Poem The Love Song - Essay Example

T. S. Eliot’s celebrated poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock presents the thoughts and feelings of Prufrock, the subject of the poem. Contrary to what the title says the poem is anything but a love song. The poem is targeted to display Prufrock’s insecurity. The poem presents his feelings that he could never have presented himself.

The title of the poem is ironic as the character who is presented in the poem is not romantic but timid, alienated, dull, and anti-heroic.

Even though the poem can be interpreted in innumerable ways, a careful analysis of the poem helps us trace the core idea surrounded by several underlying themes (Blythe and Sweet, 1994). The narrator is expressing his disappointment with the society he is placed in. A proper interpretation of the different aspects of imagery, theme, and symbolism will help readers easily assess the narrator’s views of life. Prufrock deems his daily life as bleak, empty, and repetitive.

At the beginning of the poem, the poet builds a scene that explains the indifferent mood of the narrator. The narrator explains the surroundings on an evening with a tone of despair and hopelessness. In line 6, we see that the author considers night as ‘restless’. He further comments that streets are "tedious arguments of insidious intent" (Eliot 1915). From these comments, readers can understand the narrator’s annoyance about his surroundings. Regarding his and his companion’s destination, he comments that they are "one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants with oyster shells" (Eliot 1915). Even though the narrator is not giving a long description of his dissatisfaction with the surroundings, readers smell a mood of dissatisfaction and restlessness that radiate from the life of the narrator. The narrator’s nature needs no further explanation in the poem. The poet makes use of multiple poetic elements to illustrate the mood of the narrator which is the central theme of the poem. As we proceed along the poem we see more elements of imagery that reflect the narrator’s s frustration with his surroundings. We find him speaking about the "yellow fog" which "rubs its back upon the window panes" and the "yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window panes" (Eliot 1915). He further comments on the "soot that falls from chimneys" (Eliot 1915). In the later part of the poem the narrator again refers to smoke as he describes the street he walks. These elements of imagery make us understand that the narrator is hazy and unconcerned and never accommodates anything.

The narrator's different feelings are presented in the poem. His feelings of dissatisfaction and restlessness, however, dominate his mood. Readers understand that the narrator who is getting aged will do things in a different way provided he is given a chance. In lines 49-54, the narrator reveals the overall boredom he faces in his life. We find him telling that he has "known them all already, known them all have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons" (Eliot 1915). It seems that the narrator thinks that his life is over and he has nothing more to offer. He continues to make comments of dissatisfaction throughout the poem. He says he is used to "the eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase" and the "arms that are braceleted and white and bare" (Eliot 1915). The narrator’s disillusionment with life is also evident in his remarks about time. In lines 24-34, we see him telling us that time is there to "meet faces", "murder and create", have a "hundred indecisions" and a "hundred visions and revisions" (Eliot 1915). The narrator is telling this not in an optimistic manner. Readers feel that he is telling us that time is plentiful only if we take good advantage of it. The narrators appear to be sure that he has failed to take advantage of time.

He cannot satisfactorily speak out his feelings. This is evident when he “prepare(s) a face to meet the faces that (he) meet(s) (Eliot 1915).” The narrator is very much self-conscious about his appearance. He believes that people watch what he wears and how he appears. The opinion of others about him matters much to the narrator. We see that he doesn’t like to “disturb the universe” through his interference (Eliot 1915). Towards the last part of the poem, we find the narrator’s final despair about life. He feels left out of the society. He fails to find his place in the universe. The narrator’s feelings that are hidden in the poem are presented wonderfully. The poet has beautifully presented the narrator and the underlying theme using different poetic elements. Read More