“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by Ts Eliot is a modern journey and dissection of the mind of a society man, J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock is pushed in two opposing directions by his desires: his desire to have the favor of the woman he admires from afar, and his desire to protect himself from rejection. This theme of division and opposites is present throughout the poem, and even its protagonist's name can be seen as an example of this: his last name, "Prufrock", can be read in two ways. Read as “Pru-frock,” the name suggests a certain weakness; the two words that come to mind are "prudence" and "dress", which suggest a feminine and restrained character. Read otherwise, "Pruf-rock", the name suggests a virile and solid character. The poem moves inexorably toward the "overwhelming question" of whether or not Prufrock will be able to overcome his fear and take action, to win the favor of the lady in question. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The opening sentence, in italics, is taken from “The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri” and says, to paraphrase: “If I knew these words would or could be repeated, I would not utter them. » This perhaps serves to put the reader in the frame of mind of an explorer, one who observes without being seen; It seems the last thing Prufrock would want is for anyone to know his true feelings, even if, as we see later, it's he himself who's doing the exploring. This theme is echoed in the opening lines of the first paragraph of the verse, when the speaker describes the evening as being "...[S]played out against the sky like an etheric patient on a table;" At first glance, this doesn't seem to make much sense, but think about it: what is the purpose of being anesthetized? One is “etherized” for surgery, for dissection, for exploration of the interior. If we view the poem as an exploration of a divided mind, the meaning seems clear. Prufrock's dilemma seems to have come to a head at a social evening - and perhaps in the company of his admirer, which is why I read the two as synonymous - the evening and Prufrock's dilemma. Eliot goes on, in the first paragraph of the verse, to tell us that the message of the poem will not be told to us straight away, but will be revealed to us through our observation and study of Prufrock's inner stream of consciousness, when he says " Oh, don't ask 'What is it?'" The poet/speaker himself bows offstage at the end of the first paragraph of verse, with the phrase "Let's take our tour. ..", and us in the mind of Prufrock. Then we have the line "In the room the women come and go/Speaking of Michelangelo." This lilting cadence and rhyme suggest a certain inconsistency, a triviality, which one might imagine typical of parlor conversations of all periods, and of the conversation of Victorian-era women in particular. Immediately we have an idea of ​​the place and the setting. The paragraph in the next verse, about the “yellow fog,” seems less clear in its meaning. He is given some of the attributes of a cat, which, considered in light of the rest of the poem, make sense; a cat is reserved and delicate in his attitude and appearance. The smoke, due to its yellow color, may also be meant to represent cowardice, which is certainly appropriate - I don't quite understand what the meaning of combining these two images is. Finally, fog is an ephemeral barrier, blocking only the view; perhaps, to reach a little, the fog represents borders which do not existnot really, but which are perceived as impenetrable; Prufrock, of course, could cross the limits he has set for himself, if he wished. This goes well with a reading of color as an indication of cowardice, as Prufrock's limitations or inhibitions can be seen as being the product of fear. This image is taken up in the following paragraph, concerning Prufrock's speech. sense of time. Time plays an important role in the poem. Prufrock insists on repeating the phrase “There will be time” over and over again, like a sort of mantra. This too can have a double meaning: on the one hand, he sees that he will have enough time to perhaps discover his courage. From a more negative point of view, in which his inaction is an acquired and immutable given, time exists as an instrument of his torture. The phrase "Michelangelo" is repeated again after the third paragraph of the verse, as if to remind us that time does indeed pass, and Prufrock, after this intrusion of the outside world, continues his meditation on time, which then continues towards a more in-depth characterization. of man. It is telling that Prufrock's perception of himself as a physical being is seen first through his own eyes --- he simply states that he has "a bald spot in the middle of [his] hair » and continues to describe his clothes, which seem more than acceptable --- and then, immediately, through the eyes of society. This duality shows us that he is even incapable of forming a definitive image of himself. He lacks confidence, so much so that he obsessively projects his own worries about himself into the private conversations of others, conversations of which, of course, he can never know the truth. This suggests that any negative view of Prufrock coming from outside himself may simply be of his own creation. If they are in fact based in one way or another on one's own experience, this is still indicative of one's nature: when one thinks of oneself, these negative comments are the first things that come to one's mind. 'spirit. This illustrates the power of Eliot's stream-of-consciousness technique, in that we see the associations in Prufrock's mind as they arise; the associations give us a deeper understanding of Prufrock's mind than we might get from other, more traditional forms of storytelling. In the next paragraph, we move forward with this in mind and begin to get a better idea of ​​what's holding him back. of what he desires. He says: “I have already known them all then, I have known them all: I have known the evenings, the mornings, the afternoons, I have measured my life with teaspoons; » It seems to indicate a feeling of inevitability, if by that we mean that he has a feeling of having known mornings, evenings, etc. of the future as well as the past; here we begin to enter the true heart of Prufrock's psyche, the heart of his dilemma, of his sense of fatalism: does he consider his failure to be inevitable? Or is it perhaps just the threat of failure that is enough to hold him back? In this verse, as well as the next two, in which Prufrock considers the eyes of society and the arms of ladies, we see another side of Prufrock's dilemma that we have already seen, his hyper-awareness and interest in his in the eyes of others, emerges again. I would argue that Prufrock's hyper-awareness of others is what, in turn, makes him particularly sensitive to others' awareness of him, "the eyes that stare at you in a formulated sentence"; the word "formulated" itself has two meanings: the metaphysical sense, following a rigid formula, and the physical sense, infused with formalin, the active component of the chemical formaldehyde, a preservative or "fixative." Afterwards,Eliot uses an interesting process, the row of dots on the page. It's important! So far, Prufrock has asked questions including "Do I dare?" “Where should I start?” and “How should I presume?” Eliot then creates a space, separated from the rest of the poem by the use of these points (the technical name of which, if there is one, I do not know), in which Prufrock seems to attempt to answer these questions in a parenthetical . to himself. This device seems to suggest an even deeper level of thought in Prufrock's mind, perhaps not immediately accessible to consciousness "above"; it would of course be a Freudian reading that this separationThis section represents a subconscious which functions independently of the ordinary stream of consciousness. Or perhaps Eliot separates these thoughts from others to show that Prufrock may be thinking seriously about the questions he struggles with in the poem, but is not taking seriously the possibility of arriving at an answer. Indeed, after the mere consideration of an answer, even in an isolated part of his consciousness, he takes an extremely negative turn in his thoughts, when he says: "I should have been a pair of jagged claws lunging at the bottom of the silent seas. "This image suggests a purely utilitarian form of life, removed from all consciousness and most sensory input. It is almost a death wish. Everywhere the slightest suggestion of a response! The following paragraph of verse is back in style ordinary and established stream of consciousness of Prufrock It is interesting to note here that the paragraph begins with the word "And" many of the previous paragraphs have started with this word, and it seems that the use of this word may be. intended to show that the "higher level" of Prufrock's consciousness remained undisturbed by his brief foray into darker territory in a sense, the rows of dots, whatever they represent, seem to have done so; Prufrock's affair goes on in the next three verse paragraphs to discuss in more detail the situation he finds himself in, to clarify more fully what he is facing. the ground”, relaxed and calm; his life, such as it is, is not so bad2E. He has all the comforts of his position, “tea, cakes and ice cream”. He paces back and forth, the tension growing, as he remarks how he "cried and fasted, cried and prayed"; Clearly, Prufrock has given the matter a lot of thought, to say the least, as anyone who has cried, fasted, and prayed over such a question knows. He views his failure as having his head brought out on a platter in the manner of John the Baptist, and almost seems to be able to accept this outcome, when he says: "I am not a great prophet --- and this It's not a big deal; » he sees his own mortality, "the eternal footman", which I read as death --- the clue is the capitalization of the word "Footman ---" and sums it up with the simple phrase " and in short, I was” He continues in the next paragraph by more explicitly considering his attempt and the possibility of failure. He again mentions the trivialities of his life, which seem to have come to represent his sense of security - these things always have and always will be as they are, unchanged, "The cups, the marmalade, the tea"; and here he finally gets to the very heart of the matter: “Squeeze the universe into a ball/make it roll towards something.” overwhelming question." This sentence suggests to me that his entire existence, his universe, would be encompassed in the question, and this is true; for a man whose existence as we see it is defined by his indecision, his fear and his uncertainty , ask --- discover the truth with.