to marry, that he is so old fashioned he still “wear[s] the bottoms of [his] trousers rolled” (Greenblatt 1304, line 121). This shows the reader that Prufrock still is adamant that he is not going to propose to the

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Throughout the text, the speaker uses a diverse array of literary techniques to demonstrate the multidimensional nature of their love towards a lover. First, passionate love is conveyed in the spatial metaphor of loving with “the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.” Here, love is a substance that fills up and infatuates the speaker, creating a powerful drive that forces her to express it. This spatial love is overwhelming and grand, which establishes the passionate and fervent tone of the poem.

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People have been trying to give advice to Prufrock, and in turn, reflect that advice upon themselves. Three pieces of advice that are the most important to give to Prufrock is don’t care about your appearance, don’t care about what women think of you, and your life does matter. All throughout T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock”, he is concerned with his looks and how people will judge him. The first issue that comes up, is that Prufrock doesn’t want to look old. He says he is balding and his arms are growing thin.

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