J Alfred Prufrock Literary Devices

In T.S. Eliot’s “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, a man begins to reflect upon the decisions in life that he put off; realizing that he’s simply out of time to fulfill his wishes to find a wife and create a family along with many other wants and dreams. In the poem, Eliot uses a series of imagery and metaphors to vividly portray the character and to keep the story interesting and flowing. The poem of Mr. Prufrock is a simple yet vastly complicated poem. It begins telling the story of him as a young adult and transitions seamlessly to a middle aged man, beginning to stress over accomplishing the things he desires in life, but still convincing himself that there’s more time than seems to the eye. Finally, ending at the end of the journey, death. In his old age, Prufrock finally realizes that his …show more content…
Alfred Prufrock reflecting upon his decisions, he states “In a minute there is time / For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” (Lines 47- 8) which I interpret as him stating that while his current actions are ones to be rethought, there’s a time in the future for him to look back on his life and think of what he could’ve done differently. In lines 51-8, he states that “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; / I know the voices dying from a dying fall / Beneath the music from a farther room.” which I also interpret as he never realized how much his life went by, he took it day by day, then one day he realized that he had done nothing with his life. Although it’s difficult to tell, this single quote has very important message; life is nothing more than a series of repetition and routines, even though it’s human nature to refrain from change, you need to in order to be successful in life. Not successful in a sense of money and a large house, but sucessful in a sense of sucessful to be happy, finding a partner and having a family to share it with maybe the most common way to be happy, but it’s also the most