by Algy Moncrieff

Created on: July 15, 2009

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a beautifully written and yet somewhat disturbing poem by the American poet T. S. Eliot. It tells the sad, lonely story of the dull and useless life of J. Alfred Prufrock, a man whose name even makes him sound like a wimp and a bore. The poem is carefully constructed to be perhaps a little overly pessimistic (it is written as if by Prufrock himself), and yet still does not really allow the reader to indulge in a glimmer of hope for this wretched individual.

Eliot makes Prufrock out to be the kind of man that constantly worries - he has "time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions". This says two things about the character - first he seems to have a lot of time, suggesting that perhaps he is an upper-class man who does very little with his life, and as a consequence is a bit of a bore. It also shows Prufrock's constant worrying - not only about future events (the "visions") but also about past experiences (the "revisions").

Eliot slowly, almost painfully, leads the reader through each of these revisions. He writes without an obvious verse structure, because the poem is written from the perspective of the character - it is an "internalising composition" and such is written as if the thoughts of Prufrock have been put onto paper. This style is typical of Laforgue - a French modernist poet whom Eliot greatly admired.

Eliot describes how Prufrock recalls numerous ghastly coffee mornings - "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons," suggesting again that his life is somewhat pointless, and also deadly boring, which he hates. Another point is that coffee spoons are pretty small - if you measured your life with them it would take a very long and tedious amount of time and effort. And all through these long, dull periods of time he is in constant fear of seeming a fool - so much so that he does seem one. He is terrified of the eyes of these women he is with - "The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase." They stare at him - summing him up, and seeing that he is a boring, ugly man (or so he believes). He feels as if he were an insect "sprawling on a pin" - seeming very insignificant, and somewhat repellent - especially to the kind of ladies that he mixes with. After these terrifying women have summed him up, they attempt to engage him in conversation - which is also a struggle for him. He is forced to "spit out the butt-ends" of his "days and ways". It seems that he not only

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>