Introduction
Anna Akhmatova’s Requiem and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by Thomas Stearns Eliot were chosen for comparative analysis. These works perfectly reveal the theme of love and the emotional result of the protagonist’s philosophical reflection on life’s complex problems. Having decided to write a poem as a love song dedicated to his beloved, Prufrock is convinced that the existing expressive means of love lyrics are unsuitable. A requiem that women cannot help their loved ones who are in trouble, but their love and loyalty can warm others during the most challenging life trials. The essay will describe the themes of love and relate to them in the authors’ works.
Anna Akhmatova’s Theme of Love
The theme of love, of course, occupies a central place in the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. However, the depiction of romantically exaggerated feelings is not characteristic of her poetry. Akhmatova talks about simple human happiness and earthly, ordinary sorrows: separation, betrayal, loneliness, despair – about everything close to many that everyone can experience and understand. Love in the lyrics of A. Akhmatova appears as a “fateful duel”; it is rarely depicted serenely or idyllically, but, on the contrary, in an extreme crisis expression: at the moment of the breakup with passion (Akhmatova 1).
She rises to biblical heights in the description of maternal love. The suffering of a mother, doomed to see her son’s torments on the cross, is fantastic in the Requiem: The choir of angels glorified the great hour, And the heavens melted in fire (Akhmatova 5). Thus, the poetry of A. Akhmatova is not only the confession of a woman in love; it is the confession of a man who lives with all the troubles, pains, and passions of her time and land.
The theme of People’s Suffering
The theme of people’s suffering and sorrow is expressed in the description of a living queue, endless, oppressive, and stagnant for years. There, the old woman “wailed like a wounded beast”, and the one “that was barely brought to the window”, and the one “that the dear one does not trample the ground”, and the one “that beautifully shook her head, said: “I come here as if I were home” (Akhmatova 7). Both old and young were bound by one misfortune. Even the description of the city speaks of general, unspoken mourning: “It was when only the dead smiled, rejoiced at peace, and Leningrad swayed like an unnecessary appendage near its prisons” (Akhmatova 2). The steamboat horns sang of separation to the rhythm of the trampling of the ranks of condemned people. All these sketches speak of a single spirit of sadness that has engulfed the Russian lands.
Thomas Stearns Eliot’s Theme of Love
The protagonist, having decided to write a poem as a love song dedicated to his beloved, is convinced that the existing expressive means of love lyrics are unsuitable. Moreover, verbal means cannot convey her gestures, for example, how she straightens the pillow, throws off her shawl, and turns to the window. Despite this, Prufrock continues his search, seeking to move away from literary canons and find a language that could reflect the whole gamut of feelings he experiences, characterizing them as “a pattern of nerves that is highlighted on the screen by a magic lantern” (Eliot 3). Other than the search for means of subjective representation as the only ones capable of expressing this, the hero throughout the poem believes that he has not found them. Nevertheless, they are before us in this very discourse depicting his search.
Theme of Rejection
Throughout the poem Love Song by J. Alfred Prufrock, the author’s feelings gradually change about the protagonist. This can be seen by changing the emotional coloring of the lines, which smoothly changes their tone as the work progresses toward the end. Indeed, the author expresses more positive feelings from the beginning of the work. Still, gradually the lyrical hero begins to describe what is happening around him and believe the words of strangers about himself: “People will say: – He is going bald” (Eliot 2). But although Eliot evokes some sympathy for the hero among readers, he treats him very ironically. At the end of his monologue, the hero confesses: “I grow old… I grow old…” (Eliot 3). He fears real life, the manifestation of a living thought, emotional unrest, and passionate and loving expressions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both works show the dark side of love. External factors, such as the persecution of the people by the authorities in the Requiem or the rejection of the protagonist by society in the Love Song, weigh down love in them. Confidence, intimacy, and intimacy are the undoubted qualities of Akhmatova’s poetry. However, over time, Akhmatova’s love lyrics ceased to be perceived as chamber and began to be perceived as universal because the manifestations of love feelings were studied by the poetess profoundly and comprehensively. On the other hand, to destroy the smooth polished verse, Elliot realized that this could be achieved by causing a feeling of disharmony, inconsistency, and difficulty in introducing new topics and a new language, bringing it closer to prose.
Works Cited
Akhmatova A. “Requiem.” Poetry Lovers’ Page, 1963. Web.
Eliot, T. S. “The Love Song of j. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot.” Poetry Foundation, 1915. Web.