... too nervous and does not feel youthful enough or beautiful enough topursue any social activity. The use of questions throughout the poem shows Prufrock's indecision. Eliot uses questions as a way to show how Prufrock escapes having to act with courage and decisiveness. "I grow oldI shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach ... the time to notice him, why waste time with humans? Aside from beauty, the feeling of always being watched, judged, and analyzed plays a monumental role in Prufrock's paralysis. Eliot uses an insect metapho...

• Word Count: 1341
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... , symbolism, the representation of an idea through an object or person, can be used to condense the ideologies and perspectives of a specific society or individual into a poem. T.S. Eliot in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1910-1911) and "Portrait of a Lady" (1910 - 1915) endeavours to compact the understandings and values of the early 20th century Western society - such ... 's downfall and the aged were seen as inadequate. It is these cultural ideas that lead us, as readers, to perceive the woman as a highly anxious character. Both the lady and Eliot's Prufrock, are socially consc...

• Word Count: 1491
• Approx Pages: 6

... on the roomful of fashionable women "talking of Michelangelo." Unable to enter, it stagnantly resides on the outside of the house, and we can imagine Prufrock pathetically avoiding, yet yearning for human contact in a similar way. Prufrock's persistent social indecision is underscored throughout the poem by Eliot's repetition of particular phrases and words. For example the phrase the women "talking of Michelangelo" echoes ... Prufrock's self-isolation. The fourth verse sees Prufrock considering whether or not he will ever motivate himself. There are references to his baldness, which ag...

• Word Count: 1384
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... Prufrock," is the interior monlogue of a truly tragic character. It is interesting that Eliot presents the downfall of a man in such a light and humerous manner. The beginning of the poem is very light-hearted as we see an old man trying desperately to escape the effects of aging. This playful tone is evident through Eliot ... 's use of lyrical rhyme and comic imagery. As the poem progresses there is a shift in tone that reveals a much darker nature. The lyrical rhyme is interrupted and the sorrowful imagery creates a somber tone. It is the contrast of these two natures that reveal the tr...

• Word Count: 1257
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

T.S. Eliot is the name of a major poet in the English-speaking world of the twentieth century. He was a British American poet who was very influential. His masterpiece "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915) gained reputation for the exploration of new poetic rhythms, forms, and themes and captured enormous attention. His experimentation within language and forms brought a rapid change in literary ... tastes. His writings helped usher in a new era in poetry. Eliot is remarked as "not only a great sorcerer of words, but ... the very key keeper of the language" by Igor Stravinsky. The Lov...

• Word Count: 1454
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... to retain her youth, and in turn she grew old and decayed with the ability only to 'wish to die'. This echoes Eliot's views of a barren and decaying society, with an inability to thrive towards its past magnificence, and sentenced to an ever dwindling vitality with ... need of stimulus, whilst the indolent conversation which follows indicates the hollow existence of Western aristocratic society; a concept explored further in Eliot's 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock', as '[he has] measured out [his] life in coffee spoons' implying a meticulously planned rationale, inves...

• Word Count: 1365
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Dynamic Changes in Views and Expectations Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps, and T.S. Eliot'sThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock? all embodied ideas that were viewed as unacceptable during the early 1900s. In fact, these works were so radical in their unconventionality that new forms of art sprang forth from ... because he wanted to show that he existed, not because he needed tobe? something that was fictitious albeit acceptable. Eliot wroteThe Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock? in a very non-standard way. The regimented society of the early 20th century lo...

• Word Count: 1312
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... works of the twentieth century. Although never claiming to be nihilists, such writers as F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, John Steinbeck, and poet T.S. Eliot infused elements of this philosophy into their writings. In each of their most famous novels and poems, some aspect of Nihilism can be found. In ... and full of despair. This is a prime example of a nihilistic society. In the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot uses interior monologue to evaluate the life of the speaker, J. Alfred Prufrock. He takes us on journey through his thought and reveals the futility of his life. He i...

• Word Count: 1461
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... to her confinement in institutions from 1930 until her death in 1947. The emotional difficulties produced by the marriage evidently prompted some intense passages in Eliot's poetry. Eliot was remarried to Valerie Fletcher in 1956. Living in London, he worked as a teacher and bank clerk and helped edit a magazine called ... died in London on Jan. 4, 1965. Probably his most famous work, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, was published in the Chicago based journal Poetry in 1915, though evidence exists that Eliot had sketched the beginnings of this work during his years as a student at H...

• Word Count: 1325
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... work to imply some meaning upon the work. It is used more for the cultured and upper class. An example of an allusion is in T. S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" on pages 1068-1072. Eliot uses an allusion in the epigraph and cites Dante's "Inferno". It is written in Italian so only the most cultured English speakers can understand it ... . It is used to describe Prufrock's views of hell and is a premonition of his lonely demise as he states on line 125. "I do not think they will ... ...

• Word Count: 1272
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... . It is the ending of her love, his life, and possibly her own life. The most difficult of all six pieces of literature is, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T. S. Eliot. The general thesis of this poem is; a life lived without love, is no life at all. The writer uses specific visual elements that portray this message to the reader. The ... ...

• Word Count: 1865
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School