— Sumi Paul
In my opinion, I believe the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot is a great work of literature because it is a work of literature that delivers a message to its readers. Reading this poem was confusing at first, however after reading it a second time, I was able to understand the message T.S Eliot wanted to tell his readers. Throughout the poem, Prufrock keeps procrastinating and questioning himself. He wants to speak to a potential lover; however, thoughts of insecurities flood his mind. This causes him to not take action and lose more time. Instead, he spends his time being indecisive, preparing himself to meet people, and even to decide if he should eat a peach. With this poem, it allows us to see ourselves in Prufrock. We waste our time overthinking and being indecisive. We keep being overly cautious about what others may think about us if we do a certain thing in a certain way. We flood our thoughts with how others view us. We waste our time thinking about all those irrelevant things instead of just taking charge and doing what we want to. In the poem, Prufrock was too afraid to go up to a woman he found attractive and talk to her because he kept thinking about how others might see him as. He feared people would think he was too old or unattractive. Reading this poem made me realize that I think too much about messing up and embarrassing myself in front of others. It made me realize that having this fear of what others might say or think about me will only hold me back and prevent me from doing the things that I want. This poem made me realize that I do not want to be like Prufrock because he does not accomplish anything. He is trapped in his own thoughts of insecurities that he is unable to take action. This is how the modern-day human is. They are trapped in their own thoughts of insecurities that they just say, “forget it” and give up. They compare themselves to others and believe they are not good enough. We look at pictures on social media and compare ourselves to the “beauty standards” and think that we could never be that, so we just give up. This poem has made me realize that we should just be ourselves and not flood our minds with other people’s opinions and do what we want and feel is right for ourselves. This poem evoked courage in me and helped me understand that fear of failing is only going to prevent me from accomplishing the things I want to do.
