The Deeper Side of Prufrock from The Love Son of J. Alfred...

The Deeper Side of Prufrock from The Love Son of J. Alfred Prufrock Thomas Sterns Eliot wrote the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock over a period of six years and published it circa 1917 at the ripe old age of twenty-nine. As his first published poem, Prufrock revealed Eliots original and highly developed style. Its startling jumps from rhetorical language to clichà ©, its indirect literary references, and its simultaneous humor and pessimism were quite new in English literature. (World Book, 236) Prufrocks quest for a life he cannot live and a question he has difficulty confronting is intriguingly played out in various aspects of his humanity. He is doing battle in all aspects of his personality, which establishes him as†¦show more content†¦Prufrock avoids life not only through trite physical worries, but through numerous mental labors as well. These mental labors range from imagining himself as being completely vulnerable Like a patient etherized upon a table to Prufrock looking at the superficiality of his life. The lines I have measured out my life with coffee spoons, †¦setting a pillow or throwing off a shawl, and I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled show the shallowness of thought he uses to avoid coming to terms with his old age. Prufrock is a lonely man. In the poem, there is no evidence of any relationship outside of the one he has with himself. He makes references to †¦restless nights in one-night cheap hotels and women [that] come and go. He desires intimate relationships, yet lacks the courage and self-confidence to even begin to pursue love. His humanity and dignity cannot fully be realized without it. Prufrock fancies himself to be someone who has known it all - the evenings, the mornings, the afternoons, the eyes,Show MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Appearance Theme By T. S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, And Arthur Miller2539 Words   |  11 Pagesthe Appearance Theme in Three Works by T. S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller â€Å"Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it s far removed from your situation. This is what I try to tell my students: this is one great thing that literature can do -- it can make us identify with situations and people far away. If it does that, it s a miracle,† remarked Chinua Achebe, novelist, poet, and professor