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MStefanich - First part analysis - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
by - (2012-03-19)
Up to 5 A. T.S. Eliot's Modernist Poetry and Metaphysical Poetry
Right from the title you know the song is about love. A song generally recalls rhythm, a refrain and some characteristics typical of the phonetic level. The topic is love. The poem is made up of the juxtaposition of scenes because it is a modern poem. This juxtaposition of scenes creates a dramatic effect. "Prufrock" is set in the poetic form of a dramatic monologue. In this form, the speaker addresses another person and the reader plays the part of the silent listener. A dramatic monologue is by definition one person's speech, there is no dialogue and the poet speaks through a fictional character. L. Alfred Prufrock is a common middle-aged man that is generally the most frequent character used in modernist writes. That's why they have lived just a long part of their life and they just reflect on their life and reveal their feelings. Structural innovations are given by the use of free verse and the introduction of the juxtaposition of scenes with the same atmosphere instead the use of stanzas that seems like chains. The poem starts with an epigraph. The use of intertextuality is common in modern writes. The epigraph is a quotation from Dante's Inferno. It is important because the epigraph invites to confess everything to somebody that cannot reveal his secrets that is his consciousness. That's why the first scene starts with " Let us go then, you and I". Going on you go from a general look at the skyline to the streets to a hotel room to sawdust-covered floors in restaurants. The images all speak to some part of Prufrock's personality. The etherized patient, for instance, reflects his paralysis. The yellow fog, stagnant pools, soot, are all metaphors of life that surrounds this poor man. And the women come and go talking of Michelangelo, is a metaphor for the vulgarity of common people. Following the protagonist repeats that there is time to dare but inevitably time past and people will say "how his hair is growing thin!".