Prufrock, the speaker in the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” by T.S Eliot, is extremely self conscious and emotionally distant from those around him. As made obvious by the poem, Prufrock must have been scrutinized for his appearance. He speaks of the bald spot he has on his head and describes his arms and legs to be small and thin. The scrutiny he receives due to his appearance is what I think caused him to have this strong need to escape from humanity. Throughout the poem, he feels distant from other people, and by the ending, even feels as though he belongs more with mermaids. He suggests this by using the pronoun, “We,” when talking about the mermaids. Prufrocks sensitivity and desire for distance is what led me to believe he is self conscious and emotionally distant from other humans.
“For I have known them all already, known them all-
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume? (Lines 55-61)
When first reading this quote, it was difficult for me to comprehend. However, after thinking about the main idea of the poem and the character, Prufrock, I realized what he was talking about and the quote became easy to understand.
In this quote, Prufrock is describing the scrutiny that he faces for his physical appearance. Throughout the story, the discouragement he derives from his appearances makes it difficult for him to have relationships with people, specifically women. When he says, “The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,” the eyes he is referring to are those of the women or people that view him. When he says,” He feels as though they are dissecting him and judging all the details of him.” Furthermore, when he says, ”And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall, Then how should I begin To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?” He feels as though he is forced to say the truth about himself because he is exposed and cannot do anything about it.
Questions
– How does Prufrock fulfill or rebut stereotypes of the modern intellectual?
– How does Eliot use the relationships between men and women to comment on society and culture?
– Identify the linguistic devices Eliot uses in his poems and give evidence showing how he used those devices.
Hi Jacob,
One of the linguistic devices that T.S. Eliot uses in The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is refrain, a regularly recurring phrases or sentences that take place usually at the end of each stanza. The author applies this poetic technique in his repetition of “Women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo”, “How should I presume?” and “That is not it, at all”.
Jacob,
Really interesting observations and questions about Prufrock. I am especially curious about your first question that suggests that Prufrock is “a modern intellectual.” I agree with you that Prufrock is an example of a certain 20th century archetype. I’m not sure he is an intellectual, but he is certainly a man who lives more in his head than in his body. His alienation, isolation, and self-consciousness are all hallmarks of a certain type of modernist anti-hero. I’m glad that you recognized those traits!
JS