Why is Prufrock a love song?
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” while not adhering to the traditional idea of a love song, still qualifies as one because it describes the longing of the speaker for his beloved.
Who is the speaker in the epigraph?
Guido da Montefeltro
How is Prufrock characterized?
Prufrock has an “inferiority complex” of sorts, rendering him unable to enter a romantic situation with women. He not only feels anxious around women, but also feels emotionally distant from the rest of society, causing him to live an awkward, lonely life, full of depression and gloom.
What is Prufrock’s opinion of himself?
He believes that he is going to be judged harshly by others if he ventures out into society, and he imagines that they will talk about “how his hair is growing thin” and that they will comment on the thinness of his arms and legs, despite his “rich and modest” necktie and the “simple pin” he wears.
How is TS Eliot a modernist?
T.S Eliot is considered as one of the most important modernist poets. The content of his poem as well as his poetic style give elements of the modern movement that was famous during his time. It shows the modern elements of disintegration of life and mental stability.
Who is Prufrock speaking to?
(“Mono” means “one). But “Prufrock” is a “dramatic” monologue because the person talking is a fictional creation, and his intended audience is fictional as well. He is talking to the woman he loves, about whom we know very little except for the stray detail about shawls and hairy arms.
Why does Prufrock compare himself to Lazarus?
Prufrock compares himself to Lazarus in line 94, as part of an imaginary conversation with a woman he cannot adequately communicate his thoughts to. Unlike Lazarus, he won’t return with stories to tell. Leaving his mental universe does not mean coming back to life, it means dying; at the end of Prufrock he drowns.
What is the question in the Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock?
Scholars and critics alike agree that the “overwhelming question” that is the focus of all of Prufrock’s ponderings in the poem is most likely a marriage proposal, or a question of a woman’s feelings for him.
What do the mermaids symbolize in Prufrock?
The mermaids in the poem represent the unattainable women to whom he is attracted. The fact that they are mermaids, fantastic creatures who inhabit the ocean, emphasizes that they are objects of fantasy rather than realistic aspirations.
What powerful image does the poet then use to present Prufrock’s overwhelming feelings about the question he might have asked?
What powerful image does the poet then use to present Prufrock’s overwhelming feelingsabout the question he might have asked? He is Lazarus who has come back from the dead19.
How does the Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock show modernism?
Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock carries the characteristics of modernist poetry such as objective correlative, fragmentation, free verse and irregular rhyming. The poem is about a middle-aged man who cannot make a progress in life and dare to approach women due to his timidity.
What is Prufrock afraid of?
Prufrock is afraid of death, rejection, judgment, and growing old alone.
Would it have been worth it after all?
And would it have been worth it, after all, After the cups, the marmalade, the tea, Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me, Would it have been worth while, To have bitten off the matter with a smile, To have squeezed the universe into a ball To roll it toward some overwhelming question, To say: “I am …
What questions does Prufrock seek answers to?
These include “Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?” and “Is it perfume from a dress that makes me so digress?” These questions serve mainly to enhance the characterization of Prufrock as an insecure man who doesn’t feel comfortable in his own skin.
What is it that Prufrock wants to do?
Prufrock intends to show his companion the areas of the city that he has wandered in his loneliness. Though he is, it is shown, a member of the higher classes—as is, presumably, the companion he imagines for himself—the district that he wanders through in his mind is the red-light district.
How would you judge the woman at the tea party Prufrock attends?
How would you judge the women at the tea party Prufrock attends in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”? Support your opinion with evidence. I would judge them on their behavior, because it isn’t fair to assume that someone is shallow or cruel just because they dress well.
What does Prufrock mean in the last line?
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
How do you think Prufrock feels at the end of the poem?
By the end of the poem, Prufrock feels ostracized from the society of women, the “mermaids singing, each to each. / I do not think that they will sing to me” (124-125). Yet Prufrock admits he is not even “Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; / Am an attendant lordŠ / Almost, at times, the Fool” (111-112, 119).