Introduction
T.S. Eliot is a British-American poet born in 1888, known as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and his contribution to the English Modernist literary movement. Despite a long list of accolades, including the 1948 Nobel Prize in literature, one of his famous works is the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” written in 1911 when Eliot was still a college student. The poem and his other works represented a strong departure from 19th-century poetry, with the development of techniques and modern themes in forms that led to Eliot’s writing becoming landmarks of historical literature (“T.S. Eliot”). The poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” analyzed in this paper is a representation and examination of a modern man, who is struggling with his perception of the world; both seeking a romantic relationship but facing tremendous emotional and psychological self-depreciation as can be seen through themes of indecision, loneliness, and anxiety.
Summary
The poem focuses on the primary character of Prufrock. The poem does not have a concrete narrative, but it seemingly does represent the passage of time. However, it is mostly a collage of thoughts, beliefs, fears, and imagery of this one man, living in a metropolitan city. Prufrock seems to be a middle-aged man who is hoping to find a woman, attending some social events in a city to do so. Soon, the reader finds that he is very indecisive, anxious, and self-conscious – not fitting in very well in society. He thinks that others are talking behind his back and judging him. He wishes he could escape this social world of tea parties and women “talking of Michelangelo” (Eliot 36). Prufrock seems to be in love, but he never expresses it, being cowardly and focusing on other problems. During all this, there is some important philosophical question that is brought up, but Prufrock does not yet reveal what it is. There are a lot of things that Prufrock wants to accomplish, but he keeps putting them off, believing there is lots of time, using the anaphora “And indeed there will be time” (Eliot 37).
Prufrock continues his thoughts, discussing how he wishes he was a crab and further demising himself, that he is not a protagonist like Prince Hamlet, but rather a background character. He reflects that he never says what he means and that he is subservient, polite, and careful; all because he is afraid that nobody will accept what he has to say. Eventually, Prufrock grows old, and his worries and priorities have changed. The poem ends back with the sea metaphor, suggesting that he and whoever he is talking to are at the bottom sea, and as soon as they awaken, they will drown.
Analysis
Before beginning the analysis of the poem, it is worth noting the epigraph of the poem which is a direct quotation from Dante’s Inferno in Italian. Eliot was known to have been a fanatic of Dante, and the meaning of the epigraph indicates that the poem is something that the world was not meant to hear, but it emerged anyway. Prufrock’s ‘love song’ is being told as potentially the protagonist believes that it will not be repeated to others, because he worries for his reputation (White 35).
J. Alfred Prufrock, a lonely, middle-aged man is confronted with a variety of beliefs and issues occurring from his inner self that string him along the entirety of the poem. With anxiety being the pushing factor through everything, it almost seems like Prufrock cannot decide for himself and properly live with it. Every time he is faced with a situation, doubt is the first thing that comes to mind. Not always something you want to be living with, but this is the reality that Prufrock has. He is a distinct character yet with a vague enough personality to be like most other concerns. Indecision is one of Eliot’s main issues where his character J. Alfred Prufrock is diagnosed with neurosis that comes from not knowing what to do with himself. This indecision is the key reason for a constant circle of anxiety and indecisiveness. Because his anxiety makes him indecisive, this comes around and makes his indecisiveness make him even more anxious. Thus, completing the circle. Prufrock’s main trigger words are “Do I dare?” and “Should I presume?”.
The poem is ultimately set up as a juxtaposition between doing and not doing, action and inaction. Although the poem does seem to imply a narrative, passage of time, and action with the first lines of “let us go” – the audience quickly realizes that Prufrock is stalled in place, both literally and figuratively in his place in life. The
“overwhelming question” that is meant to be a major philosophical discussion of life, never gets asked. Meanwhile, the anaphora “there will be time,” by which this poem is widely recognized represents the continuous and habitual procrastination of Prufrock, which is both a characteristic of his attitude and a consequence of his social anxiety. Extreme indecisiveness is driven by fear, either of making a wrong choice or being judged by others. As a result, he is stuck in a loop, “And time yet for a hundred indecisions, / And for a hundred visions and revisions.” (Eliot 32-33).
One of the poem’s primary issues is social anxiety and the way it influences Prufrock’s capacity to engage with the ones around him. “To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;” (Eliot 27). He seeks to escape the social world of the metropolitan in which he lives where tea parties and superficial conversations are required to get by and find love. When comparing himself to a crab metaphorically, Prufrock identifies that he wishes that he was not human, thus able to passively spend his time. However, even in fantasy, the self-depreciation in Prufrock’s psyche can be seen as he believes the mermaids will not sing to him. Nevertheless, the end of the poem in which Prufrock drowns, which many perceive as death, can be interpreted as him being drawn out of fantasies into reality where he is once again suffocated by the social requirements.
As evident, the poem is highly erratic, demonstrating spontaneous thoughts and musings of Prufrock, making it difficult for interpretation. There are many theories regarding the purpose and intended audience, some arguing that Prufrock is talking to another individual or even directly to the audience, while others believe it is purely an internal monologue, potentially even between multiple personalities of Prufrock himself. There are also contradictions in the meaning of the poem – with many scholars believing that it represents a profession of romantic love, while others suggest it represents a general disillusionment with society and its structures and expectations. In either scenario, Prufock demonstrates his inability to cope, fearing rejection as well as decay as he is unable to live a meaningful existence as a modern man. It is an exemplification of the postmodern art form which reflects self-consciousness (Mandal and Modak 4).
Conclusion
By all indications, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a dramatic monologue, well-known in poetry from the previous centuries, such as Tennyson who was well-known for that form of poetry. However, Prufrock takes on a completely new take on the form, representing a modern-day urban narrator who speaks frankly and honestly on subjects that were still potentially taboo in society but represented the attitudes of so many individuals. The poem discusses elements of psychology, sexuality, social expectations, and a sense of failure through themes of anxiety, indecision, morality, loneliness, and self-judgment. Eliot’s work is challenging to analyze due to the sporadic nature of the monologue and so many metaphorical and figurative elements without explanation creating discourse around this poem for decades, but its uniqueness ultimately contributes to its masterpiece status.
Works Cited
Eliot. T. S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Poetry Foundation, 1963, Web.
Mandal, Annesha, and Arindam Modak. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock: A Postmodern Poem with a Postmodern Hero.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 12, 2013,Web.
“T. S. Eliot.” Poetry Foundation, Web.
White, Robert. “19. Eliot’s the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Epigraph.” The Explicator, vol. 20, no. 3, Nov. 1961, pp. 35–37, Web.