Question: 

How does Eliot portray the alienation of the modern individual in his poetry?

In Prufrock Elliot reveals the alienation of the self, which emerged in opposition to the technological
advancement that defined the modern zeitgeist era, the onward march of progress which paradoxically
paralysed the individual and stagnated their ability to truly engage with life. This is accentuated by the
discord between the entitled “love song” and the dramatic monologue form of the poem, an ontological
exploration of the disillusionment from self which emerged as a product of the period yet focuses rather
inwards indicative of Prufrock’s inability to truly engage with social interaction. The “lovesong” is
accentuated by the continuous refrain using rhyming couplet, ”In the room the women come and
go/Talking of Michelangelo” , and their movement which is opposed to Prufrock’s own stationary
position, as an observer and unable to talk to the women themselves. The accompanying image is unsettling
in its combination of the beauty of the “evening spread out against the sky” referring back to the uncomfortable
image in ‘Preludes’ of “his soul stretched tight against the sky” and the antiseptic simile “like a patient etherized
upon a table”, highlights Prufrock’s own sense of entrapment as he figuratively feels “anaesthetised”Prufrock’s
own sense of alienation is reflected in the use of dehumanizing zoomorphism in, “I should have been a pir
of ragged claws”/Scuttling across the floors of silent seas”, exaggerated measures of self-depracation,
likens himself to a crab, a bottom-feeder. It further depicts Prufrock’s sense of alienation within his
society, and further reinforces his paralyzing sense of stasis which is evoked in the inability of the crab to
move forward, but only side to side.

In Preludes, Elliot emphasizes the nature of alienated living within the urban wasteland. The use of the
faint use of olfactory imagery in, “The smells of steaks in passageways”, exists as the only sign of human
existence within the communal liminal space of the “passageways”, thus furthering the sense of isolation
which is experienced as a result of dwelling within the urban metropolis.