Prufrock Symbolism

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Analysis of Prufrock

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock written by T. S. Eliot is the tragic story of one man who desperately looks for love ,yet, fears nothing more. The reader is taken with Prufrock on a cryptic walk through murky streets and hushed voices until he can come to terms with the essence of his life. Through the use of Eliot’s symbols and imagery, transformation of setting,sexual attraction and changes through age Prufrock’s masks the catastrophe that is evolved from a walk in the streets to the darkness of the ocean floor.
Eliot’s word choice in the symbols and imagery he delivers to the reader is enough to make anyone feel like they are actually in the poem taking the funereal stroll with Prufrock. As the poem commences we
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As the poem goes on and Prufrock gets closer to his final days we see many changes within him. In the beginning Prufrock starts out as a complex middle-aged man who invites us to take a walk with him. The reader isn 't really sure what Prufrock has intended for this journey due to the fact that he keeps tip toeing around his “overwhelming question”. He battles to get this question out to those taking this walk with him as a result of his own self-doubt and lack of confidence. Prufrock says, “To lead you to an overwhelming question…. Oh, do not ask “What is it?” (10-11). He is so afraid of rejection that he won 't even tell us what exactly this question he 's looking for the answer to be. By the middle of the poem the reader can conclude that the overwhelming question is “why am I still alone”? At this point Prufrock is most likely around 60 years old waivers around women. He desperately wants to impress them yet tries his best to avoid them at all costs. At the end of the poem Prufrock is a depressed old man who finally sees the truth of what his life has come to. In the four short lines where Prufrock says, “ I am no prophet-- and here 's no great matter; I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker, And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, And in short, I was afraid.” (83-86). After all those years, Prufrock lowered his Shields and bared it all to …show more content…
Alfred Prufrock. “It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize the people that you have known forever don’t see things the way you do. And so you keep the memories, but find yourself moving on” (Nicholas Sparks). This is precisely what Prufrock had to do, as he grew older he realized who he was and what he had truly been wanting in life. However, for him, he realized this a little too late and found himself moving on to the afterlife. Prufrock’s sorrowful soul is an incentive for all the readers to carry out their ambitions and never let fear hold them back, and for that anyone can agree that in some ways Prufrock truly is an

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