The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock.(T.S.Eliot) - Essay Example

English The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. (T.S. Eliot) Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” explores the life of the modern man who is often dramatic, anxious, and emotionally affected. Alfred Prufrock, the narrator in the poem, seeks to consummate his relationship with a potential lover, but does not know how to approach the situation. However, Prufrock is afraid to make advances because of the perceptions he assumes others have of his inadequacies. In his opinion, he “should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

” He despises himself to the extent that he wishes he could be in the ocean where he considers peaceful and less tiresome than the modern city. Through an irregular rhyme scheme, Eliot presents emotional focus and certain sets of descriptions. “Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains, Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys, Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap”. Eliot tells the troubles of Alfred Prufrock through the city life to the ocean images that represent the way he moves from a normal life surrounded by people, to distance himself from humanity.

Alfred sees himself as a second-rate individual after emotionally distancing himself from life and other human beings. He is absorbed in an inferiority complex and isolates himself from life. In addition, he is concerned with ageing in Eliot’s assertion, “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair — (They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)”.The transitions in the poem are mostly emotional rather than reasonable, as evidenced by the irregular reflections of the narrator. Even so, his enable Eliot to present the frustrations of a middle-aged man who cannot voice opinions, and eventually does not say anything.

At times, it is hard to determine whether Prufrock is on his way to act, or whether it is visions running through his mind. This is evident in the line, “pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas”; the yellow fog that “rubs its back upon the window panes”; the evening “spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table.” The stylistic devices and symbolism does not help much in his quest to express himself. His environment does not look friendly at all.

Eliot tries to say that there cannot be a meaningful existence in the modern world full of characters who are careless about their surroundings or are too afraid to raise their opinions on matters that affect the society. The poem represents the disappointment and disheartened desires that the modern day individual undergoes, and the failures people undergo for keeping quiet. Through Prufrock as a character, Eliot succeeds in representing the decay that is evident in the society. "The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock" is a poem that represents modernism and its effects on humans and the environment. This is evident because of the setting of the poem, in the city, and the frustrations of the main character “Prufrock”. The city is not only dirty, but also presents boredom and fear for its dwellers.