... , he has experienced a type of inner death. The "dying voices" represent a loss of individual opinion; in this poem's version of society, functional formalities have replaced individuality. The "half-deserted streets" and "oyster-shells" represent things that were once full of life, but are now empty and void. Society, while holding the illusion of life and vivacity, is really an empty illusion. The question that the narrator of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" has to deal with ... is whether it is better to live within an illusion and denial, sustaining the fantasy of youth, or emb...

• Word Count: 445
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... humanity's) decline to a trite and lifeless existence. The modern banality of civilisation is further presented as the speaker 'drank coffee, and talked for an hour'. The '[drinking] of coffee' is a menial act, suggesting the inanimate qualities of people in 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, investi...

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

... in 1965. Elliot moved to Great Britain after a trip to Germany was cut short by the outbreak of World War I. Following the War, during the 1920s he spent most of his time with other great artists in the Montparnasse Quarter in Paris. With the help of Ezra Pound, the publication of his first poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, earned him tremendous recognition throughout the European literary community. His style was contemporary and more modern then ... the rustic poetry which characterized the early twentieth century (Sheridan, 342). In 1922, he published The Waste Land, which g...

• Word Count: 1198
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate