All posts by k.webb

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

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Modern poets worked with precision and clarity. They compressed their lyrics and attempted to use language in new, shocking ways. Rising from the symbolists’ usage of striking imagery, modernists aimed to create complex visuals in their readers’ minds that would require active interpretation.

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” fits right in with the modernist movement. An extremely carefully constructed poem, “Prufrock” is simultaneously complex and simple. Littered throughout the poem are allusions to other literary works. In his introductory stanza, Eliot quotes Dante’s “Inferno.” A couple of stanzas later, he references Michelangelo. Shortly after, Eliot references a love poem by Andrew Marvell, then he alludes to Hesiod. Further on, there are multiple Biblical and Shakespearean references. All of these allusions are very important, because Eliot is making assumptions that his readers are educated, critical thinkers. If one didn’t understand the importance of Eliot’s literary allusions, they would interpret his work on a lower level than others. This is representative of modernist poetry in that it addresses the alienation experienced by the members of modern Western civilization due to a dying sense of culture specific to Western society. Perhaps Eliot is working ironically, speaking in a lofty tone, commenting on what it feels like to lack a sense of societal belonging.

As a whole, I found this poem very interesting and almost excruciatingly thought-provoking. Every image Eliot provides us with is packed with various layers of interpretation. The first three lines of the poem, for example, leave the reader with a few questions. “Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table; (Eliot 541: 1-3). Who is this person that wants me to go with him? Is the speaker Eliot or is it Prufrock? Who is J. Alfred Prufrock? Is the speaker comparing twilight to an etherized patient because the night is just about to wake up? Or is he comparing twilight to an etherized patient because he wants us to feel nervous about nightfall in the way that we would feel nervous watching a person who is undergoing surgery? The reader must then pause, think, recollect, and continue reading. Thus the poem takes a very long time to digest. In fact, it is hard to say if the poem ever can be fully digested by means of reaching a sense of completion.

Overall, I think “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is about a man who is at odds with himself as well as with the society he is a part of. He wants to make all of the right decisions, to plan his life, to organize it, and to feel like he’s in control. “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” (Eliot 542: 56-59). These lines express discomfort and regret after having engaged in a well-thought out sentence.

I believe it is important to notice the speaker’s half-veiled remarks to having been sexually manipulated by women in his life. “And I have known the arms already, known them all — / Arms that are braceleted and white and bare” (Eliot 543: 62-63). Here we learn that the speaker has dated all kinds of women. Three stanzas later… “Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in / upon a platter,” (Eliot 543: 82-83). The speaker is referencing the Biblical betrayal of Salome unto John the Baptist. Salome infamously used her sexuality and feminine mystique in order to have John the Baptist murdered.

In a confusing juxtaposition, referring to the mermaid-like sirens in “The Odyssey,” at line 125, Eliot says, “I do not think that they will sing to me.” After learning earlier in the poem that the speaker had been betrayed by a woman or women, it is very surprising that he doesn’t believe the sirens would attempt to lure him to his death by their beautiful voices.

While I still have many questions regarding this poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” seems to be primarily about the constant confusion a man in Western society faces when reaching the point of settling down into a career and possibly pursuing marriage.

Poem 216 by Emily Dickinson

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According to the short autobiographical section in the anthology, detailing Dickinson’s life and writing career (or lack thereof), she felt “Conflicted and ambivalent about Christian orthodoxy even as a child…”  Emily Dickinson seemed to suffer from an overwhelming sense of isolation.  She once said “Christ is calling everyone here and I am standing alone in rebellion.”  The autobiographical portion also details that Dickinson spent almost the entirety of her adult life inside her family home.

It is not surprising that her first poem included in the anthology references a sort of enclosure, since she remained almost entirely enclosed for her life.  It also is no surprise that Dickinson is commenting on the impacts of religion in the first poem included.

“Poem 216” describes a group of people that are safe in their fragile chamber.  She describes these people as untouched.  By the fourth line, we realize that these people are sleeping and that they are meek members of the resurrection.  I believe she is trying to symbolically call orthodox members of the Christian faith members of the resurrection.  This is especially clear since she calls them meek, meaning they are submissive to their God.  She then says that within their alabaster chamber is a rafter of satin.  This is counter-intuitive.  A rafter is a means of support.  It must be sturdy and is traditionally made of wood.  The rafters in the alabaster chamber are useless.  Here, I believe Dickinson is saying that the foundations for the principles of Christianity are nonexistent.

In the second stanza she says “Light laughs the breeze/In her Castle above them…”  I translated this line to something like “Mother nature lightly laughs, made audible by her movement of a breeze.”  Dickinson is placing mother nature in a (capitalized) Castle above the chamber full of religious men because she believes that nature is far more powerful than Christ.

Finally, I think it’s very important to look closely at the last line of the poem, where bees and birds, who are both members of all-powerful nature, are saying, “Ah, what sagacity perished here!”  I translated this to “all soundness of judgment ends here.”  I am quite surprised that Emily Dickinson wrote such a bold and powerful poem without directly referencing evils of Christianity.  I’m very impressed by her skill.  However, having read Poem 216, I am not surprised that Dickinson was hesitant to have her poems published and even requested they be burned.