The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay

The narrator of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” often changes tenses in the midst of describing experiences, which in turn leads him to contradict and weaken the credibility of his assertions. How do the shifts in tenses work with his temporal diction to characterize the nature of Prufrock’s wisdom? Prufrock appears to be temporally challenged, like Quentin in The Sound and the Fury, through his sudden changes of tense that occur throughout the poem. These shifts, often working to describe a past experience of Prufrock quickly shift to a future tense, revealing these experiences are more abstract than concrete events of the past. For example, he says, “And I have known the eyes already, known them all-/The eyes that fix you in a formulated…

T.S. Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1917) is a poem that uncovers a man, named Alfred Prufrock, who not only has an unproductive and bleak life, but also has a lack of willpower and boldness to change that life. The poem is not entirely about love, it is a collection of the fragmented thoughts of a man with very low self-esteem and his inability to express his love to the woman the poem is addressed to. The poem is basically about this older man, Prufrock, who is distressed by…

In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Elliot uses a depressing tone to express a meaning of don’t put off the important things when you’re young because you may run out of time before you get to them. T.S. Elliot uses his choice of words to build the characterization of J. Alfred Prufrock, an old and lonely man who is reminiscing on the past, regretting not doing the things he needed to. All throughout the poem, T.S Elliot uses questions to build the characterization of J.…

person’s mind at some point. J. Alfred Prufrock in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” takes this fear to a whole new level. When reading the title of the poem, the reader would more than likely think that it was going to be a beautiful love song. Although, as the poem goes on its obvious that it is the exact opposite of that. T. S. Elliot takes what is a promise of a love song and turns it into more of a persistent reminder of how Prufrocks life is lonely and unfulfilling.…

The poem “The Song Love of J. Alfred Prufrock” is written by T.S. Eliot in 1939. During this time period, the “late Victorian culture forbade the public expression of feeling” (McNamara 359). Eliot defies such principles and writes poems that contribute to the new era of poetry, the Modern Era. Eliot utilizes every aspect of the poem to exploit the hypocrisy of the people during the Victorian Era. Eliot develops this poem to expose the frustrations of the modern individual and the hypocrisies…

(Explanation of: “The Waste Land”). In this case, his work becomes stronger as his allusions contribute to help convey the meaning of each poem. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock seems to start out as a love poem when he tells someone, “Let us go then, you and I” (Sound and Sense, 284). Farther on though, it starts to stray to Prufrock and his insecurities. His words come off as anxious and self- conscious. He continuously asks “Do I dare?” almost as if he believes he isn’t worthy enough to…

In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, written by T.S. Elliot, there is one main theme that branches into subthemes throughout the poem. The theme at hand is one that most people can relate to, including myself. Acceptance. Acceptance is the feeling everyone wants, and fear not having. We are psychologically “wired to seek love and acceptance” states Dr. John Amodeo from PsychCentral (web). Fear of not looking like society says you should look. Fear of not living up to the…

Response Paper 2 S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" uses a modernist approach to describe the views of a man living with self-doubt, lack of confidence and an inability to make sense of the modern world. Eliot uses descriptive images and society as the setting to give a clear visual picture of man living in his own hell due to his extremely low self esteem and the way he feel he is viewed by others. He cannot give or receive love because he goes through life with a…

The world has changed geographically, historically, and in scientific ways, but one thing that has remain constant throughout the ages of human existence is love and the struggles that come with it. Such struggles have caused men to do the impossible like cross oceans, travel the world, dance, sing, write, and, perhaps the most daring thing of them all, propose marriage. As seen in the poem by T.S Elliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, love and its complications have plagued humankind…

isolation pushes Prufrock farther away from people, Eliot uses nature images to increase the feeling of isolation. The nature imagery in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is stunningly beautiful; yet at the same time, it indicates isolation. In the third full stanza, a metaphor of a yellow fog that sounds like a cat is used. Cats only make themselves visible when they want something, otherwise they tend to be alone. Both fog and cats can come and go at any point unannounced and are…