The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Copy of the poem with notes
In your opinion, what is the overall effect of
Elliot’s use of allusions in this poem? What is the overall tone? Give some examples of how the tone is established.
PS. There are many, many allusions in this poem. Find at least 3 and your blog will be easier to write. But you must find the allusion to Hamlet!
Help if you totally don't get it
This poem was written with many allusions and time period references that took me forever to figure out. After reading the different versions of the poem many times through, I think I have it together. The tone of this poem is mysterious and dark. This man is walking through a scary city and hiding from some sort of issue that he is having or question that he is trying to avoid answering. He has time for that later and wants to forget about it as he grows old. This man thinks his life is meaningless and spends it alone, too afraid to talk to a woman. His life gets more and more boring as he spends it forever alone, then the poem ends. Elliot's tone is carried out through the use of depressing words such as being "etherized," staying in "cheap hotels," and having "yellow fog" lingering in the streets at night. It is a very interesting love poem.
ReplyDeleteThe allusions that I found in this poem were pretty obvious ones. The first part of the poem that quoted Daunte's Inferno was alluded to a lot throughout Elliot's writing. The person in hell only told Daunte his sins because he thought that Daunte would never leave hell. Prufrock never told his secret because he was afraid and did not want to take a chance, unlike the person in hell. Second, Eliot alluded to the bible twice with his use of prophets and Lazarus. He said "I am no prophet" in the sense that prophets go cause commotion and get persecuted, but Prufrock will not because he is a coward. He also said he will not be like Lazarus and return from the dead because his life is over once he decided not to talk to the woman. I have not started to read Hamlet yet, although I tried to interpret the allusion in the same way as the others. Prufrock said that he was "no prince Hamlet." This probably also means that Hamlet speaks up to what he believes is right while Prufrock does not.
I have never really understood much about poetry because it is so abstract, but this poem was interesting after I understood it a little bit. I hope that once I am done with this class, I will understand more allusions because my reading list will have expanded by then. After that, poetry with all of the inside points might seem easier and more enjoyable to read.
Grace, the question the speaker would not ask left me very curious. Each time I read the poem I imagined him searching for the answer to it, and I came up with several questions that he could be asking. I think this is part of what makes poetry so personal. Every reader will identify with the poem in a different way, and the same reader can identify with it in different ways based on how they feel. I also agree that terming this poem as a love poem is odd. It seems far too dark to really be about love.
DeleteGrace, I was really thrown off by all the allusions at first too and I had to read each form of the poem at least three times. I'm still not even too sure if I have it! I think that the Bible allusions were good, once I got them, because it shows that he is kind of falling away from his faith. The destruction that he is causing himself is heartbreaking and it just makes me want to yell.
DeleteI liked how you interpreted Elliot's reference to the prophets. You said that the reason Prufrock refuses to liken himself to a prophet is due to the fact that while prophets are often "causing commotion and getting persecuted," Prufrock is a coward. I hadn't thought of it that way. I agree that it seems as though Prufrock is hiding from something. Instead of confronting it, he is hiding away in a motel room with nothing but his lack of motivation and his dismal state of mind. I wish he would just remedy his acedia and get out there and live his life!
DeleteT. S. Elliot's poem was filled with allusions of many different kinds. He alludes to books, the Bible, and plays in order to enhance and deepen his writing. These allusions also contribute to his dark and depressed tone. The speaker was a coward, and regretted not fully living his life as he writes this poem. This poem was very metaphorical and hard for me to grasp at first. However, the intricacies of it also add to its depth and meaning.
ReplyDeleteThe play the speaker alludes to is Hamlet. He says that he is not a prince as Hamlet is, but compares himself instead to "an attendant lord." This allusion shows that the speaker is not the center of attention, and prefers to remain in the background. The description suggests that he is rather ordinary and very cautious, never wanting bad results to affect him very much. This is part of his cowardly character. The speaker also alludes to the Bible several times. He references the beheading of John the Baptist and then the prophets as a way to oppose his indecision to that of the men who had such courage as to die for their faith. The speaker may want to take action, but he cannot because he is too afraid of death. He also alludes to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. He mentions Lazarus as a way to personify his fear of death. During the verse Lazarus is mentioned in, he asks if action would have been worth it. However, because he is afraid of the results and of death, he needs some way to rationalize his action. Lazarus returned from the dead and so is a good example of living through fear. The speaker also references Dante's Inferno. He speakers to the reader without fear of embarrassment or shame because the reader cannot return to harm him, just as Guido knows Dante cannot return from hell.
The tone of this poem is constructed using descriptive adjectives and rhetorical questions. In order to create a somber atmosphere, the poet chooses such words as "tedious," "insidious," and "ragged." These words bring a sense of conflict and struggle to the poem. The author also uses rhetorical questions to showcase the indecisive nature of the speaker. "Do I dare?" He questions himself over and over. The internal conflict he has with his own cowardice is a common theme throughout the poem. The conflict also makes the poem very depressing. It is hard to watch the speaker waste years of his life via simple indecision.
I think it was very frustrating to watch Prufrock waste his life as well, Ashley. He needed to watch that "just do it" video that Buchs was given at the end of last year. I did not get John the Baptist out of that poem but now that I reread it for about the one millionth time, I think I get it. Poetry is amazing because there is so much to it. Every time I reopen that link, I find more out about this man. He is definitely a dark character.
DeleteI think that this was one of the most beautiful poems I have ever read, because along with it being beautiful, it was heartbreaking watching him waste his life away waiting in the disgusting and room waiting for his life to change. Part of the reason that this poem was so beautifully written was due to the multiple allusions that came into play.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was incredibly confused as to what the poem was about. I was under the impression that he was going to run away in the city at night with a girl on an adventure, but in reality, he is running away from his issues and doing whatever he could to get by. He avoids all social confrontation and hides in his cheap motels, only coming out at night to see his city overcome by the thick yellow fog that the street lights illuminate.
I want to say that the tone is mysterious, but I don't think that is the right word. I think that the tone is heartbreaking to be completely honest. The way that he wastes his life away because he cannot find it in his heart to go out into the world and face his fears makes me, personally, want to scream through the iPad for him to leave his gross motel room and do something with his life.
I think the most intense allusions that are used in this poem were the fog, which is used to allude the state his mind is in. Also, I loved the Michelangelo allusion because it reminded me of the part in The Cather in the Rye, where Holden is in the motel trying to impress the older women in the motel lounge to make himself feel better. The allusions make the poem as beautiful as it is, however if you aren't well read or educated, allusions are like inside jokes that you don't get and everyone else does so you just laugh and pretend you understand
This poem reminds me of Jim Morrison, who was the lead singer of The Doors and one of my most favorite people ever. He lived a similar lifestyle of drinking until he passed out in his crap motel rooms, leaving only at night to perform with the band, but still never being sober enough to function properly. He ended being part of The 27 Club, and wasted his life in the same routine until he died. The question is though, do people who live this way realize that they are wasting their lives? Personally, I think that this poem is called A Love Song because they unintentionally fall in love with their lifestyle and like toxic relationships, you can't get out.
Jenna, I love how you mentioned that some people fall in love with their lifestyle. Many people settle in to a comfortable way of living, but never really do anything with their lives. They may realize this, but they don't want to change. They become afraid of what will go wrong and what they will lose if they stop living the way they are living. They may consider how their life will be better, but they always fall back into seeing the negative side of their situation. This is exactly what happened to the speaker in this poem.
DeleteJenna, I LOVED what you said about the yellow fog alluding to Prufrock's state of mind. What an interesting thing to point out! I don't know if it was just me, but I could almost see the yellow fog floating across my screen as I read the poem. It seemed like the whole thing was just a mass of foggy emotions strewn together with allusions and metaphors. His thoughts were pretty murky - at least the way I interpreted them. I agree, it was incredibly beautiful.
DeleteJenna, I like how you were able to think outside the box and picture an actual person. After you said Jim Morrison, I couldn't picture anyone else in the poem. I think that this was a perfect person to personify this poem.
Delete
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through this poem the first time, I felt my head swirling with flashes of seemingly unrelated imagery. Like most poetry, this is a fairly complex piece of art, and it certainly takes quite a bit of rereading and contemplating to fully understand. I've always loved writing poetry because it allows me hide complex meanings and sentiments behind a facade of ornate wording and simple metaphors. But each time I have had the chance to read and study a poem, I shy away from them for the same reason - there's always a deeper meaning to decipher, and it is rarely apparent. In his poem, Eliot depicts a man who can be described as unsettled or conflicted. He seems to be in deep anguish about something (although it is not very clear - at least to me - what that is). The tone Eliot displays in this poem is quite melancholy, despondent even. His words are thick with deep sentiments. The author uses words like "tedious," "lingered," and "insidious" to suggest that whatever it is that Prufrock is struggling with, it is both dismal and wearisome. He feels as though the end is not near, and he feels a deep sense of brooding. There is also a sense of monotony in the way Eliot presents his work. Many of the words and phrases utilized by Eliot are reiterated throughout. This could be meant to reflect the monotony felt by Prufrock as he grows older.
I also had a difficult time picking out the allusions planted by Eliot in his poem. It seemed to me that the majority of the allusions were quite subtle. Eliot makes an apparent allusion to Hamlet towards the end of the poem. He states "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord..." This could suggest that the author does not consider himself to be someone who stands out, but rather one who keeps to himself. I did catch the biblical references as well. The first reference Eliot makes to the Bible alludes to the beheading of St. John the Baptist. Eliot proclaims "Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter, I am no prophet..." It seems to me that Prufrock is saying that he too sees his life at its end, but the life behind him is far from notable. He sees himself wasting away. The final allusion I discovered was the reference to Lazarus. He says "I am Lazarus, come from the dead" when indirectly mentioning his own awaited death. I think the allusions utilized by Eliot in this poem served the purpose of invoking a sense of relation between Prufrock's dilemma and the experiences of those he references. In doing so, Eliot allows the reader to better understand the way that Prufrock is feeling.
Mary, I love how you said that poems give you an opportunity to to express your in an indirect way. I feel like you cannot really read poetry unless you read into it even further. It is amazing the way that you can allude to everything even further.
DeleteMary, I think you hit the nail on the head with this blog. The author was able to describe the man's life in so many different ways. His dynamic poetry was able to effectively capture this lifestyle and the way he was viewing it.
DeleteThe allusions that Elliot uses throughout the poem give the reader other images to draw in to serve his purpose of creating a picture. By doing this, he not only proves his knowledge in many different areas but he is able to reach out to the reader through several, carefully crafted allusions with which he knows they will also be knowledgeable about. Also, these allusions which Elliot uses are his own unique ways of showing his fears. I found this very interesting because after I read it I found that each allusion had a relationship to his fears and that he carefully picked them to tell the stories of his fear. I enjoyed this poem because it did not romanticize the lifestyle that so many people lead. They unintentionally waste their lives by being afraid to live them. Elliot shows how the man is wasting his life not because he is lazy, but because of so many of his fears and this toxic lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteThe first allusion I spotted when I read over the poem is when he mentions Lazarus. To any person that even knows a little bit about the Catholic faith, they have heard this story. I interpreted this to be that he feels like he is dying while he is alive. This might be completely wrong, but that's the vibe I got from it. I think it's easy to see in the poem that the man is afraid of dying. Therefore, he picked out Lazarus to be a good personification of these fears. I also saw that in the very end of the poem he alluded to the sirens which are in Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus and his men have to plug their ears so that they will not fall prey to the siren song. I thought this was an interesting way to end the poem because the man wants to live a different life but this reckless, depressing, and toxic life style is calling to him like a siren song and he knows he will always go back to it. The reference to Hamlet threw me off a little bit and it really took a lot of thinking outside the box. By calling Hamlet an attending lord, he is referencing himself not as the most high and mighty, but rather the average person. It is not hard to see throughout this poem that the man is an introvert. He doesn't want to be everyone's focus and therefore he doesn't try to be. I found the tone of the poem to be desperate yet explanatory. He wants to show his lifestyle while also wanting to get out of it. He also knows that any of his attempts to do this will be in vain because he will always be trapped by the "siren song" of this lifestyle.
The Lazarus quote I thought was pretty genius. It's a story of rebirth, and this guy in the poem definitely needs rebirth. Being melancholy all the time is no way to live. I also like how you interrupted the Hamlet allusion. I did not quite know what he was trying to imply with the reference. And yes, it is very easy to see that he's an introvert. Sounds like someone you know....no matter.
DeleteJ. Alfred Prufrock sounds tortured by the inadequacy he finds in himself. He sees possibility all around him, yet he simply imagines taking the opportunity instead of diving in to actually take it. The tone of this poem is gloomy. Reading this poem made me feel like I was dying a slow death. A slow death where I could cure myself if I just reached beside me to grab my medicine, but I am too scared the medicine is going to cause some nasty side effects.
ReplyDeleteThe first allusion I saw of Prufrock's was his allusion to MichaelAngelo, and at first I thought it was just there to rhyme, but towards the end of the poem when I understood Prufrock's frame of mine more, I saw it more as a symbol for innovation. MichaelAngelo was an artist in the Renaissance in Europe, where everything from education to art was being innovated. Prufrock is obviously tired of being inadequate, and perhaps wants to make a big reform in his life. The second allusion I found was to Lazarus in the bible. Prufrock is not trying to make a change in his life, instead he expects some extraordinary event to happen to wake him from the sort of mentally dead state he is living in. The third allusion Profrock makes is one to Hamlet. When Prufrock states he is not Prince Hamlet, he is revealing to the reader again the inadequacy he feels to be anything great. He believes he must stay in the role society has put him in instead of striving for more.
I like your metaphor when you you said it was like dying a slow death where you would be ok if you just grabbed the medicine, but we're afraid of taking it. I also liked your spin on the Michelangelo reference. I literally took that as him referring to his actual works. But your spin on it I think is better than how I handled it. But cool. Anyway, very nice job on the blog. Your analysis was very well thought out and organized.
DeleteI believe the allusions used by Elliot give this poem an almost mysterious or dark tone. It just seems like this dude in the poem is so depressed, he won't even go outside. Getting back to my first sentence though, I don't know if dark and mysterious are words that do this poem justice. My emotions changed sentence by sentence, and sometimes I felt good, and other times, I felt sad. This poem seems almost like a roller coaster that could never decide whether we were plunging towards the earth, or soaring high up a cliff. In some cases, it felt like we were doing a little bit of both.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most prominent phrases in the poem is, "In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo." For what purpose this was included, I do not know. It is obvious though that Elliot decided to mention Michelangelo. So I started doing some digging to see if I could relate this poem to a work of Michelangelo's. Immediately off the top of my head, I thought of La Pieta. This statue depicts Jesus Christ laying in the lap of Mary after the crucifixion. At this point, some confused readers may be wondering, "That's cool and all, but what does this actually have to do the poem?" The answer is a little abstract, but I thought this guy in the poem seems to have lost the will to actually live. He just seems to moap around. Jesus never lost the will to live, even when death was guaranteed. And His Mother stayed by Him at all times, right up until the very end, as seen in this work. So maybe it was a call for him to get involved in the church? I don't know. I moved along though and found another work that could relate. This one was The Torment of Saint Anthony. In this painting (one of only four surviving paintings by Michelangelo), Saint Anthony is basically tormented by Demons. I thought this actually related better to the poem than my original guess. In the poem, the dude seems to be a victim of many demons. As one might guess, it probably sucks to be tormented, especially in the fashion that this painting shows. But belief in God and perseverance can save anyone. So we return to the original question of how this contributes to the tone. I think this added a mysterious aspect for me, because I was interested in what the blatant reference to Michelangelo could be about. My guess that it has something to do with The Torment of Saint Angelo is probably very wrong, since this poem was written in 1915 and the painting was only identified as a work of Michelangelo in 2008. But...oh well.
The second allusion was to this guys balding hair. That's maybe THE international symbol for aging, but it also is a sign of increased stress. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, he just seems very depressed...like all the time. The balding hair could be a sign that it is finally getting to him, and he may be on the downturn. This adds a little bit of darkness to poem as it suggests the end of him may be coming, as the last sentence of the entire poem solidifies later.
The last reference is, of course, the first paragraph which is a reference to Dante's Inferno. Actually, it's not just a reference, it's a freaking giant quote. But Dante's Inferno deals with Hell and the people in Hell. So maybe this guy that the poem is about believes he is going to wind up in Hell. Again, I don't know. But it again, adds a very mysterious and dark component to an already mysterious and dark poem.
I have not figured out yet if I feel bad for Prufrock or if his cowardliness annoys me. He is so lonely and the way the poem is written makes me feel like he is an old man with no visitors or family to take care of him, but then again he never had the courage to talk to the woman. Maybe he did not care that much about it at the time to think about the long term consequences. He does have an unfortunate name, however!
Delete