Analysis of T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
T.S. Eliot was a literary and social critic, play writer, and publisher. The poem that made him well known was called “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. It was started in 1910, and was finally published in 1915. When poems are written, they typically reflect the emotional state that the author is in at the time. Due to the tone of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the reader can interpret that T.S. Eliot may have been in a dark stage of his life. As every author has his or her own form of writing, Eliot favored pathos. T.S. Eliot heavily used pathos to develop his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. He used them to appeal to the emotion of his readers with his vivid language and descriptions. One example of this is on line 15, “The yellow smoke that rubs its back upon the window-panes.” This allows the reader to envision what Prufrock is seeing as he walks through the room. Another way he uses pathos in this poem is when he states his emotional events of his arms, legs, and hair growing thin (l. 41, 44). He uses this to show that he does not think highly of himself, and what related issues he is going through. Although logos and ethos is not used as much in this poem, they are still present. Eliot used logos in the way of abstract language by using mainly thoughts rather than full sentences. Ethos is used to develop this poem by the appropriate level of vocabulary. With his vocabulary, the reader can assume that Prufrock is a smart man.
Eliot uses a contrasting technique throughout the poem to strengthen his emotional appeal to his readers. He does this in several different ways including using words, sounds, and ideas. One example of this is shown in lines 2-3, “When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table;” He first increases our expectations, but brings the matter back down to the ground with the following line. Another example of his contrasting technique is in lines 47-48, “In a minute there is
Eliot uses a contrasting technique throughout the poem to strengthen his emotional appeal to his readers. He does this in several different ways including using words, sounds, and ideas. One example of this is shown in lines 2-3, “When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table;” He first increases our expectations, but brings the matter back down to the ground with the following line. Another example of his contrasting technique is in lines 47-48, “In a minute there is