Analysis of prufrock and other elliot poetry

1033 Words5 Pages
Produce a close analysis saying how typical the section of ‘The love Song of Alfred J Prufrock’ that you have chosen is of Eliot’s style and concern T. S. Eliot is known as one of the most influential poets of the 20th century as his poems pushed the boundaries of traditional poetry. I believe the first forty lines of ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ reflect many typical themes which occur in Eliot poetry in this collection. The main theme of ‘The Love Song of J Arthur Prufrock’ is of a man looking at his life and believing that it is all over and that he has lived out his best days. He immediately draws the reader into the mindset of the persona or Prufrock by having Prufrock interact with his audience by using second person as well as first person narrative. Eliot uses the simile of ‘a patient etherised upon a table’ which could be said to symbolise the fact that Prufrock is as numb as the unconscious patient as he too has put his life on hold however unlike the patient it is because Prufrock is too scared to make any change to scared rather than because he is knocked unconscious by a drug. There is often a feeling of unease and awkwardness in Eliot’s poetry. One of the ways this appears is through the use of questions. In ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ he doesn’t actually ask the uneasy awkward questions that plague his other poems. For example in ‘Portrait of a Lady’ when the suitor sits back and asks himself, ‘are these ideas right or wrong’ .In ‘The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’ as he questions whether time is running out for him at the end of a line which he asks ‘oh do not ask, ‘what is it? Let us go and make our visit . The question sounds rushed as persona sound impatient and too busy to answer to questions.
Open Document