Poems are often catalysed by personal experiences, expressing a poet’s concerns about life and encouraging audiences to embrace their unique perspective. T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Wilfred Owen’s poem Dulce et Decorum Est, are examples of modernist poetry, through which both poets aim to reflect the sense of disillusionment and impotence they experienced as the horrors of World War 1 mounted. Owen firmly rejects the idea of heroism in war that was created by Romanticist poets, through the heinous images of its traumatising effects on soldiers. Eliot similarly expresses his concerns by exploring one’s sense of futility and meaningless in society through the persona of the pessimistic J. Alfred Prufrock, reflecting modern
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This is evident in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock were he states that “in the room women come and go and go telling Michelangelo” (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”13-14). The repetition of this verse throughout the poem and the mocking tone highlights the superficiality of the conversations of people, expressing the facade that society has created for itself to cover up its suffering. By contrasting these superficial issues with more complex issues such as Prufrock’s incompetence in answering the stern question of existence “What is it… do I dare disturb the universe?”(“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” 38) makes society’s superficiality more comical and shows how absurd the world has become and that life has lost meaning. Prufrock’s tone expresses his confusion and highlights his incompetence in answering these questions such as ‘shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? To wonder, "Do I dare? And," Do I dare?” (“The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock”38 &117) in the superficial world around him. Eliot thus critiques society’s trivial and superficial concerns in the midst of war as
This is evident in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock were he states that “in the room women come and go and go telling Michelangelo” (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”13-14). The repetition of this verse throughout the poem and the mocking tone highlights the superficiality of the conversations of people, expressing the facade that society has created for itself to cover up its suffering. By contrasting these superficial issues with more complex issues such as Prufrock’s incompetence in answering the stern question of existence “What is it… do I dare disturb the universe?”(“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” 38) makes society’s superficiality more comical and shows how absurd the world has become and that life has lost meaning. Prufrock’s tone expresses his confusion and highlights his incompetence in answering these questions such as ‘shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? To wonder, "Do I dare? And," Do I dare?” (“The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock”38 &117) in the superficial world around him. Eliot thus critiques society’s trivial and superficial concerns in the midst of war as