Prufrock is presented as ‘an awkward and emasculated character’. To what extent do the metaphors in ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ create this view of the character?
Prufrock is presented as ‘an awkward and emasculated character’. To what extent do the metaphors in ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ create this view of the character?
TS Eliot’s 20th Century poem ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ is widely seen as a modernist work that Eliot employs to make the reader of the poem actually create their own opinion of what is actually meant by the poem. The modernist movement happened mainly in the late 19th to early 20th Century and started with the French poet, Jules Laforgue. It is easy to draw similarities between Eliot’s Lovesong and all of Laforgue’s works as they both employ symbolist and modernist aspects in the way they describe everything through metaphor. Throughout the poem, Eliot uses many metaphors to describe what Prufrock is seeing, ‘through [those] certain half-deserted streets.’ What Prufrock is seeing is often shown through his fragile mindset. The use of metaphor is an interesting one as, despite promoting a great sense of uncertainty with the actual events that Prufrock is experiencing, it gives the reader a very clear idea of Prufrock’s character. It is undeniable that Prufrock is presented as ‘awkward and emasculated’ as his social and sexual insecurities are portrayed by Eliot throughout.
The epigraph that precedes the poem is a device utilised by Eliot to portray an immediate sense of ambiguity to the reader. It is possible to say that, as the rest of the poem is recounted from Prufrock’s point of view, Eliot has intended it to give the reader an insight into Prufrock’s personality. The fact that the quotation is taken from Dante’s Inferno would offer an insight to Prufrock’s mindset – that he is eternally doomed as a result of his ‘awkwardness’ or inability to sufficiently participate. As the epigraph is taken from Dante’s Inferno it is easy to see that Eliot has used something that is often in a foreign language to the reader to further separate the poem from the reader. Alexander Gonzalez
TS Eliot’s 20th Century poem ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ is widely seen as a modernist work that Eliot employs to make the reader of the poem actually create their own opinion of what is actually meant by the poem. The modernist movement happened mainly in the late 19th to early 20th Century and started with the French poet, Jules Laforgue. It is easy to draw similarities between Eliot’s Lovesong and all of Laforgue’s works as they both employ symbolist and modernist aspects in the way they describe everything through metaphor. Throughout the poem, Eliot uses many metaphors to describe what Prufrock is seeing, ‘through [those] certain half-deserted streets.’ What Prufrock is seeing is often shown through his fragile mindset. The use of metaphor is an interesting one as, despite promoting a great sense of uncertainty with the actual events that Prufrock is experiencing, it gives the reader a very clear idea of Prufrock’s character. It is undeniable that Prufrock is presented as ‘awkward and emasculated’ as his social and sexual insecurities are portrayed by Eliot throughout.
The epigraph that precedes the poem is a device utilised by Eliot to portray an immediate sense of ambiguity to the reader. It is possible to say that, as the rest of the poem is recounted from Prufrock’s point of view, Eliot has intended it to give the reader an insight into Prufrock’s personality. The fact that the quotation is taken from Dante’s Inferno would offer an insight to Prufrock’s mindset – that he is eternally doomed as a result of his ‘awkwardness’ or inability to sufficiently participate. As the epigraph is taken from Dante’s Inferno it is easy to see that Eliot has used something that is often in a foreign language to the reader to further separate the poem from the reader. Alexander Gonzalez