Why? Well, take a look at this quotation from Joshua Foer, which appeared in his article "Utopia for Beginners" in the December 24, 2012 issue of The New Yorker:
“There are so many ways for speakers of English to see the world. We can glimpse, glance, visualize, view, look, spy, or ogle. Stare, gawk, or gape. Peek, watch, or scrutinize. Each word suggests some subtly different quality: looking implies volition; spying suggests furtiveness; gawking carries an element of social judgment and a sense of surprise. When we try to describe an act of vision, we consider a constellation of available meanings. But if thoughts and words exist on different planes, then expression must always be an act of compromise.”
*FYI: Home in means to direct on a target. The phrasal verb derives from the 19th-century use of homing pigeons, but it resurged in the 20th century to refer to missiles that home in on their targets. It’s also commonly used metaphorically, where to home in on something is focus on and make progress toward it. Hone in, a misspelling so common many dictionaries now list it as a variant of home in, derives from a mishearing of the latter. The verb hone means to sharpen or to perfect, and it’s a transitive verb, meaning it must act directly on something, so it makes no logical sense with in.
In light of this illuminating (see what I did there?) explanation by Foer, I had you choose ONE WORD and ONE WORD ONLY from T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" in class on Friday. Analyze how your word contributes to the reader's overall understanding of J. Alfred as a person. If, as Eliot claimed, all words in a poem should be engineered in some effort to provide an objective correlative that leaves the reader with a specific feeling, how does your word achieve that purpose?
Make sure your response is 3E: eloquent, exhaustive, and effective! DUE BY FRIDAY at 8AM!
Why am I having you do this? Because it's good training, kiddos. As you know, this is the kind of analysis you need to train your brain to do quickly and effectively for the AP exam. And I know you can do it. Practice makes progress.
DARE.
October… one of the last months of the year. A month that connotes falling leaves, pumpkin spice, anticipation of the winter holidays, and hues of red, brown, and yellow. The height of autumn, when chilly weather begins to become regular and peaches are no longer in season. While mentioned just once in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the word “October” carries strong emotional undertones and exemplifies author T.S. Eliot’s usage of objective correlative; this tenth month of our Gregorian calendar’s subtle nuances contribute to the characterization of title character J. Alfred Prufrock as a man terrified by the inevitable passing of time and his imminent demise, as well as a person desperately, and rather unsuccessfully, seeking comfort and company with others.
ReplyDeleteEven though the word “October” itself only appears once in the entire poem, Eliot’s mention of images like “yellow fog” and “seaweed red and brown” continually evoke and reinforce, ever so subconsciously, the emotions associated with October. While blues, pinks, purples, and greens are associated with spring and summer and winter has its own bleak and icy color scheme, warm tones like red, orange, yellow, and brown are reserved for the fall. These colors are reminiscent of the leaves of deciduous trees during the changing of seasons, a result of pigmentation preceding their falling. In a way, these colors somewhat parallel J. Alfred; just as the leaves fall in preparation for a new season, so does Prufrock seemingly drown as he looks ahead to his next season of life (or, rather, death). While January is a time of new beginnings, October is one of the final months of the year. By deliberately choosing October as the setting for his poem, Eliot signals to the reader Prufrock’s limited time left and his nearing the end, at times speaking of metaphorically seeing the “eternal Footman” and drowning in the sea. This sense of being hurried by the passing of time is also emphasized in Prufrock’s almost obsessive self-consciousness with his showing of age (such as with the bald spot or the rather off-trend sporting of trousers). It seems that Prufrock’s fear of time passing is not unfounded, and Eliot may be implying that there may be few coffee spoons left to count. The usage of “October” not only provides implications that Prufrock is headed towards his demise but it also aids the reader in understanding the sense of urgency in his fear of time running out, despite his many attempts to convince himself of otherwise.
The word “October” is also significant, in that it heralds the coming of the winter holidays. Nearly universally, the winter holidays signify a time of fellowship and celebration with close friends and family. These close and meaningful relationships characterized by winter holidays are exactly what Prufrock desires most and understands least. While it is evident that Prufrock attempts (and fails) to make connections with others, it is clear that his disdain for and blame towards women for projecting a perception of themselves is more of a reflection of his own self-loathing at his own two-facedness and flawed perceptions of himself. In setting the piece in October, these meaningful relationships are, while hoped for, distantly out of reach. Rather than enjoying the comfort of camaraderie and the company of others, Prufrock is stuck in October and the in-between of summer and winter.
Though a mere three syllables of the poem, Eliot’s use of the word “October” helps readers to better understand J. Alfred Prufrock’s fear of the passage of time, as well as his inability to connect with other people. This instance of objective correlative elicits the ideas of the brevity of life, the changing of seasons, and falling leaves, as well as the desire for the comfort of relationships with others. And even if someone did wake up J. Alfred when September ended, it seems that he was doomed to drown in October at the sound of human voices.
Dibble Blog
ReplyDelete“Eyes”
By: Molly Scott
Eyes that only see rejection, J. Alfred Prufrock finds himself alienated in a lonely world full of judgemental eyes, that he himself created. J. Alfred Prufrock is a man, so afraid of rejection, that his only method of self-defense lays in isolation, as seen in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. The eyes of the surrounding people paralyze him into fear’s submission and turn his fear into a pitiful poem. He begs readers to sympathize with his pain and shows them why he is untouchable, however, his use of diction and word choice suggests a more annoyed attitude (from readers) rather than a sympathetic one.
This is seen through his choice of the word “eyes” as a way to express his constant anxiety of outsiders. For J. Alfred “has known the eyes already, known them all—The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin”, these eyes are what define his actions, people’s judgment of him fix him in a “formulated phrase” and spiral him into insecurity. The eyes Alfred continues to refer to are, mostly, a product of his imagination. A product of his insecurities that give him an excuse to wallow in his own self-pity. J. Alfred Prufrock is afraid, afraid of rejection, afraid of unanswered questions and afraid of stepping foot out of his comfort zone.
These eyes control him because he allows them to control him. He cannot allow himself to stay above the stair before it is “Time to turn back and descend the stair.” He tries to excuse his actions by pleading that he “tried”, but in reality, he made it to the top of the stairs and choose to descend them. He failed after one attempt and begs readers to feel pity, but in reality, those eyes aren’t the things holding him back, his constant excuses and insecurities are the things holding him back.
The feeling left with readers can best be described as annoyed, for J. Alfred Prufrock is relentless in his efforts to pull readers into his pool of self-deprecation. He uses the surrounding eyes to excuse his inability to communicate with others. Prufrock will continue to sprawl on his pin and wriggle until ultimately, he frees himself, or watches the world through self-deprecating eyes.
(PART 1)
ReplyDeleteT.S. Eliot’s inarguably beautiful and evocative writing style allows him to deliver “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in such a way that leads readers to pontificate a seemingly infinite list of questions about both Prufrock and life itself. One way Eliot achieves this is by sprinkling rhetorical questions throughout the poem to aid the audience in understanding the complexity of Prufrock through subtle notions. Prufrock asks questions such as, “do I dare?” and “how should I begin?” however perhaps the most important question that he poses begins with the line, “and would it have been worth it, after all...” This prompts us to ask a couple questions of our own: what does it mean for something to be worth it? How are we to know if something is truly worth while? The word “worth” brings more to the table than what meets the eye, and the depth that it holds is what makes these questions so difficult to answer. Knowing this, Eliot chooses to utilize the single word,“worth,” and its connotations in attempt to accentuate not only the immense diffidence and anguish that exists within Prufrock, but also the comprehensive object correlative of the poem.
Throughout the entirety of the poem, it is made clear that Prufrock feels incredibly lonely and isolated, almost trapped by his diffidence. That being said, the inclusion of the word “worth” halfway through the poem further emphasizes his feelings, allowing the audience to better understand him. We can look at Prufrock’s use of “worth” in regards to many different layers of Prufrock’s personality, the first of which being his timid and apprehensive side. It is made clear that Prufrock does not have a particularly high self esteem, as evident by his mentioning of things such as his bald spot and “women...speaking of Michelangelo.” This low self esteem has a direct relationship with the word “worth” in the sense that this poem can essentially be viewed as Prufrock’s direct analysis of his self worth. When we look at “worth” in terms of Prufrock’s diffidence, we need to consider the definition of worth which defines it as, “the value of something measured by its qualities or by the esteem in which it is held.” With this definition in mind, it becomes clear that Prufrock offers no desirable “qualities” or anything indicating himself being held at a higher esteem throughout the entire poem. He often mentions undesirable traits about himself, including that he is “at times, the Fool,” and that he has “a bald spot in the middle of [his] hair.” When it comes down to it, the ultimate reason why Prufrock feels the need to state these facts about himself is because he is so deep into his self deprecation that he has truly run out of any perception of self worth. We can also draw from this that Prufrock has a morphed perception of others in the sense that he seems to view everyone around him as much more extraordinary and deserving of happiness than he is— more worthy. This idea first appears when he states, “in the room the women come and go,/ talking of Michelangelo,” at first glance we can understand that this connotes to the women not speaking of Prufrock, and how he feels a twinge of resentment towards the women and jealousy towards Michelangelo. But why does Prufrock truly feel this way? Once again it comes back to Prufrock’s perception of worth. Why isn’t he worthy of this talk? Why can’t he be like Michelangelo? Prufrock answers these dejected questions in the stanzas that follow, as he extensively depicts his mundanity, which he to him deems him unworthy. He continues to compare his self worth to those of others in the lines, “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each/ I do not think that they will sing to me.” Once again he is calling attention to the fact that he is not worthy of human connection, and is that not what this whole poem is about? Prufrock’s disconnection from love, connection, and humanity? This disconnect stems from his perception of worthiness, and his fear that he will never be as worthy of love and attention as those around him.
(PART 2)
ReplyDeleteThe fact that in Prufrock’s mind women speaking to one another equates to mermaids singing to each other simply goes to show that he has an incredibly twisted perception of the worth of women. While the word “worth” plays a significant role in characterizing Prufrock and understanding how he views others, it is equally important in regards to how he views life. The second time Prufrock uses “worth” is in the lines, “Would it have been worth while/ to have bitten off the matter with a smile,” Now, when we think of “worth” in the context of something being “worth while,” it takes on a slightly different meaning. It does not have to do with the worthiness of a person or thing, but rather the level of fulfillment that is offered through something— whether that be an object, action, or person. This is significant in understanding how Prufrock views life in the sense that in no part of the poem does he indicate that anything he has experienced up to this point has been worth while in any way. He explains many aspects of life in a way that suggests his indifference towards everything that he has encountered. In the second stanza of the poem, he states, “Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets...Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels/ and sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells…” Nothing about this depiction of life leads us to believe that he is going to revel in life and all of its beauties, but rather the opposite. These images suggest right from the beginning that Prufrock is going to give us a point of view that is more dark and morose than perhaps the view of someone who believes that their life was truly worthwhile. This in turn allows us to better understand Prufrock in that he is verbalizing what most of us fear most, which is looking back on life and coming to the conclusion that it was not worthwhile.
IN DEFENSE OF BEING PATHETIC: (1)
ReplyDeleteIt almost feels like the eponymous speaker in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is kicking himself in the shins as the poem progresses. He doesn’t dare to do this, won’t dare to do that, might dare to do something else… As his feelings of anxiety and inadequacy wax and wane, one thing becomes clear to the reader: Prufrock dug himself a hole and now (to no one’s surprise, really) is trapped in it. In the grand bargain of his life, Prufrock decided to sacrifice the thrills (and risks) of truly living and being in the public eye for the comfortable discomfort of remaining in his own secluded shell. Sure, Prufrock’s vacillating on what to do and what not to do throughout the poem might be frustrating to the reader, who might find Prufrock’s bemoaning pathetic. However, a re-read of the poem with a focus on the word “arms” offers a more heartbreaking insight into Prufrock’s character. In fact, Eliot uses the arms motif to conjure up the picture of Prufrock being a small hero in a world of huge, daunting quests, a hero that knows he’s not cut for the tasks ahead and the odds are most likely not in his favor. The anger we feel when we read about the arms not only comes from our irritation over his watery character, but also the fact that we’ve all felt the same way about our own inadequacies in the face of tough challenges. And that’s what leads to the somewhat irritated, somewhat comedic melancholy the reader might feel at the end of the poem.
Arms are critical to understanding Prufrock as a person. A less empathetic reader might dismiss the arms motif as Prufrock’s disregard for women as complete individuals, which may be true, but a more sentimental read of this motif offers more meaning to the work as a whole. Throughout the poem, we see that Prufrock is trying his best, but just like a second-hand car acquired from a dealership with a questionable reputation, but he has trouble… going. His journey to self-fulfillment is more of a stopping-and-starting endeavor, rather than one fluid movement, as we can see through the arms. Prufrock takes the first step on his intimidating quest to make connections with people… by gathering up the courage to go to a social gathering. (Nice work, J. Alfred). Even that seems too formidable a challenge, so we see Prufrock walk up and down the stairs a couple of times before he finally makes his entrance. However, once he gets there, all he sees are women’s arms. Braceleted arms, arms that lie upon a table, arms wrapped around a shawl. He sees neither eyes nor faces because he’s too afraid to make eye contact with those around him. He’s not that anxious to the point that he only stares people’s shoes. But he raises his head… and stops. He doesn’t even dare to look up above the arms of some people that might be more of his crowd—the “lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows.” Prufrock got started on this endeavor, but now he finds himself stopped. The first step was already a tough challenge, the second one seemingly insurmountable—and that’s a little too close to home to not be heartbreaking. For a split second, Prufrock managed to shelve his anxieties and face a challenge—but then those anxieties fell onto him like a tidal wave, and he couldn’t carry on any more. Prufrock’s struggles mirror ours--- which is why we get so frustrated with him as a reader. Doing the best we can doesn’t mean we won’t ever trip and fall, despite what we want to believe. Sometimes, we don’t even want to do our best to complete a journey, afraid of what will come after. Coming face to face with that reality is both hard for the reader and Prufrock to swallow, which is why our hearts feel so conflicted at the end of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”
IN DEFENSE OF BEING PATHETIC (2)
ReplyDeleteThe arms in Eliot’s poem also put Prufrock in his perspective—and take the reader out of his anxious microcosm he built for himself. Prufrock isn’t the only character that is struggling with the fact that he’s the protagonist in his own story, even if he doesn’t feel like his actions merit that title. Interestingly, Vergil opens the Aeneid—an epic poem with a notoriously insecure protagonist—with a call to arms, literally. Before the bard invokes the Muses and delves into the actual tale of Aeneas, he declares to the audience, “arma virumque cano” (I sing of arms and a man). Here, “arma” can mean arms, as in actual tools of war—not unlike what Prufrock would see if he was actually on the frontlines of World War I—or be a nod to some of its Latin derivatives which describe the arms as an appendage. This allusion in Eliot’s “song” to Prufrock is more than that, however. This parallel between Aeneas—an epic hero—to Prufrock shows to the reader how daunting these looming “challenges” (or what we’d consider inconveniences) are for Prufrock. Both characters didn’t have very much faith in themselves, at all, to complete these heroic quests, which led them to get off task (i.e. getting distracted by women). However, once they realized what they’d done, their disgust in themselves is palpable. How could they give up so easily, when good fortune was on the horizon, even if at the time they couldn’t see that? Aeneas’s journey was filled with bitter conquest and desperate bloodshed, and to see Eliot compare Prufrock’s struggles as if they were to that magnitude is almost laughable, if not tragic. It’s not like we haven’t blown our problems out of proportion—and then laughed off the silliness of doing so later. But that’s what we felt in hindsight. Prufrock hasn’t reached that part of his story yet. He’s fighting his own battle, even if it’s more Don Quixote fighting the windmills rather than Hercules battling the Nemean Lion. Yet he’s so engrossed in this self-manufactured struggle! It’s almost like dramatic irony in that sense: we can see the “arms” to Prufrock are nothing but windmills, but he can’t, and how he suffers so. By using the “arms,” Eliot paints the picture of Prufrock as a hero who’s fighting his fight—but only we can see he’s really fighting paper tigers and puppets of his own imagination. The fact that Prufrock can’t realize that makes us feel part irritated, part derisive, and part upset. Some battles may be smaller than others, but only we know that Prufrock’s blown his out of proportion.
Sure, Prufrock might be pathetic. But we’ve been pathetic, too, at some point. Conscience makes cowards of us all— even the most courageous heroes start off afraid. What we see as quotidian challenges of laughable difficulty, Prufrock sees as fierce battles—which, unfortunately, got off with a poor start. With the word “arms,” Eliot shows us that Prufrock is making progress in his journey—even if it’s been irritatingly little in our eyes. But Prufrock did start. Whether his pace makes us want to laugh, cry, or tear our hair out, what we do know is that like all heroes, no matter if they’re Hamlet, Hercules, or Holden Caulfield, achieve their goal in the end. Prufrock is getting there.
In T.S. Eliot’s 1915 poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the main character is artfully portrayed through an objective correlative of powerful word choice that reveals the depths of Prufrock’s emotions and experiences. Each word of Eliot’s cohesive engineered message that depicts J. Alfred’s inner thoughts and sentiments provides purpose and hidden meaning. Although Eliot’s work offers a plethora of evocative diction to analyze and focus on, one word in particular yields excessive meaning. The word “Michelangelo” is repeated twice in Eliot’s work, relatively more towards the beginning. The artist’s name is mentioned in reference to women’s topic of conversation, stating, “In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo,”. This is our first glance at Prufrock’s perception and impression of women, one that becomes less ambiguous as the poem continues. The single word “Michelangelo” being the topic of conversation carries several connotations with it; At first, it can provide the purpose of characterizing women as charlatans or as being snobbish. Michelangelo, one of the greatest Renaissance sculptors and painters that paved the way for modern Western art, was widely known and revered in this time period. Discussing the artist or his works would be deemed then and even now as intelligent or well-educated. By mentioning this specific conversation topic amongst the women, Prufrock is relaying to the audience his perception of women and how they attempt to be perceived as intelligent and high-class, even if this may not be the case, by discussing advanced and culturally respected topics, such as Michelangelo. The way Prufrock even mentions this topic is by stating that the women are coming and going, almost as if their actions are mindless and are out of habit. Rather than admire their intellect, he’s suggesting that their seemingly astute discussion of a historically famous artist is simply for show, giving the audience its first glimpse at J. Alfred’s contempt and condescension for women.
ReplyDeleteThe repetition of this specific line, “In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo,” twice also provides more insight into Prufrock’s personality and perceptions. The repetition that Eliot employs displays J. Alfred’s stubborn and disdainful attitude towards women. The time that has passed between the two repeated lines represents how over time, women fail to change or grow. They continue to talk about the same topic to impress others, while having no real substance to their conversation. Prufrock is essentially remarking on how there’s no improvement from women, only a continuation to remain the same vapid and uninspired creatures they’ve always been.
The use of the word “Michelangelo” also exhibits Prufrock’s isolation and loneliness he continually expresses throughout the poem. Rather than discussing someone more universally known by all social classes, the women talk of someone who is more commonly known by those who are educated. This topic places the women on a pedestal of luxury and high-class, making them out of reach from Prufrock. This reinforces his inability to connect to women, as he’s expressing that they’re so far out of his reach that it’s impossible for him to obtain them or their attention. We can begin to see Eliot’s vivid objective correlative with use of the word “Michelangelo” paired with other diction later on in the poem, such as in the stanza mentioning “arms”. This objective correlative creates a sense of pity, or even sympathy, in the reader for J. Alfred, as he expresses that he has known all women and that they are too far out of his reach to connect with them, despite his attempts (or lack of). By using the word “Michelangelo”, this mood is successfully created in the audience by diverging Prufrock and women into two different statuses.
Lingering. Where are we lingering? Why are we lingering? Who are we lingering for? The word only serves to draw up more questions than answers. And I suspect that was the purpose of its use in TS Elliot’s masterclass The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock. I believe that the placement of this word, the context of the word, and the object of the verb all serve to further the characterization of Prufrock as contrastingly unfulfilled yet slightly hopeful and helps to imply an objective correlative of an incomplete life.
ReplyDeleteElliot uses the word “lingered” twice in the poem; once in one of the first stanzas and a second time in the very last stanza. The placement of the word at the very start and very end of the poem help to emphasize the incomplete feeling that the use of “lingered” offers to the reader. The connotation of “linger” is to wait aimlessly or wait for something important that hasn’t come yet. The reappearance of “lingered” in the last stanza implies a feeling of unending waiting for something, as if J Alfred Prufrock has been waiting from the beginning and continues to wait in the end. Its repetition contributes to the feeling of unfulfillment that seems to pervade the character of J Alfred Prufrock. He continues to wait for some significant action or choice that will alter the mundane nature that his life revolves around. In addition, the continuation of Prufrock’s “lingering” at the end of the poem indicates that his indecision that he portrays in the rest of the poem will cause him to be waiting for his life’s significance for the rest of time.
In addition, the differing contexts of the two uses of “lingered” offer us insight into Prufrock’s troubled personality. In the first instance of the word, Prufrock personifies the yellow smoke as it “rubs its muzzle on the window-panes” and “lingered upon the pools that stand in drains.” In the second stanza, the use of lingered is to describe the carefree actions of the yellow smoke. The carefree, aimless connotation of “lingered” in this section in describing a personified, inanimate object seems to indicate the worry-less nature of other creatures. I interpreted this as a commentary by Elliot that humans will inherently feel unfulfilled and anxious about judgements, compared to the untroubled nature of the yellow smoke. In addition, when taken with the second use of “lingered” where Prufrock laments about humans that “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea”, the endless, inherent unfulfillment of humans is made clear. I interpreted the use of “We” as Prufrock referring to the human species, trying to make a connection, and the setting of the sea chambers as Elliot emphasizing the insignificance of humans through the imagery of large, spacious chambers of the sea. The description of humans lingering implies a sense of anxiety in our insignificance.
The hopeful nature of Prufrock’s character is shown through the objects of the verb “lingered.” When the subject of “lingered” is the humans, a sense of hope is imbedded in the word since the fact that humans have lingered “in the chambers of the sea” for the length of the poem implies that they are waiting for something. The fact that they have waited for such a length, implies a sense of hope imbued inside them, since they are so willing to linger in a place, waiting for so long.
The incredible significance of one word helps to emphasize the significance of simple things, the same type of significance that Prufrock attributes to mundane items throughout the poem. The different meanings of Lingered help to show the contrasting natures of Prufrock as hopeful and resigned and unfulfilled. It also leaves the reader feeling slightly empty and saddened about the hopeless lingering that humans will forever be subject to.
When one hears the word malinger, a million neurons fire up in the brain to make connections to words like laziness, procrastination, inefficiency, etc. In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” a lonely, time-sucking, indecisive, stuck-up gentleman expresses his inability to make meaningful connections with the world around him as a result of his personality traits. If one word could describe J. Alfred Prufrock, it’s malinger. According to the Merriam-Webster, malinger means "to pretend or exaggerate incapacity or illness (as to avoid duty or work)"; hence, malingerers are known to malinger or intentionally create excuses to avoid responsibilities. Eliot utilizes the word malinger as an objective correlative to evoke a critical and pitiful response from the reader towards Prufrock.
ReplyDeleteThe verb malinger comes from the French word malingre, meaning "sickly," and one who malingers feigns illness. In Eliot’s poem, the depiction of a sickly or “yellow” fog represents the looming and lingering yet inescapable nature of death. As shown in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (the movie not the novel), “Where sickness lies, bad things follow.” Clearly, Prufrock exudes a sickly and malingering personality which leads him to push back important decisions and moments in his life. He is reassured by the fact that “there will be time” in the future to do those things. He fails to realize that time runs out like sand in an hourglass. In a sense, he malingers in his choice to make impactful change in his life because he believes that time is not of the essence. As all procrastinators and malingerers know, the choice to push back important duties typically ends in tragedy. Hypothetically, if Prufrock continues to behave the way he does, he will eventually face the tragedy of a meaningless life as a result of his lifelong fear to “disturb the universe” when death or the yellow fog finally encloses on him. By choosing to use the word malinger, Eliot depicts Prufrock as a procrastinator to his readers.
Furthermore, the word malinger contains the word “linger” which connotes undesirable characteristics lingering within individuals deemed malingerers. Is it a coincidence? I think not. The clingy nature of the word “linger” at the end of the word malinger itself produces the feeling that a hindering object or idea stubbornly chooses not to let go. Prufrock clearly possesses traits like fear and indecision that linger within, preventing him from living a meaningful life. His obsession over his reputation and what others think of him significantly affects his life choices. This obsession creates a fear of doing the unordinary and results in “measuring life with coffee spoons.” This fear lingers within Prufrock like a virus causing him to malinger when the choice to make impactful decisions comes before him.
Lastly, Eliot’s decision to use the word malinger produces a sluggish and lazy mood that reflects Prufrock’s personality. When one hears the word, he or she automatically feels the inactivity of a procrastinator/malingerer. In context, the word is used when Prufrock observes that “the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully! Smoothed by long fingers, Asleep… tired… or it malingers Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.” Through this passage, Eliot portrays the feeling of laziness by utilizing imagery. He depicts Prufrock being stretched out on the floor doing nothing, similar to him being a patient etherized on a table. The malingering characteristic that causes Prufrock to be lazily lying on the floor is the lack of “strength to force the moment to its crisis.” He lacks the will to make a true difference the world, and this characteristic of Prufrock further exemplifies his idle nature. Because the word malinger is closely associated with Prufrock’s behavior, Eliot’s readers can clearly picture Prufrock as an inactive, lazy procrastinator.
ReplyDeleteBy utilizing this multidimensional word “malinger,” Eliot gives Prufrock undesirable personality traits that can be interpreted through Eliot’s authorial intent to connect the sickly traits of malingerers to the color yellow, Eliot’s use of etymology of the word malinger, and his depiction of a sluggish mood. He also effectively delivers his objective correlative to the audience as he makes the readers criticize Prufrock’s contemptible nature while also evoking pity within them towards Prufrock’s trajectory toward a meaningless life. In my opinion, there is no better word to describe Prufrock than the word malinger.
Diction is one of the fundamental tools at an author’s disposal in constructing an effective objective correlative. I agree with Joshua Foer’s claim that “each word suggests some subtly different quality.” In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot, Eliot meticulously uses specific words all throughout the poem to create his objective correlative and characterize Prufrock: an indecisive, hypocritical, arrogant man unable to create meaningful and lasting relationships with others – who is overly concerned with his own reputation and how others may perceive him. By closely analyzing Eliot’s deliberate use of just one word, “doubt,” the readers of his poem can come to understand just how important any singular word is to establishing the moods and emotions which are engrained throughout all of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” or any poem in general.
ReplyDeleteTo better understand Eliot’s use of the word “doubt” in his poem, we must first examine the context in which it appears. The word only makes one appearance in the poem: “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do; to swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool.” The placement of the word doubt within such a bundle of phrases demonstrates both Prufrock’s arrogance and his hypocritical nature. The phrase itself, “no doubt,” is in direct contrast with the entire rest of the poem. Throughout the poem phrases such as “Do I dare?” are repeated. Making a statement with “no doubt” is diametrically opposed to all of Prufrock’s unsure mannerisms earlier in the poem. Additionally, such a statement implies that Prufrock is sure about his one actual decision. This confidence is misplaced, however, since in stating his lack of “doubts” that he isn’t Hamlet, he states that he is really Polonius, who is among the first characters to die in the play and who is ridiculed by Hamlet as being a fool throughout the play. These displays of arrogance and hypocriticism are revealed simply by the placement of the word “doubt” in the poem. However, they are not the only things that are revealed by Eliot’s use of the word.
Furthermore, “doubt,” or the lack thereof, could be in reference to many different things. Is Prufrock making a statement about his perception of himself (his self image) – highlighting his insecurities by providing a superficial and obvious cover for himself? Or is he simply referring to the play? In the second case, Prufrock’s indecisiveness becomes apparent as he is only ever sure of things that have already been written. Things that are in the past are all that Prufrock can ever be sure about, since he cannot decide on any actions to take in the future, paralyzed by the premise of being viewed negatively in the public eye (as referenced by the Italian reference to Dante’s Inferno).
As stated previously, the statement of “no doubt” contrasts with the indecisive mood of the poem and helps build Eliot’s objective correlative by highlighting all the indecisive statements in the poem. The reader never truly realizes the scope of Prufrock’s indecisiveness before he actually displays certainty in himself for the first time. The use of the word can also be a subtle call to how Prufrock doubts his ability to perform simple human tasks such as maintaining social interactions, or how he doubt’s women’s ability to take the world seriously, as in “talking of Michelangelo,” which implies that the women cannot even focus on the World War taking place. Unfortunately for Prufrock, misogyny is not the route on which he will be able to build meaningful connections with a woman.
“When the evening is spread out against the sky/Like a patient etherized upon a table”. This comes from the second and third line of T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, essentially a soliloquy from the narrator, J. Alfred Prufrock, detailing his fear of judgment from society and his rampant insecurities about his physical nature. Throughout the poem, Eliot meticulously crafts each word to elevate Prufrock’s poem from an indictment of social norms and their consequences on people to a scathing character study of Prufrock, a study that reveals that Prufrock has knowingly imprisoned himself with his over-exaggeration of the world’s view of him.
ReplyDeleteNow, let’s look at one work from the line earlier: “etherized”. The definition of ‘etherize’ is ‘anesthetize(a person or animal) with ether”. Just by looking at the definition, you might think that Eliot could have substitute ‘etherized’ with ‘tranquilized’ or ‘anesthetized’. That wouldn’t be wrong. Deeper into the poem, Prufrock mentions that “when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,/When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall”. There is credence to the idea that Prufrock sees himself as this tranquilized sky on a table of sorts, unable to prevent the actions and events occurring around him, relegated to be a mere spectator in his own life. Both ‘etherized’ and ‘tranquilized’ essentially communicate the same idea of helplessness and uselessness, and both words were used equally during the mid-1900’s. So, why did Eliot use ‘etherized’? What did the ‘etherized’ offer to deepen his poem? With any change to the word ‘etherized’, the line and the poem would lose a hidden meaning buried within ‘etherized’.
Dissecting the word ‘etherized’, we find the base word ‘ether’. In the medical sense, an ether refers to a liquid used as an anesthetic. That’s the use of ether that would deliver the same effect akin to tranquilize and anesthetic. However, I believe Eliot uses ‘etherized’ and ‘ether’ as a word play to reference The Ether: an endless and unknown expanse of the air and sky, originally thought to be a universal substance that existed everywhere. In this context, ‘to be etherized’ would be to suggest that an object would be dissolved into the sky itself, indistinguishable and forgotten. If Prufrock himself feels ‘etherized’ in a sense, then Eliot’s choice serves to accentuate Prufrock’s defeated and self-loathing persona.
As readers, we take for granted certain words, simply boiling our reasoning to ‘the author must have put it there to make it sound better’. However, Eliot’s handpicked diction is used to construct an intricate and complex machine that is “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”.
pt 1
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of the word ‘yellow’ in T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” evokes immediate discordance and discomfort, an ambiguous yet viscerally-reactive hue that connotes both brightness and sallowness, natural aging and premature decay. In this duality between extroversion and cowardice do we find our titular character, J. Alfred Prufrock, meandering without clear direction through both the city streets and his life.
Prufrock’s description of being enveloped in a yellow fog as he walks along the streets creates a vivid image of our narrator hiding in the artificial, bright fog barely stretched to conceal a sickly, decaying interior. That fog envelops his movements, obscuring his and other’s vision of each other, until everyone on the streets and through the windows can only make out blurry shadows and outlines of the masks and socially-acceptable exteriors each person dons to mask their decaying sense of self and the premature death of the natural human spirit of independence.
Eliot utilizes the word ‘yellow’ a total of three times in the poem, each time referring to Prufrock description of the fog and smoke running through the city streets on a “soft October night”. Prufrock utilizes the word ‘yellow’ to first describe fog, the product of the natural world when he comments, “The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes”, and twice to characterize smoke, the pollution and product of civilization, when he continues, “The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes…the yellow smoke that slides along the street”.
The first use of the word yellow to describe the fog connotes the sickly distortion of the natural world, both drawing upon the grating evocation of both a natural, aging process inherent in the mildewing decay of life, and the unnatural infiltration of disease that dims the vibrancy out of the natural world through civilization’s heedless pollution and destruction.
Yellow is made up of multi-faceted, complex hues connoting both brightness, jaundice, artificiality, natural vibrancy, and sickness. Eliot could've used adjectives to describe the yellow vapor in a more precise way, but instead chooses to leave it up to infinite interpretations that beget from both the shades of yellow and what each specific hue represents. If the poet wanted to comment solely on the inescapable confines of time and our inevitable trudge toward death, Eliot could have used the adjectives ‘sallow’, ‘aging’, or ‘jaundiced’ to more accurately describe his point.
pt 2
ReplyDeleteHowever, if Eliot wanted to evoke the idea that the yellow vapor contained a natural brightness, the only vibrancy left amidst a backdrop of decaying civilization and “the soot that falls from chimneys”, he could have used such adjectives. Yet, Eliot uses the intentionally ambiguous, all-encompassing imagery of yellow vapor to draw attention to not just one adjective, but the jarring, yet necessary juxtaposition of each one together, emphasizing the multifaceted complexity and more importantly, individuality of interpretation, that yellow, and human kind, represents.
I think it's interesting and worth noting that ‘yellow’ first characterizes fog, a natural weather phenomenon that impairs vision and evokes a sense of chill. Even before we know for certain that this poem takes place in a “soft October night”, we know through the mention of fog that this poem is set in a heavy, blurry cityscape with an increasing chill in the atmosphere. It’s as if the first harbinger of the winter is the presence of yellow fog that runs through the streets, immediately coloring yellow with the connotation of the death that winter brings.
Yet, the next and final instance of ‘yellow’ is to characterize smoke, an artificial, pollutant created by civilization. This specific usage of yellow to describe a waste byproduct emphasizes the intrinsic characteristic of civilization to thrive at the expense of the natural world. The word ‘yellow’ however, remains the same and only adjective to describe the mist that run through the streets. even while the noun that it modifies changes from a natural phenomenon to a manufactured toxin.
Yellow is used as an inevitable signal of seasonal change in the natural world and, independently, as an artificial pollutant of civilization. Yet, it serves in both cases to highlight the omnipresence of decay and death that spans, and unites, both civilization and the natural world.
The enduring use of yellow exposes the enduring idea that the natural world and civilization will always be at war with each other, with ultimately civilization conquering and destroying the natural world, evidenced by the transitional dominance of smoke in direct rejection of the natural phenomena of fog. Paralleling this logic sequence, Eliot is making the argument that our human nature, and our proclivity to be independent spirits governed by our own free wills, will be inevitably crushed by the byproducts of a civilized society: conformity, societal norms, and constant self-policing in fear of other’s judgments.
Eliot utilizes the word ‘yellow’, describing first fog then smoke, to emphasize the overarching theme of the inevitable decay and death of our individual human natures by the enveloping, inescapable pollutants of civilized society.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteIn our haste to explore the complexity of literature and the world around us, we often miss the smallest yet most important details. Take the word “and” for example. It’s a word we don’t take a second glance at, a word we always overlook for the evocative adjectives or verbs or nouns right next to it. At the same time, it’s not surprising that this overlooking happens either. “And” by definition really has no meaning; even the Oxford dictionary simply defines it as “used to connect words of the same part of speech, clauses, or sentences, that are to be taken jointly.” Yet, this three letter word contributes immensely to providing an objective correlative in T.S. Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Prufrock’s continued usage of “and” throughout the poem further highlights the insecurity and paralyzing fear he feels at having to face the societal judgement around him.
As a word we often use in daily life, we may not realize the connotations that “and” holds. It connotes a sense of connection and communicates an idea that the speaker has more to tell. “And” is a word we often use to connect ideas to ideas, having the potential to create even the slightest threads between two completely unrelated thoughts. In essence, that’s what Prufrock uses “and” to do. While he is a contemplative person, his thoughts run everywhere. One moment, he’ll be questioning the existence of the universe; in the next moment, he’ll be worrying about his ever-present bald spot. In any other poem, these ideas would never be able to coexist and still be able to communicate an effective message. The word “and” allows Elliot to create a character who is able to fluctuate between the depths and shallows of human thought. The usage of the word “and” is representative of who Prufrock is. When people ramble, they tend to use “and” as a bridge for continuing their cluttered thoughts. Likewise, Prufrock’s pondering of the universe and his place in it is partially facilitated by this word. By using “and” so often, Prufrock’s insecure personality is brought out. His constant questioning and worrying about what’s happening around him offsets the content of his questions, revealing him to be slightly obsessive about others’ perception of him.
Part 2
ReplyDeletePart of the reason why “and” contributes so much to the objective correlative that leaves the reader with a specific feeling is because of how indiscriminately it’s used. We see it being used when he ponders existential questions as in “And indeed there will be time…And time for all the works and days of hands…And time yet for a hundred indecisions, And for a hundred visions and revisions…” On the other hand, we also see it used in instances where he thinks of menial things such as “… tea and cakes and ices” or “sunsets and dooryards and the sprinkled streets…” The continuous repetitions make the poem sound and feel more cohesive, even if the content he speaks of isn’t necessarily so. By doing so, Elliot is able to create a work that evokes feelings in the readers instead of having piecework chunks of the poem that don’t flow together. Throughout the poem, we also notice when and where Elliot chooses to use the “ands”. Towards the beginning, where Prufrock seems more desperate and afraid of the choices he has to make, we see an increase in the number of “ands” being used. For example, in the line about the eternal Footman and the consequent line about him being afraid, there are three “ands” present. The more Prufrock questions his self-worth, the more “ands” he seems to use. Whenever he asks if something “would have been worth it” or if he “should presume”, he always precedes the question with an “and”, as if he hesitates before asking. In contrast, as the poem draws toward an end, in the stanza about Prince Hamlet, there’s only one “and” found in the entire nine lines. Prufrock eventually reaches a point where he becomes more confident in what he wants to achieve in life. In one of his only declarations, Prufrock dismisses the idea of being Hamlet, likening himself more with the Fool. As he becomes more aware of he wants to accomplish, we see a lessening in the number of “ands” present, implying that his character is not as hesitant as before. The inclusion of the single “and” in the stanza on Prince Hamlet signifies that while Prufrock might be getting an idea of who he wants to become, he still isn’t completely sure. Habits and ideologies are hard to change; he will always have that cowardly, pathetic, and doubtful side to him. The single “and” is to remind us of this.
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, Elliot intentionally chooses to use his words in way that reveals Prufrock’s insecure and fearful nature without explicitly stating so. His usage of the word “and” is only one example of this. From an insignificant three letter conjunction, Elliot manages to transform “and” into a bridging element of his poem as well as a literary indicator of Prufrock’s character.
(Part 1)
ReplyDeleteWhen we read English as an engineered message, every word has a purpose. In T.S Eliot’s perspective, these words in a poem should be condensed into an object correlative to impart the reader with a specific emotion. For example, in his poem, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, a unknown Virgil character leads us into the life of J. Alfred Prufrock. Prufrock is a man who struggles to express self-determination in his life; and this struggle has grown to a monsterous weight that pushes him into an inability to have meaningful relationships in his life. He is reduced to a man that worries how he will look when eating a peach, or if women are noticing his bald spot. Eliot weaves words together to form the image of (the painfully relatable as well) Prufrock. Focusing in on the word “coffee”, the reader can realize more about the man, Prufrock.
Transitioning from the previous stanza revolving around the passage of time, Eliot mentions coffee in the eighth stanza. He writes, “For I have known them all already, known them all:/ Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,/ I have measured out my life with coffee spoons; …”
First, this reference to coffee is significant because it highlights the mundanity of his life, and the resulting restlessness he feels.Prufrock comments how his life is measured by coffee spoons. Coffee is a common way to start a daily routine, and Prufrock is unsatisfied with his routine. He is a man who resents his lifestyle, and feels weighed down by its drudgery. The idea of a daily routine means that the same motion is done at the same time everyday. This alarms Prufrock, as evidenced by his repetition of “known them all”. This accent on “known them all” conjures the image of a man who frustrated. The repetition is a reflection of the daily routine he faces. He sees himself as a Sisyphus, forced to the same ceaseless task for life. Ye the difference is, Prufrock is not repeating this for eternity. He has a finite number of days, and yet he feels he is wasting it by performing the same unchallenging tasks everyday. To most readers, making coffee is not a particularly onerous chore, and this emphasizes how frustrated Prufrock is. A simple action is a reminder of how his days are passing, as marked by the spoon he uses everyday.
(Part 2)
ReplyDeleteAs stated above, this image of coffee comes after a stanza about time passing Prufrock by. Placing coffee after that shows how Prufrock is so focused on the fear of wasting time. As he measures his life by coffee spoons, he lacks anything more significant in his daily life. In addition, if the implication that he measures his life before his day even starts as coffee is typically a drink for mornings. Another image can be derived if the previous line, “Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons.” Notably, the times of the day are not in chronological order. Prufrock could be have an irregular schedule and drinks coffee at different times in his day. Drinking coffee at irregular times could show how he has a cup in the evening, which is strange when coffee inhibits sleep. Prufrock could be reliant on this artificial rush of energy to force more into his day. He fears wasting time, and despite the unhealthy lack of sleep, he could be pushing himself to the dangerous extreme. It paints a picture of a man who is tired. Eliot communicates to the reader how Prufrock is tired of fearing the passage of time through the order of the poem.
Also, coffee is a drink often consumed with others, but it seems unlikely that he is having coffee with friends. Prufrock notes how he hears the voices from a distant room. This image combined with his detail of coffee contributes to a relatable experience. Many have a memory of sitting alone while feeling isolated from the conversation. Eliot’s inclusion of coffee hints at Prufrock’s inability to connect with others.
Coffee at its core is simply a drink. However, Eliot manipulates “coffee” to contribute to the characterization of Prufrock as a man who is anxious of the passage of time and struggles to have meaningful relationships with others. Coffee is a routine, a sleep inhibitor, and a social event. “Coffee” is not just coffee to Prufrock. It represents his internal doubts and is a symbol he resents.
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/English-Coffeehouses-Penny-Universities/
PART 1:
ReplyDeleteWriting is a precarious art. It’s a balance spanning infinitesimal interpretations, a juggling act of that requires precise mastery of language and a keen eye to detail. Because words have power. Their connotations add shades of depth to a mere few letters, and the meanings derived from them can lead to offense or enlightenment, or anything in between. But the uncertainty of words, and the myriad of combinations that can be created, are what make them beautiful. Each individual word has great power. And T.S. Eliot harnesses this power in each line of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”; the usage of the word “pin” here is a prime example of the complex feelings that single words are able to evoke in readers’ minds.
One of the most important parts of his usage of the word “pin” in this poem is how its meaning explicitly changes through the poem. The first time it’s mentioned, Prufrock references it as a simple unit that sets off his “rich and modest” necktie. It’s essentially what keeps his dignity in place, what keeps up his appearances and makes his relatively mundane mien unique (or at least in his opinion). It’s such a simple article, but it holds up his conception of the world, or rather the conception that he believes others have of him. The pin seems to be holding up his last vestiges of dignity and honor, and keeping up the external façade that he puts up to the rest of the world. It’s interesting that he says the pin is “asserting” his outfit, as if it’s the only thing that asserts his sense of confidence, and the only thing keeping his apparently fragile masculinity in place. The word pin, when used in the context of holding up a suit, insinuates that though it is unstable, a false image has been built up around him, showing that perhaps even if he personally does not believe in himself, at least he can pretend to externally. Two stanzas later, however, the meaning of the word “pin” shifts. Now, rather than hold up his image, the pin has seemingly betrayed him and is now holding him up against a wall. In classic Prufrock fashion, he blames the pin for holding him up, always shifting responsibility to anyone but himself. However, the pin is holding him up because of his own insecurities and his fatal inability to connect, thus making it his fault. The pin’s role here can even be likened to that of the suit pin; both are confining him to external observation – he realizes that what’s keeping him trapped is the same thing that he believes will make his life easier. His care in his appearance, shown through his suit pin, is the thing that is putting him in the limelight; it does nothing but accentuate his insecurities. It’s interesting how he says that he is on the pin when he is “formulated,” as if the haphazard plan for his life and his presentation of himself has come crashing down. With this usage, which essentially compares Prufrock to something like a bug, “wriggling on the wall,” Prufrock seems hapless and pathetic. It’s a clear sign that all his efforts at building up a public image were in vain. Between these two stanzas, the actual meaning of “pin” very widely shifts, and the underlying connotations with each meaning obviously do too, which in turn influence the way Prufrock is characterized.
PART 2:
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the in-text usage of “pin,” it’s interesting to see how many different associations can be made with the word. One such association is that of a grenade pin, which is especially interesting considering how he is a young male during the World War One era … and yet is sitting at home commiserating about his life. Clearly, his already fragile masculinity must be suffering from that lack of combat action. What’s more interesting, however, is what a grenade pin stands for. It stands for something bottling up an explosion, something which, when removed, allows for the contents of the grenade to expose themselves and explode. In a Prufrock sense, it’s once again this pin that is bottling up his inner characteristics, and preventing him from “exploding” (aka interacting with the world). The pin, if removed, would release him from his prison of social confinement, as it stands for something akin to a trap which keeps him oppressed by his own discomfort at the way the world perceives him. The removal of that pin, however, would serve as a catalyst of sorts that would release his true self into the world with inhibitions. Alas, he is bounded by his own insecurities. Another interesting interpretation of the word pin is that of a hairpin, which is apt considering how much time Prufrock spends contemplating his hair (or rather, the lack thereof). I’d imagine Prufrock to have a comb-over, and what better way to hold those few luscious locks in place than through a hairpin? Used metaphorically, of course, a hairpin insinuates that Prufrock has an unhealthy emphasis placed on external things in his life, and that he relies on/blames things out of his own control rather than conduct introspection.
“US.” Two letters stringed together to hide the fractures in our nation’s democratic foundation. “Us.” The title of Jordan Peele’s upcoming horror project, the movie that inspired me to choose this word. “Us.” A word that tells of a story of you and me, of romance and of brotherhood. There will never be an “us” for Mr. Prufrock, the lonely, shallow, self-centered and lustful subject of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot. Not truly.
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, Eliot takes the reader inside the mind of a man who struggles immensely to connect with women. While Prufrock may not have been blessed with the artistic talent of Michelangelo or the genes of Pierce Brosnan, we as readers can hardly sympathize with him. His failure to forge meaningful romantic relationships should be attributed most heavily to his inability to see beyond himself. Much of the poem consists of him pondering how his actions will influence others’ perception of him rather than how his actions will impact others – everything he does is self-serving. He fails to realize that what matters most in a relationship is that deep, intangible connection that the flesh cannot feel and the mind cannot grasp. Eliot uses the idea of “us” as an objective correlative to demonstrate the emptiness of this man’s perspective and to evoke responses replete with disgust and pity towards Prufrock.
Throughout the poem, we see Prufrock repeatedly trying (and failing) to create an “us” with a woman he has taken on a date. His attention inevitably turns back to himself, whether it’s to his bald spot or his dress, or to the fact that J. Alfred Prufrock might actually love somebody. A healthy relationship should consist of (relatively) equal halves. The proportions may fluctuate, but the gravitational center should remain steady. Prufrock fails to grasp this concept throughout the poem. He cannot let go of the past. He cannot let go of people’s judgements of him. And as a result, he cannot move forward with his life. He cannot break out of the endless cycle of self-deprecation and judgement that his past failures have guided him into. He cannot create an “us” because he has too much ego and fear bottled up in him to let another human occupy more than twenty percent of his universe, which previously consisted of him him only.
Prufrock begins the poem with the words “let us go.” Then, for a stretch, he mentions only either “I” or “you and me” in the context of being with a woman on a date. It is almost as if he only used the pretense of “us” to bait the woman into the date. Once they are dating, his world shrinks once again. This time, it is just Prufrock with the woman. Just “you and me.” But not “us,” because he only wants to superficially impress her and take her to bed. Women demand respect. Women deserve respect. Prufrock does not give them even that. He “[squeezes] the universe into a ball” and “[rolls] it toward some overwhelming question,” which clearly shows where his priorities lie. His ideal relationship consists of him in between the bedsheets of a one-night cheap hotel with a hot Italian prostitute for one night. Of course there won’t be an “us.” Why would there be? Why would a woman want to engage in a relationship with a man who sees so much in himself but so little in others? Why would a woman ever be attracted to a man who refuses to make her well-being her priority and only cares about how she feels about him on a superficial level? Why would a woman ever love a man who is paralyzed by a fear of judgement? When love is deservingly unrequited, there can never be an “us.” Additionally, when one focuses so much on the superficial, he loses sight of what actually matters to him. He wants so badly to bed a woman that he has set his morals aside entirely (if he had any to begin with, that is).
Perhaps the most jarring example of Prufrock’s self-centeredness and superficiality of character comes in the last two stanzas, when he alludes to the Sirens (from Greek mythology). After much “talk of you and me” and exploration of Prufrock himself, he finally uses the word “us” again. But this time, it carries a more chilling connotation. He speaks about “us” while he speaks about the Sirens, which are mythical (and supernatural) beings. His shallow view on life has ultimately frustrated him to the point where his own essence is turning on itself. His whole person is fracturing (like a schizophrenic). One part of him might want to die, while another wants to live in hopes that one day he might find a woman that will bed him for all eternity. Due to his inability to see past the surface, he has no way of resolving this inner conflict. His “I” has broken – perhaps for good.
ReplyDeleteIn the worst sense, Prufrock did succeed in creating an “us.” Not with a woman, of course, but within himself. An “us” that exists within one physical entity is bound to cause its host great pain by being unproductively disruptive. Despite all of Prufrock’s revolting tendencies, I pity him. “Us” as an objective correlative works perfectly within the context of this poem. Prufrock, with his bald spot in all its glory, never comes close to achieving what he should aim to achieve. He is utterly lost, striving for what he believes is glory but is really damnation. Best of luck to you, J. Alfred. May God help you find your path.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” encompasses a vast variety of diction that ultimately characterize Prufrock’s insecure and fearful persona. Eliot’s word choice is very selective in that it reveals every little detail about how Prufrock believes he is viewed by the world around him. The word “we” only appears twice in the work, but the use of it greatly contrasts with the rest of the poem and includes the reader into Prufrock’s hopeless ramblings about life.
ReplyDeletePrufrock spends almost the entire poem speaking in singular first-person, using the word “I” to describe the intense self-consciousness he feels with everything he does. It is only in the first and last stanzas that he references the reader, beginning with “you and I” and ending with “we”. The phrase “Let us go” is also used several times throughout the work. It is established that Prufrock is not just speaking aloud to himself; he is sharing all of his most intimate thoughts and feelings to an audience. He is seeking personal connections as the reader is invited on a trek through his tortured, lonely mind. Because Prufrock can not develop real relationships, he uses the words “we” and “you” in order to evoke a sense of intimacy between him and the reader. He wants someone to understand and listen to him, as he starts and ends his thoughts speaking to the audience. Despite the use of such inclusive words, the word “I” is most commonly used instead. “I” implies that this is Prufrock’s unique thought and that the questions he has are ones that he feels he is alone is asking. He is venting his feelings to the reader in similar fashion to the way friends do to one another. Prufrock is looking for the reader to empathize with him; to understand the anxiety-ridden qualities of living everyday life.
Prufrock ends his conversation with the reader with metaphorical references to mermaids and the ocean. “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea” and “Till human voices wake us and we drown” make a generalized statement about “we” as a group of people. Plagued by constant fear and anxiety, this has caused Prufrock to spend much of his life waiting around and doing nothing but obsess over his problems. While he tries to reassure himself that there is much time to resolve everything, he also knows that time is limited and he might not be able to fulfill the life he wants. “We” means “we” as humans; People have so many desires and goals that are never accomplished because something is holding them back. Although his amount of worry and distress are extreme and abnormal, Prufrock knows he is not alone in his encounters with insecurity. The last stanza stands as a testament to this, as Prufrock reminds us that unfulfilled dreams are something that “we”, as human beings, are all plagued with at one point or another.
Despite “we” only being used twice in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, this word serves as evidence for characterizing Prufrock’s lonely and tortured soul. “We” taught the reader about the character’s desire for a companion and his eagerness to allow an audience into his indecisive mind. It made statements about the human relationship with fear and questioned the way the limited time on Earth should be lived before death. In Prufrock’s ending, he is still not confident with himself and completely unsatistifed with the way he lived his life, but his inclusion of “we” prompts the audience to examine the way they let doubt trump their aspirations and pushes them to act upon it before they “drown”.
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ReplyDeleteObtuse. To some, the word is a vague memory from geometry class; to others, it is an insult meaning dull. To botanists, it is used to describe a round leaf; and to other people, it is something else. In T.S. Eliot’s 1915 poem “The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock,” Eliot has the narrator Prufrock describe himself as “full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse.” Obtuse has numerous definitions, but perhaps the two most common uses of the word are as an insult and as a mathematical term; given these two meanings, Prufrock’s use of the word enriches readers’ overall understanding of him as a man whose self-doubt and insecurity lead to inaction, but also a man who is painstakingly meticulous and perhaps more intelligent than one might think at a preliminary glance. The word provides an objective correlative in that it leaves readers with a feeling of sympathy; the duality of the word “obtuse” highlights the duality of Prufrock as a person and the inner turmoil he experiences.
With obtuse as an insult, there is still a large subset of meanings the word can take on. It can mean fat, lazy, boring, dull, or dimwitted (or all of the above). Given that Prufrock is an extremely self-deprecating man, he likely intends for the word to take on all these meanings. It is possible that he is describing himself as overweight. He cares greatly about his physical appearance, as evidenced by his obsessing over his bald spot, so it would come as no surprise if he were to care about his waistline too. A similar sore spot for J. Alfred is his self-determined lack of culture. He sees women “talking of Michelangelo,” but he doesn’t engage with them because he feels that he is not worthy of the conversation. Perhaps he is “full of high sentence,” but he is still at the heart “a bit obtuse.” Obtuse, in this sense, connotes that Prufrock is boring, dull, and dimwitted. Lastly, obtuse meaning lazy implies that J. Alfred is unable to act; he is paralyzed by his fear of judgment and watches the world go by. In his eyes, this is classified as laziness. The word obtuse, with its multiple connotations as an insult, reaffirms and strengthens readers’ understanding of J. Alfred Prufrock as a man whose insecurities lead him to sit idly.
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ReplyDeleteObtuse is also a mathematical term used to describe an angle that is greater than ninety degrees. Within the context of the poem, obtuse is clearly meant to be an insult, but its alternative definition begs the question of why Prufrock would choose to this particular word. Wouldn’t describing himself as dimwitted have the same effect? Or imbecilic? Or even just plain stupid? There is a multitude of options for self-deprecating diction, but “obtuse” is the word that J. Alfred ultimately chooses. Obtuse is a very technical term that is used in proofs and other such mathematical endeavors. This nature of the word reveals that J. Alfred Prufrock is a very calculated man. This can be evidenced by earlier lines in the poem, such as how he has measured his life in coffee spoons; however, in this case, it is more about the physical selection of the word “obtuse” rather than the mathematical undertones it connotes within the poem. Though he may think of himself as this a bit dull and dimwitted, the fact that he chooses the word “obtuse” to achieve this insult contradicts this self-characterization. It is a methodical, clever, and subtle choice. It is not a choice that a dimwit would make. The secondary, mathematical meaning of the word obtuse contributes to readers’ overall understanding of J. Alfred Prufrock as a painstakingly meticulous man.
Hence, the dual meaning behind the word obtuse helps to characterize Prufrock as both a man whose self-doubt leads to inaction and a punctilious man who is perhaps smarter and sharper than he believes or than meets the eye. These two traits flirt with one another, but for the most part, they are very different; their differences illustrate the inner turmoil that Prufrock himself experiences. He uses an intelligent, very technical word to describe himself as unintelligent and dull. The word obtuse is multifaceted, as is he. The illumination of J. Alfred Prufrock’s duality results in a feeling of sympathy from the reader. It is as if he is fighting this internal battle of wanting to be himself, but also wanting to be accepted by conforming to societal standards.
T.S. Elliot's Prufrock uses the word Prince twice throughout the poem. Both times in close proximity to Hamlet. It is well established throughout the poem that Prufrock finds a great similarity between themselves. Prufrock shows that his references to Hamlet are not in passing, and upon further inspection of the poem; one can observe that Prufrock thinks he is Hamlet. Both share woes about their legacies. Both feel as if they are cheated by the people around them: Prufrock by the women that come and go speaking of Michelangelo, and Hamlet by the common folk. It is easy for Hamlet to think that his name will go undying in the tales of his times just because he is a Prince; However, he fails to understand that his legacy comes from what is done in his life. What purpose did he serve to those around him? This is a question that Prufrock cannot bear. Prufrock loses his grip on life with every passing comment about Michelangelo from women whisking themselves about and chattering along indifferently. In this way, the usage of prince shows Prufrock's sense of entitlement to popularity and significance although he deserves neither.
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