Analysis of T.S. Elliot’s The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

The poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S Elliot has unique features that has made it remain one of the greatest works of literature for over a century. The poem has survived across different generations because its subject as well as its organization meets the expectations of the literature lovers across the different generations. It is an analysis of the tortured inner self of the archetypal contemporary man that is fluent, overeducated, emotionally stilted and anxious. The arrangement and the expressions of the poem makes it easy for all readers to understand the speaker and who is being addressed. Prufrock the speaker addresses a probable lover that he wishes to force the moment to its crisis through consummating their romantic association (Cervo 208). The speaker in the poem understands too much about life to spur a move to the lady. He hears the comments of what others say in his minds concerning his insufficiencies, and he reproaches himself for audacious emotive interaction could be conceivable at all. The sonnet evolves from a sequence of impartially tangible physical environments for instance, a city scape and various interiors for example the coffee spoons, the arms of women in the lamplight, and fireplaces; to a series of equivocal images of the ocean carrying the speaker’s emotional distance from the real world as he comes to accept his real position in the society or the second rate status. The piece is worthwhile for its array of intellectual reference as well as the achievement of vividness in characters.

            The form of the poem has played a vital role in making the work one of the greatest works of literature. The author of the poem seem to have copied and followed the footsteps of his predecessors. The poem displays a variation on the dramatic monologue, a style that was common and favorite during the years before the poem was officially published. Dramatic monologue has specific features that make it unique and it achieves a similar objective of soliloquies in plays. The analysis of the poem reveals three major characteristics that are commonly associated with dramatic monologue. Unlike other poems where the main speaker in the poem is the poet, the poem covers the expressions of a particular person at a specific moment in time. Another aspect that demonstrates the dramatic monologue is that the poem is directed to a specific listener or a group whose existence is not openly referenced but simply indicated through the words of the speaker. The revelation of the character of the speaker seems to be the primary focus of the work and such a feature is a clear suggestion that it is a dramatic monologue (Trevisan 221).

            The form has been modified through a number of ways to make sure that it meets the expectations of the readers and listeners. The form of the piece has been modernized by the author through the removal of the oblique listeners and focusing on the isolation and interiority of the speaker. The author of the poetry tries to connect the speaker and the listener through the epigraph of the poem. The work pronounces the superlative listener of Prufrock as one who is as lost as the speaker and will never act against the will of the world thorough giving the content of the present confessions of the narrator. The readers of the poem are interested in understanding more about the world that the narrator describes through the poem. The speaker must be content with silent reflections since the sympathetic figures explained through the poem do not exist. The situation where a listener or reader is left to reflect and understand the kind of the world that is described in the poem is a crucial technique applied by the author to make his work great. 

            The rhyme scheme of the poem makes it a carefully structured amalgamation of poetic forms. The rhyme scheme of the piece is irregular however not random.  Despite it having some sections that resemble a free verse, the pieces and bits of rhyme become much more ostensible when the sonnet is recited audibly. The use of refrains is a perfect technique that demonstrates the formal features of the poem. Prufrock’s cynical assessments, continual return of the women who come and go, as well as his repeated questioning are all reflections of an older tradition of poetry and it enables the author to designate the cognizance of a fixated modern person. The obsessiveness of the speaker is artistic and it is also an indication of isolation and compulsiveness. Prominent aspects of great poetic works are evident in the poem across different stages ranging from the beginning to the conclusion of the piece. A key formal feature that is evident the poem is the application of the sonnet form fragments mainly at the end of the poem. Reading the work makes it apparent that the three line stanzas at the end of the poem are rhymed in a similar manner as a Petrarchan sonnet or else rhyme would be. However, the anti-romantic, and pessimistic content of the line stanzas combined with the despondent interpolation that explains that the speaker in the poem is not sure whether the mermaids would sing for him brings a disparity that comments inordinately on the cheerlessness of modernism.

            The general beauty and attractiveness of the poem has been achieved through a number of ways. The features of the piece is a reflection of a combination of various works of literature by other poets because Elliot copies some things from other authors. An examination of the poem shows that Elliot had been going through the works of the French symbolists before composing the poetry. Greatness of a poet through his or her work is achieved through application of techniques and styles that are evident in other literature works. The author takes his sumptuous eye and language for anti-aesthetic or frightening element that nonetheless play a chief role in achieving beauty in the poem. Some things that have been used by the poet as cyphers of beauty include the hair-covered arms of the women in addition to the yellow smoke. Examination of the past works that Elliot read prior to composing his piece indicates that he would have made himself the speaker but he chooses to be unique from other poets through the use of another individual as the speaker.

            The use of juxtaposition and fragmentation is a major defining feature that the poet uses. The uses of the two characteristics are evident across the work and they have enabled the author to achieve his objective and a clear delivery of the point to the readers. The use of bits and pieces by Elliot in a formal structure indicates that fragmentation provokes anxiety but at the same time productive. If the author chose to compose his work through use of free verses, the piece of poetry would have appeared much more pessimistic.

            The kinds of descriptions and imagery used in the poem is a strong suggestion that something new can be made from the ruins. At the center of the poem, the sequence of imaginary encounters are intermittent and repeated however, they result in a sort of epiphany rather than completely lacking a direction. The use of the descriptions and the images boosts the understanding of the reader about what the poem is all about. It also makes the work interesting because the vivid descriptions makes a reader get engaged in picturing what the poet could be talking about.

            The main argument as well as the purpose of the poem are reflected through the themes that are evident in the song. The first theme is revealed through the title of the poem. The subject of love manifests itself when the narrator walks through the streets and sees women talking about renaissance artistes. He falls in love with women but he grows self-conscious about his old age and his ragged clothes. He feels that the conditions cannot allow him approach the women and he decides not to make any approach to the ladies (Trevisan 222). Despite the poem revolving around love issues, it also introduces other subjects like loneliness and social classification. According to the poem, Prufrock is isolated because of his physical look and age. The appearance of his dirty clothes makes him feel inferior in front of the ladies and his fear for women is caused by feeling concerning his position on the social ladder. His inferiority complex is the main cause of isolating himself from others. Other than love, the poem is also focused on generation gap. The piece covers people talking about different generations like the renaissance period and it also brings in the aspect of future life. The author has designed the poem to remain relevant across various generations and in varied societies.

            Elliot made his poem worthwhile through his idea that the best poems are impersonal. The poet decided that neither his biography nor feelings should be here or there in the poem. The point of interest is that the speaker is not the poet himself and it makes the poetry impersonal. The most fundamental aspect for the author is to find the exact form of words or the image that elicits specific feelings among the readers. The style of using another person as the main narrator helps to put the reader in touch with the feeling straightforward in addition to making the poet disappear from the picture. The poem is valuable because it has most of its meaning from the dialogue it sets up with tradition. According to literature, no poem or any artist has his her complete meaning (Covey and Curtis 24). The author achieves the status of greatness because his work is deeply rooted in real things that happens in the society as well as other fantasy things. Elliot believed that great poetry is achieved through demonstrating a sense of maturity and it is a defining aspect for any form of art. Maturity is attained in any work of literature through avoiding provinciality. Provinciality implies to going to the extreme or sidedness. The piece of poetry in subject does not go to extremes because it cuts across various aspects that are evident within the society. The poem substantiates a common and balanced style that is not wilful and does not demonstrate egoistic cultivation of an individual style. The feature reintroduces the assertion that great poetry is impersonal since it uses a style as well as ideas that are accepted across the society. There is nothing that reflects the selfish interests of the poet. He focusses on wider issues that affect the society and the work is suitable for a wide range of readers from different cultural backgrounds across the world. Another aspect that makes the poem valuable is proper utilization of all major elements of poetry. Elements like imagery, rhyming, rhythm, density and others have been combined to make the poem interesting to the readers. Like how any great poem ought to be, the poem lifts reader out of the conventional and gives foretastes of more enlightening realities (Covey and Curtis 28).

            The fact the work is one of the greatest works that are still in existence is justified through its suitability top a wide range of readers. The poem is detailed and it covers an array of themes that elicits different understandings among the readers. The poem is suitable for readers across different cultural backgrounds and the understanding of the poem is dependent on the point of view of a reader. The piece of literature does not have a specific or fixed meaning because people interpret the meanings depending on diverse factors like their past experiences, cultural backgrounds, age in addition to other factors (Meyer 30). For readers who do not understand the theme of love, particularly the young members of the population, they do not recognize the subject of love in the poem. The theme is only clear to the readers with a clear understanding about it. The subject of social classification is also evident in the poem however, not all readers can recognize it. Readers from places where the social class matters a lot in the society are in a position to understand what it means. The poem provokes as many perspectives as there are readers of the poem. Some readers understands the poem as a great work of literature and others do not have similar views because of their diverse reasons. It is worth mentioning that there is no standard description of a perfect literature work. Despite the various obvious aspects that every poem ought to demonstrate, other ratings are dependent on the readers’ understanding of what a great poem entails. To some readers, a worthwhile work is demonstrated by a strong title and to others, the subject of the piece matters a lot. There are numerous determinants of a good poem and the poem in subject is wide enough to cause diverse points of view among its readers. However, the poem was the most suitable for selection because it demonstrates most of the features accredited to great poetry (Keillor 107).

Works Cited

Cervo, Nathan. ”Eliot’s the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.“The Explicator 60.4 (2002): 207-209. Print.

Covey, Sean, and Stacy Curtis. Sophie and the Perfect Poem. N.p., 2013. Print.

Keillor, Garrison. Good Poems. Princeton: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2003. Print.

Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. Print.

Trevisan, Sara. ”Eliot’s the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.“The Explicator 62.4 (2004): 221-223. Print.