The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ by T.S. Eliot is the inner monologue of a
city gentleman who is stricken by feelings of isolation and inadequacy and
incapability of taking decisive action.
It isn’t easy to decide what Prufrock is about; the fragmented poetic landscape
of T.S. Eliot’s poetry makes it difficult to pin down one exact feeling
within ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.’  It is considered one of the most
visceral, emotional poems and remains relevant today, particularly with
millennials who are more than a little bit used to these feelings.
It is a variation of the dramatic monologue, which was very popular from
around 1757 to 1922. Examples of dramatic monologue include Marcel Proust
(In Search of Lost Time), Henry James (Portrait of a Lady), Robert
Browning (Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister), and the most infamous of
all, James Joyce (Ulysses), for which the term ‘stream of consciousness’ writing
was invented. ‘Prufrock’ is an early prototype of the ‘stream of consciousness’
writing, although it leans far more towards Browning than Joyce.
Themes
Eliot engages with several themes in ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock.’  These themes include anxiety, desire, and disappointment.
The speaker’s interior life, hidden from the rest of the world, is alive for the
reader.
There, readers can understand the speaker’s hope and desire for a romantic
connection and his struggle to act on that desire. His hopes remain mostly
empty throughout the poem. Eliot skillfully created lines, many of which are
cut off or stopped short, in which the speaker tries to put his feelings into
words but is unable to finish his sentences. He is consistently struck by
indecision and frustration with his own inaction. His anxiety comes through
from almost the text’s first lines as he struggles to figure out how to create
and maintain relationships.
Structure and Form
‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’  by T.S. Eliot is primarily written in free
verse. This means that most of the lines do not follow a specific rhyme
scheme or metrical pattern. But, the poem is not without either. Eliot briefly
uses various meters, such as the common iambic pentameter and less
common spondaic and trochaic feet. For example, in lines seventy-three and
seventy-four, the poet uses perfect iambic pentameter. The same can be said
about the rhyme scheme. Although there is no perfect pattern, there are
numerous couplets throughout the piece.
Literary Devices
T.S. Eliot uses several literary devices in ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock.’  These include but are not limited to similes, examples
of personification, and enjambment. The latter is a common literary device
concerned with how a poet may or may not cut off a line before the end of a
phrase or sentence—for example, the transition between lines five and six.
There are several interesting similes in ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’  that
help create memorable images. For example, “But as if a magic lantern threw
the nerves in patterns on a screen” and “Streets that follow like a tedious
argument / Of insidious intent.”
Personification can also be found in this piece. For example, in the line in
which the speaker describes the yellow fog as a cat-like creature that rubs
against the windows and walks in the shadows.
In this poem, the speaker's poor ability to relate to other people, especially women, has him

playing out a long dialogue in his mind, consisting of fragments of his past that are so

intensely personal that he does not bother to connect them into a logical flow. The "us" he

refers to in the first stanza is himself, which tells us that he is a person who is accustomed

to being alone, to addressing another part of his mind in the way a more social person

would talk to a friend. One of the strongest indications of his loneliness is the repeated use

of questions to himself: he is so desperately alone in his thought that he examines every

little aspect about his behavior, so curious about what people will think of him that he asks
the only person he can talk to about it, the.. 
Indecision
One theme within The Love Song is that indecision and a lack of courage can lead to missed
opportunities. Prufrock struggles in revealing his emotions to his lover. He comforts himself by
saying "there will be time". As well as fearing the possibility of misinterpretation; "That is not
what I meant at all." Prufrock is constantly contemplating confronting his lover and revealing his
emotions, but his intentions are quickly smothered by fear of rejection. He asks him self; "do I
dare" and "would it have been worthwhile". This reveals to the reader what Prufrocks tragic flaw
is, that he is a coward. As the poem concludes, the reality of age sets into Prufrock's mind. He no
longer feels that he has a chance, nor the time to win over his lover, "I do not think they will sing
to me". Mainly, he realizes that he may not ever reveal his emotions towards the woman.
Overall, Prufrock was unable to overcome his fear of rejection, he did not have "the strength to
force the moment to its crisis". 

Stature
Upon deciphering the allusions present within this poem, many topics or themes arise.
Specifically, when analyzing the "Hamlet" allusion, the theme of social stature arises. Through
Prufrock's comparison of himself to "Prince Hamlet", the reader can associate a theme of one's
social stature. Prufrock indicates that he is "not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be". From this,
the reader can extract the idea that Prufrock does not believe that he was meant to be a person of
great importance (like a prince). Although he indicates that that he believes he could hold much
of the same responsibilities. Although he also reveals to the reader that he would be "At times,
indeed, almost ridiculous — Almost, at times, the Fool". He also makes many references to his
appearance. This indicates that he has some emotional reserve for how others perceive him. His
concern is evident in his description of what "they will say". This reveals to the reader Prufrock's
emotional vulnerability to other people's opinions. Ultimately these concerns influence his
decisions throughout the poem.  These factors of Prufrock's personality create a theme of social
stature.  

Death
Throughout the poem, the allusions preset in the text provide the reader with underling
descriptors. These descriptors allow the reader to associate Prufrock's emotional state with
outside references. At the beginning of the poem, Prufrock makes references to Michelangelo.
Which, in short, annotate expressions of indecision. However, this slowly transitions to allusions
that express a theme of death. Along with symbolism of death through mentioning "dusk",
"Asleep... Tired... Or it maligers", as well as the "Eternal Footman".  These excerpts inspire
images of illness, despair, and ultimately death. Te allusions of "Prince Hamlet" also allow the
reader to relate the poem to the tragic ending of "Hamlet". Another allusion relates back to the
bible, "I am Lazarus, come from the dead". This reference enables the reader to relate Prufrock's
journey to that of "Lazarus'", only that Prufrock is relating the difficulty of expressing his
emotions to coming back from the dead. Death is a theme that is apparent in the very first stanza.
"Like a patient etherized upon a table", this gives the poem an immediate sense of lifelessness
and helplessness. In context of the "patient", there is o ability to react or respond to Prufrock's
journey. There is but to lie and make one's self vulnerable to Prufrock's "Love song".
Themes of The Hollow Men
One of the major themes prevalent in “The Hollow Men” is the struggle to
maintain hope. The Hollow Men hope that they will be rescued from their
stagnant state, but this seems unlikely, as they cannot even bring themselves
to look at any of the souls who pass through. The stars represent their hope,
both of which grow dimmer as the poem continues. 

Another theme that is interwoven into the poem is the concept of identity.
When the Hollow Men speak, they speak in unison because they do not have
identities separate from each other. Rather than real people, they are empty
voids. While they do emotions, like fear and sadness, Eliot wrote them to be
incapable of regular human reactions. They truly have no identity.  

A third theme of “The Hollow Men” is the theme of exile. The Hollow Men are
stuck on the banks of the River Acheron, and though they are dead, they
cannot cross into the realm of death. In Dante’s Inferno, it is explained that
some souls can be accepted into neither Hell nor Heaven. They are not evil,
but they are not inherently good, either. Instead of taking a stance for one side
or the other, they were only concerned with their own affairs and did not care
enough about the world around them to choose good or evil in the first place.
While Dante felt that the majority of humanity fell into this category, it seems
as though the Hollow Men did, too.