The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock – T.

S Eliot

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “The modernist impulse is fueled in various literatures by

industrialization and urbanization and by the hunt for an authentic response to a much-changed
world”. So, the concept of modernism may be a celebration of progress and urbanism but at the
identical time, it's nostalgic for its past values and nature.

The poem written by T.S.Eliot could be a “drama of literary anguish”, because the protagonist,
Alfred Prufock, cannot pluck up the courage to confess his feelings when it involves love, which
is seen as a contrast, given the name of the title.

One of the primary things the reader notices is Prufrock's own self-doubt and social
awkwardness, continuously recounting how others may roast of his physical features at his every
action, from the turning of his head “How his hair is growing thin!” to his choice of apparently
unflattering clothing “But how his arms and legs are thin!” (Eliot 735) he's upset that others view
him mostly by his physical appearance and seemingly strange demeanor, rather than by his true
intentions and feelings. This lingering doubt that others place on his shoulders weigh heavy on
Prufrock. this is often evident soon, when towards the top of the poem, he reiterates this, asking
himself how he should part his own hair and whether a peach is just too messy for him to dine in
public. It becomes quite obvious that Prufrock lacks confidence in his own actions as much as in
others' interaction. However, he seems to clutch his religious faith and a satirical view of life as a
way of coping, in his multitude of Biblical allusions, whether as a guide or a way of relatable
characters.

The protagonist is that the anti-hero of his own story, never reaching his goal of asking the girl
he cares for thus dearly to share their lives nor truly resolving his internal conflicts. Instead, he
reminiscences over lost youth and dwells on his inadequacies, which cause him to lose faith in
himself within the same way he's losing faith in society as a full. His mentions of sirens is also a
touch at the old adage of feeling lost put off, furthermore as a reminder of his hopelessness with
women.

Prufock stands for the defeated idealism and stupidity; we will see that he's a person driven by
the will for something that he cannot achieve. He lacks courage and self-assurance, he puts off
the wedding proposal, stating that he has time “There are going to be time, there'll be time, to
arrange a face to fulfill the faces that you just meet.”(line 26-27). he's sexually frustrated and
finds it difficult to speak to those women; when it involves the trivial question, he keeps delaying
it. Moreover, he has also this fear of commitment, as women come and go, they are doing not
stay, which makes him doubt about what he should do regarding his feelings. the most focus
seems to air the id, that's the sexual urges and also the frustration felt by the character because he
cannot convey what he's feeling. Ego dominates the id, because there's this constant fear of
rejection by the ladies and it's also seen as a method of self-defense, so he won't get hurt.

Moreover, the failure to speak is over again highlighted, his vision seems incommunicable. He
sees himself as somebody more insignificant, he's faraway from being a hero, he considers
himself to be an anti-hero. he's a spectator of his own life, unsure and constantly improvising.
Prufrock’s dramatic monologue may be a modernist theme of a rift in human interaction within.

One of the themes this poem develops is that the tedium and dryness of contemporary life. it's an
expression of the futility of life. The reader gets an intense personal view of the society, town
and also the world within which Prufrock lives. The poem also conveys a way of frustration
which leads us into the most issue: the matter of communication. This topic, present throughout
much of Eliot’s work, is incorporated within the poem by means of the question which is rarely
asked, that of marriage. The speaker can't get his message across. It doesn't matter whether the
recipient of that message may be a lady or not. The act is that communication fails. and therefore
the failure of communication is said to the theme of the individuales isolation, loneliness, and
estrangement from people. Prufrock alienates himself from this world, just like Guido and the
"patient etherised upon a table" (line 3).

To sum up, the modernist poem tackles the themes of isolation and the lack of communication,
because the protagonist decides to supress his feelings and distance himself from people and the
world he lives in.

Works cited

T.S ELIOT (1963) The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
by T. S. Eliot | Poetry Magazine (poetryfoundation.org)
Eliot, T. S. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Gateways to World Literature: Volume 2: The
Seventeenth Century to Today. Pearson Education, Inc., 2012. pp. 734-737.

“Modernism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,

ww.britannica.com/art/Modernism-art.