Tag Archives: love

The tragedy of J. Alfred Prufrock

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As stated in the footnotes, the quote used in the beginning of the poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” comes from Dante’s Inferno. Before I could even begin reading the poem I had to understand what these 6 lines meant and why T. S. Elliot thought it was essential to the poem. I explicated that the quote is used to inform the reader that the narrator, for whatever reason, feels doomed. The narrator, presumably Prufrock, believes that his love song is between himself and it’s intended reader, therefore, it should be regarded as the truth.

I believe that Prufrock could be addressing myself as the reader, a beloved person, or even himself. Regardless of who he is speaking to, I believe he is admitting that he cannot approach a woman because he is afraid. Although he is completely aware of time passing by—he cannot get himself to make a move. His obsession with time used throughout the poem reveals his constant emotions of fear and ultimately dying alone.

In the fourth stanza, Prufrock echoes a poem titled, To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell when he assures the reader (For the sake of the argument, I will assume that he is speaking to the reader), “And indeed there will be time.” In short, Marvell’s poem is essentially a man convincing his lover that life is short, and that there is not enough time in the world for all the things he wishes to to do with her (like take her on a couple dates or take things slow)—and so they should not waste time and just have sex already! Prufrock is alluding that there will be plenty of time for him to meet this woman, take her out on dates, get to know her, and eventually have sex. But why is he stressing so much that, “There will be time, there will be time.?”

In the sixth stanza, Prufrock reveals that there is plenty of time for him to wonder, “And indeed there will be time / To wonder, ‘Do I dare?’ and, ‘Do I dare?’” Prufrock’s repetition of time seems ironic at this point. It is as though he is trying to convince either himself or the reader that he has plenty of time to express his love for this woman. In the next lines Prufrock tell us that he’s not going to do anything and that it is, “Time to turn back and descend the stair,” but also, “With a bald spot in the middle of [his] hair.” It is apparent that Prufrock is fearful of approaching his beloved and not because he has plenty of time to do so (after all he has waited so long that he is know losing his hair).

Towards the end of the poem Prufrock begins to admit that he knows he is being a “chicken” about approaching his beloved. In lines 48 and 49 he states, “In a minute there is time / For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.” In other words, he is aware that he is thinking to much and that is is causing for him not to act. This is very similar to Shakespeare’s famous protagonist, Hamlet. Prufrock already knows this, stating, “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor meant to be;” he tells us that he is completely aware of time passing by and that he is still too scared to make a move. Apparently, the tragedy in which Hamlet realizes the question of life when it is already too late, “To be, or not to be,” is not strong enough to convince Prufrock to be a man.

Prufrock thinks too much
Prufrock thinks too much

When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be

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John Keats created a masterful sonnet by making a division of three quatrains and a concluding couplet in order to explain his fears in a list like manner. In the first quatrain it appears that Keats writes about his fear of dying before he can finish all his writing. We can see in line 2, “before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,” that he has so many thoughts that he wishes to extract from his brain and write down that the chance of passing away feels like an all too real fear for him. He also fears that he will not be able to experience the completed collection of his writings and quite possibly all the writings that he wishes to read, “before high piled books, in charactry, hold like rich garners the full ripen’d grain” (lines 3-4).

Moving on to the second quatrain, this time Keats talks about his fear not being able to witness and experience the beauties of this world after death. He wishes to write about all he experiences and worries that at a certain point, he will not be able to do so as can be seen in lines 7-8, “and think that I may never live to trace their shadows, with the magic hand of chance.” These shadows that he refers to are those of a night sky that he looks up to and experiences awe. When looking at the “huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,” he is imagining all the wonders that he has yet to discover and the possibilities that he can uncover.

In the third quatrain it seems that Keats is talking about a woman that he is probably in love with and is fearing that he will never get the chance to see her again, “and when I feel, fair creature of an hour, that I shall never look upon thee more” (lines 9-10). This feeling that he has shows how he worries that he will never get to enjoy the happiness he gets when he looks at the woman. His “unreflecting love” for the woman states how strongly he feels about her and how his love is far greater than any that can be reciprocated. This love for the woman might be his strongest emotion and could be what he fears the most of losing which is why he mentions it in the final quatrain.

In the concluding couplet, “of the wide world I stand alone, and think till love and fame to nothingness do sink” (lines 13-14), Keats shows that he is all alone and wonders about will come. He comes to the realization about his fears, he fears that death will take away everything, his love and and fame will sink to nothingness after his passing.

This poem is a classic example of Romanticism as Keats delves into his own emotions and explores his individual self. His emotions of the fear of dying and thoughts of all that he wants to witness come together in order to help not just him but the reader as well figure out what it is that they want and  what is it that they truly enjoy.

Bright Star

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In this poem, John Keats wants to be like this steadfast bright star, but at the same time he does not want to be like it. This idea of steadfast describes his life in ways where he does not like to interrupted but, at the same time, he does not want to be lonely and isolated. Then, there are scenes where the bright star encounters as it watches over the land and ocean. This description of this scenery indicates the lonely images the bright star experiences as it is being hung up in the air and how Keats does not want to be like the star in this way. Therefore, there are good qualities for being this bright star as well as bad qualities.

As we move on with the poem, it shows that Keats is resting on his girlfriend’s chest. Although he is resting on her chest, it shows that he likes the idea of steadfast and the desire for love (as mentioned earlier in this poem, he does not want to have the feeling of loneliness). As he lies on her chest, he mentions “awake forever in a sweet unrest”. This indicates that the desire for love keeps him up awake forever and allows him to have different sensations running through him and if he goes to sleep he would lose all these opportunities.

In the end, “And so live ever-or else swoon to death” tells us if Keats is not able to have these moments of steadfast, he would end up being that bright star  that watches over this planet and eventually dies from loneliness. This poem shows the desire and desperation for love is so strong that if he loses it then he will lose everything, even his own life.

This poem also uses the word “still” repetitively as seen in the second half of the poem. He first introduced this word at line 9, “still steadfast, still unchangeable”. It could be clearly seen that the word “still” is using the definition of “same”, or not changing. But at line 13, it gets a little bit more confusing when he uses this word. Which definition pairs with the word “still”? I believe the first “still” is used as the definition of “same”. To look closely into the usage of this word; after the description of the sensation of feeling on line 11 (“to feel forever its soft fall and swell”), it quickly changes to something that has no relation with senses. Therefore, to get back on track with the sensation he was describing, he would start off line 13 with the definition of “still” as “same” to remind readers that the sensations never changed. As for the second “still”, it would seen more clear and appropriate to use it as the definition of “not moving” in order to have that sensation of hearing her breathe.