Langston Hughes and T.S. Eliot - Essay Example

Suffering takes place in the lives beings with feelings in a number of ways, which are more so dramatically. The reason the writers of these poems decided to include the theme of suffering in their works is due to the effect it has on human beings as well as the times at which they wrote their works. The theme of suffering is used to show how; many fields of man’s activities are associated with one or the other aspect of suffering in their own ways. The various facets of suffering explored in the poems include nature of suffering, causes and origin, processes of suffering, significance and meaning of suffering, its related behaviors (cultural, social, personal), the remedies of suffering, management of suffering, as well as its uses.

The poems “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by J.S. Eliot and “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes in symbolic and imagery ways allude to the theme of suffering. Having been written in the early twentieth century they depict the silent inward suffering of human beings and song or blues is a metaphor in the poems respectively. An in depth analysis of both shows how music is used as a symbol to communicate the remedy for suffering. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, T.S. .

The cause of his suffering on the inside (silent suffering) is that he has too much knowledge of life to even dare approach the woman with whom he intended to have tea. This monologue accelerates torture in his mind as he hears comments made by others about his inadequacies, which causes him to be hard on himself for, ever thinking that it was possible to interact with the woman emotionally. Prufrock in his contemplation and meditation suffers emotional distress by the conclusions he makes in his mind that he is a second rate citizen which is all a matter of self-condemnation (Ackerley 24). J.S.

Eliot employs the form that is a dramatic monologue or a soliloquy in which the speaker’s (J. Alfred Prufrock) character is developed and revealed. His suffering is made worse by the fact that he (Prufrock) is urban thus isolated as well as moody and sensitive thinker. The writer uses fragmentation and juxtaposition in propagating the theme of emotional hurt with mental focus as one of the subjects. He portrays that in this modern world, there are destructive and impersonal forces that need to be overcome which the speaker uses pity as a defense.

Pity for Prufrock alleviates the suffering he is experiencing mentally by devaluating himself claiming he is no Hamlet. The theme of suffering silently in this poem portrays the fragile or damaged psychological state of human beings in the twentieth century. J.S. Eliot captures the transformed world, which was seen as denigrated, alienated, and fractured. The soliloquy of Prufrock shows the suffering caused by the Great War to which Europe lost a whole generation of young men. This left the survivors struggling to establish their masculinity in a society that had changed radically.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred