Comparison and Contrast of Miniver Cheevy and The Love Song of J. lfred prufrock

It is human nature to desire things which cannot be obtained. It is also human nature to make excuses for why they can’t achieve those things. So it is natural that many writers and poets should choose to write about these desires which, for some reason or another, are never achieved. It is amazing how one writer can create a work completely different from another writer’s work, yet it still shares many similarities. The style and characteristics of E.A. Robinson’s “Miniver Cheevy” and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are similar and different in reference to allusions, the characters’ attitudes, and the characters’ desires.

In both “Miniver Cheevy” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, allusions are used throughout the poem. In just two lines of poetry, Robinson uses historical, legendary, and mythological allusions: “Miniver loved the days of old/When swords were bright and steeds were prancing” (5-6). Eliot also uses mythological allusions to refer to mermaids: “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown” (129-130). A

lthough both authors use allusions, Robinson doesn’t use literary allusions like Eliot does in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”: “To have bitten off the matter with a smile/To have squeezed the universe into a ball/To roll it towards some overwhelming question” (91-93). Although both characters in these poems use allusions, Miniver Cheevy mainly refers to myth, legend, and history, while J. Alfred Prufrock refers to the Bible and to literary works.

Miniver Cheevy’s wish is completely unrealistic, and just plain silly. His vision of the past is not even reality based. His wishes he were a knight in shinning armor, when in fact, the iron clothes were uncomfortable and impractical: “Miniver sighed for what was not/And dreamed, and rested from his labors/He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot/And Priam’s neighbors” (9-12). He also envisions himself as a member of organized crime, but doesn’t think about the constant threat of death or imprisonment: “Miniver loved the Medici/Albeit he had

“And I have known the eyes already, known them all-

The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,

Although Cheevy and Prufrock both wish for things they think are unobtainable, the items they wish for are completely different. Prufrock’s wish is to be with a woman. He thinks it is impossible for him to be with a woman

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