When I first read this poem, I was confused because I noticed that the poem was written from second person point of view because the author repeatedly used “You” and “I” a lot. Also the poem has no stanzas; therefore it’s more like a letter. I would have thought he was talking to a friend or about a friend if it wasn’t titled “To myself”. The author seemed to have lost himself even though he knew who he really was. I felt like the first three lines of the poem “Even when I forget you; I go on looking for you; I believe I would know you” explains how sometimes we lose ourselves and forget the people we used to be but we’ll never stop wanting to be who we used to be.
The tone of the poem sounds like he’s frustrated and maybe a little angry about him growing. “It is time to say goodbye to my imaginary friends, time to turn the first big number. It seems only yesterday I used to believe there was nothing under my skin but light. If you cut me I could shine.” – This is the most obvious symbol in the text - from child to adult. In the start of the poem, he starts telling us how sick he feels like he’s “coming down with something”.
A good example is when Holden had the chance to see Jane, an old friend, and didn’t feel like going down to see her, but then later on was frustrated because he kept thinking about her and Stadlater trying to make a move. He then kind of wished he would of went down and visited with her. The lyric, “Someone help him or he’s gonna end up quitting,” relates to how Holden needs someone to, as the book says, “help him.” Holden talks about running away and starting a new life and just quitting the one he has. He is always running in the novel, but he finally has no other option than to go to his former English teacher, Mr. Antiloni, who gives him some advice that he later on understands. The lyric, “He makes a plan to take a stand but always ends up sitting,” correlates to how Holden will try to make a friend, or stand up for something, but in the end he fails.
When I write transition is a big thing for me. Most of the time it’s hard for me to transition smoothly on my topic when I write. I never understood how I never been a strong writer but when I had to take the state writing exam I passed. I hate when I had to write and I would get time for it. I would be lost of thoughts and get really nervous thinking it I was going finish in time or if I would get a good grade.
Dreamers often dwell on a distorted version of reality. In The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby devotes his adult life to pursuing his idealized love, Daisy, before realizing that he can not go back in time to restart their relationship and that his dream was destroyed by reality years ago. Gatsby’s initial warped perception of reality morphs into an eventual epiphany that his idealized dreams are unrealistic. Each time Gatsby is faced with the possibility that his dream may not be attainable, he persists in believing in and pushing for it, all the while growing toward the realization that he cannot attain Daisy, swaying alternately between utter disappointment and sheer joy. Gatsby’s growing disappointment throughout the novel stems from uncomfortable encounters with Daisy as well as interactions with Daisy that do not live up to his idealized dreams.
No one wants to read an essay that they have to look up every other word to understand what they are reading. This tends to cause the reader to become frustrated and loose interest. When reading the essay he asks questions throughout to keep the reader interested. The reader can easily connect to the examples that Zinsser points out throughout the essay. Zinsser expresses “fighting clutter is like fighting weeds-the writer is always slightly behind” (140).
After reading the poem, I think that the poem isn’t about any specific fear, just fear itself. It shows how we, as people, all have fear. The poem might even suggest that we need fear and we ask for it, as seen in the following line, “Mr. Fear, we say in our dreams, what do you have for me tonight?” In the poem, this fear is unwanted but accepted by the author. It’s a part of life and a part of every day.
Desire and Paralysis of Prufrock “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T. S. Eliot shows that Prufrock not only feels apprehensive towards expressing his inner feelings to a certain woman, but also feels anxious around others in society. Ultimately, Prufrock lives his life with immense desire, however paralyzed by his emotions and never overcoming the fear of self-expression. As a result he was totally inactive in fulfilling any of his desires. Early in the poem, the reader perceives Prufrock’s awkwardness when he deals with ordinary social situations. When Prufrock talks about interacting with others, he thinks: There will be time, there will be time To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; With this, Prufrock shows that he carries little grace and charisma when dealing with others.
A common element that is within his many poems is alienation, loneliness and shallowness and these can be found within the cryptic mastermind lines, verses and stanzas. Three poems that hold these same mastermind lines, verses, stanzas and techniques are, “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, “Preludes” and “Portrait of a Lady”. “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock”, filled with numerous references to Shakespeare and biblical mentions, articulates a balding, insecure, aging-man - Prufrock - who lives in fear of inadequacy and difficulties with being unable making decisions. Prufrocks world is dull and uneventful; he lives the same life day after day and is incapable of expressing his feelings and seizing potential opportunities to advance in his current, miserable life. Overall he feels lonely and alienated, for example in lines (15-25) Prufrock mentions “The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” under further investigation of this metaphoric personification, Prufrock is describing a cat, one of which he likens too himself.
This word helps the reader to identify the speaker’s emotional standpoint of the separation. One can assume he feels as if his ex-lover has ripped his heart apart from hers. In the last line of the first stanza, “truly that hour foretold sorrow to this,” the speaker shows the readers that the pain and grief he feels in the moment of their separation does not ease with time. The feelings he felt in the moment of separation was just foreshadowing the greater sorrow the speaker would feel later on. In the second stanza, it describes the speaker’s atmosphere as being cold.