Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay Time - 2026 Words

Time and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Pericles once said Be ruled by time, the wisest counselor of all. This ruler of the past might not have had the technology of today, but he did not need it to recognize time’s domineering nature over all mankind. No matter what advances man makes, he will never be able to slow down time nor stop it completely; nor it appears will he be able to leap into the past or the future. Time is one thing that man cannot manipulate, instead it manipulates man. No poem better illustrates this point than T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock is trapped by the conundrum of time in that no matter what he does, he always regresses to his starting point. His life has been†¦show more content†¦He also sees himself as time’s fool in that although in a minute there is time for decisions and revisions, these actions can also be reversed in a minute: in a minute†¦/which a minute will reverse(Eliot 2460). Prufrock seems to lack any sense of control ov er his own actions. He doesn’t see himself as being capable of [disturbing] the universe(Eliot 2460; he feels as though it [is] too late for him to controvert the basis of his inauthentic existence, from conformity to others’ standards to a realization of his own motivations and goals (Sharma 23). The whole poem represents the speaker’s confession of his conformist nature and his lack of self-confidence. Furthermore, Prufrock continues to show his pro-status-quo attitude by repeatedly putting off the visit, the centerpiece of the poem. Prufrock sets off on a journey to challenge time and the universe by making the visit, yet he never actually does disturb the universe. The speaker instead deceptively leads us towards what appears as a destination in the ‘overwhelming question’ before shutting the door in our faces: ‘Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?(Spurr 5) The speaker’s docile nature prevents him from boldly confronting nature and [disturbing] the universe(Eliot 2460), but he does make a meager attempt to confront time and deviate from the banal nature of his actions.Show MoreRelatedEssay T.S. Eliot and Modernism931 Words   |  4 Pagesand poetry in his lifetime. â€Å"Eliot forged a style of aggressively fragmentary, urban poetry, full of indelicate, ‘unpoetic’ images and diction† (OXFORD BRITLIT) Eliot’s â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† is a poem that fully represents the ideas the modernists were attempting to convey. â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† stands as a poem especially reflective of the modernist form because it contains elements used within modernism: elements of intertextuality are present, it reacts thematicallyRead Moreâ€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† by T.S. Eliot is a widely studied and analyzed modernist1300 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† by T.S. Eliot is a widely studied and analyzed modernist poem. This poem is one that many high school students are subjected to, leading to an overall displeasure for â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.† However, those that revisit the poem are more inclined to enjoy and analyze the poem, finding an interest in the character of J. Alfred Prufrock. Charles C. Walcutt is one of the many individuals fueled to provide a deeper analysis of this text and in his contributionRead MoreCritical Analysis : The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock895 Words   |  4 PagesEssay Two- Critical Analysis Writing a critical analysis is diving into the text. Readers must break down all parts of the text and pin pointing the author s purpose for the writing. A very challenging poem to analysis is T.S. Eliot’s â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock†. It has been declared that â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† started that Anglo-American modernist movement with poetry. The poem was the first poem with American poetry to flow free verse. At the time, it was deemedRead MoreComparing Oedipus and Prufrock Essay1029 Words   |  5 PagesEveryone has at least one personal flaw that somehow overcomes or defeats them in a certain place in time. In this essay, two characters of completely different fields will be put side by side to compare their own tragic flaws. On one hand, Sophocles’ Oedipus is proud, arrogant and persistent; while on the other hand, Eliot’s Prufrock is self conscious, insecure, and indecisive. While the two characters are co mplete polar opposites, they also share a devastating similarity: they are paranoid andRead MoreThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay1524 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿Question: Part A: Analyze the social and historical context of a particular poem Poem: T. S. Eliot, ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock The context of any given text whether poetry, novels or a movie is always integral to its understanding. Social and historical context of not only the given text, but the writer’s context and reader’s context play an important role in the interpretation and understanding of the major ideas, issues, values and beliefs within the text. T.S (Thomas Stearns) EliotRead MorePrufrock Analysis874 Words   |  4 Pages2/11/13 Prufrock Essay Insecurities are an inevitable part of life, everyone posses their own. Similarly, in the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S Eliot, the narrator dwells on his own insecurities when trying to find his place in life. Prufrock gives any excuse so he does not have fit in with high society. Eliots poem utilizes many repeated refrains, including: there will be time, for I have known and do I dare†, highlightingRead MoreEven Among The Giants Of Literature, Such As Arnold, Wordsworth,1181 Words   |  5 Pagestrembling lips. The use of images creates s desperate and somber tone, evoking emotions images without them being explicitly stated. Eliot frequently used imagery in this way, and his reason for doing so was stated in his 1921 essay, â€Å"Hamlet and his Problems.† In this essay, Eliot describes an idea named the objective correlative, which describes how in a literary work, every idea or emotion should have a corresponding object. When the object is me ntioned, it evokes a specific emotion. In this caseRead MoreNarratology And The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay2087 Words   |  9 PagesNarratology and â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† Seymour Chatman writes of showing and telling as the distinctions that have been made when one is describing the narrative process (97). Although he goes on to explain how, in the study of the narrative discourse and narrative statements, the differences create ramifications that run much deeper than merely acts of showing and telling, the overall message remains the same: The narrative of any given story relates to how it is being shared, toRead More Modernism In Works of T.S. Elliot And James Joyce Essay1766 Words   |  8 Pagescrisis (p. 14, Unit Reader p. 12). This essay will discuss and assess the value of this statement through the parts of the poem The Waste Land as well as The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock both of which were written by eminent poet T.S. Eliot and a short story from Dubliners named Eveline by James Joyece. Both the Poems and the short story in some way celebrate the practical and existent picture of life and culture and the changes with in them. This essay will firstly discuss the poem TheRead MoreEssay on T.s. Eliot And Society1454 Words   |  6 Pages Modernism was the time period between 1865 and 1950 that consisted of a change in the perspectives of how Americans examined themselves and their role in society. Many things occurred during these eighty five years that accounted for a great social change. Among these things were World War I, the Civil Rights Movement, prohibition, women suffrage, and the Great Depression. Particularly after World War I and during women’s suffrage, society’s standpoint on certain issues changed dramatically. After