The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

Essay 2 (Choice 1): A Critical Analysis of Modernism and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” takes the form of a dramatic monologue, in which the narrator, using a persona which is obviously not that of the actual author, opens up his heart and mind to the reader. Prufrock is a uniquely modernist monologue because rather than choosing someone who is typically heroic, Eliot uses a protagonist who is trapped in a dull and uneventful life. Prufrock is afraid to show his passion to an unnamed woman. He is alienated from his society, which he describes as dull and pretentious, but cannot rise above it. Prufrock senses that there is a better way of life, full of love and higher aspirations for himself, but cannot attain his dreams.
The fact that Prufrock is a very ordinary man is underlined by his self-description, that he is one who has “measured out my life with coffee spoons” (51). This suggests someone who has cautiously approached life’s major challenges, rather than bitten deeply into the core or marrow of human existence. At the end of the poem, he describes himself as Polonius, a comic figure from Hamlet, “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be” (112). What is uniquely Modernist about this is that rather than being interested in the Prince Hamlets of the world, Eliot suggests that modern man is actually the minor figures of great tragedy, and human existence is such that lives like Polonius and Prufrock are more common than the great, tragic heroes of Shakespeare. His comments about himself are very caustic, rather than full of a desire to seek glory, again suggesting his belief that there are few opportunities for heroism in modern life. He says he is an, “…attendant lord, one that will do/ To swell a progress, start a scene or two,/ Deferential, glad to be of use,” (110-113). Rather than seeking some greater truth about existence, Prufrock merely follows the herd. This was one of the great fears of the Modernist age, that life in urban locations and the creation of mass culture had generated, in effect, a world of conformity.
The poem is also narrated in an interior monologue and what goes on in Prufrock’s mind is more important than what goes on outside of his mind. In terms of the actual action of the poem, Prufrock and the woman he loves simply go on a visit, then leave. But Prufrock addresses the poem to “you,” as if he is trying to declare his love to the woman in his mind before he says it aloud. Unfortunately, he is not courageous enough to actually broach the topic to her in the real world, so he instead sits and stews. He fears being rejected. Prufrock asks endlessly, “So how should I presume?” and worries that the woman will say “That is not what I meant at all; / That is not it, at all” (61; 96-97). Although at times he uses hyperbolic language to describe himself, even calling himself Lazarus at one point; he also notes that he is balding and timid in the eyes of everyone else. There is a clear discrepancy between his outer and inner self, most notably exemplified in his lack of daring to actually seize the day and demand what he wants, which is love from a particular woman. Again, this notion of inner life being the most important aspect of a human being’s self is uniquely modernist.
It should be noted that Prufrock also criticizes the world in which he lives, not simply himself. At the party he goes to with his beloved, he muses, he is in a room full of “cups,” and “marmalade” and “tea” in “porcelain” where women talk of Michelangelo in drawing rooms (88-89). Again, there is a sharp contrast with the artistic aspirations of ages past and present-day reality. Although there may have been timid, middle-aged men afraid of declaring their love throughout history, it is suggested by Prufrock’s wry observations that he exemplifies the modern condition rather than is an exception to it. There is no real Michelangelo, Lazarus, or Hamlet in the poem, only people who talk about them and aspire to be like them. When Prufrock envisions himself taking a risk in the future, he can only imagine himself eating peaches, walking around with his trousers rolled up, and adopting a slightly more daring way of dress, not actually declaring his love for his beloved woman. And even, arguably, his longing to declare his love for a woman who is part of the drawing room set is not that heroic, although he cannot dare to do that.
By suggesting that a timid man like Prufrock who is not heroic in his outer life but aspires to be so in his inner life exemplifies the modern condition and is worth writing about, Eliot shows himself to be a uniquely Modernist poet. Eliot uses a much older style of poetry, the format of the dramatic monologue, to make a character who would otherwise be overlooked seem important. Prufrock’s monologue is still powerful because Prufrock himself understands both his own limitations and the limitations of the society around him. Although part of his problem may be temperamental, Eliot suggests that it is also part of the modern condition itself to have more venues to show heroism in the mind than in external action. This produces depression and futile gestures like changing one’s clothes to find fulfillment.


Work Cited
Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Bartleby. Web. 4 Mar 2018.
http://www.bartleby.com/198/1.html