The love song of Alfred Prufrock is about a seemingly pessimistic
man. The man is of course Alfred Prufrock. When I was online I found out that “Prufrock”
is actually a subliminal connotation of“prude” and “frock”, which describes our shy classy character. He goes on and describes his location as foggy
and yellow. The fog rubs against a window where well dressed women are talking
about the artist Michaelangelo. I think the fog is prufrock, the fog is unable
to enter the room filled with women, just like he is unable to talk to them
because of his type of personality. He also tells us that he is very experienced,
that he has been through it all.
“For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 50
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I
presume?
But his experiences doesn't help with building his confidence.Through
the eyes of Prufrock, we get a very vivid description on what he feels and see
in his life. He states that he should just have been a crab, which probably describes
how unimportant he is compared to the rest of the world.
Prufrock seems to be going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. Struck with the temptations of youth, he begins by pondering a life of promiscuity; "of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels." He then worries about how others would see him in his age and whether or not he is still capable of appealing to women anymore. Yet, despite his pitiful self-esteem he reminisces upon his prior endeavors and perhaps some faith is restored. He arrives for tea with the woman in question, and expresses his fears to her. I cannot assume that he provoked the desired outcome, as one of his last thoughts are: "I do not think that they will sing to me."
ReplyDeleteFor some reason my computer is not letting me post a blog at all, so I'm posting on here just to show I posted at least:
ReplyDeleteThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a very interesting, yet very confusing work. It is very hard to keep up with because it's almost as if the narrorator is reading into another person's every thought. The start of the story begins with a very light and chipper setting, but quickly leads to a dark and ominous outlook. To me, this is not much unlike our very own thoughts; all it takes is one strange sight, or outside stimulus to flip your thought process from a light, happy setting to a dark and angry, and/or, sad way of thinking. There is a great sense of imagery in the story as the narrator describes the detail of the murky yellow smoke, the small brown hairs on the woman's arms, and just the dark nature of the neighborhood in general. I almost feel as if this is describing the way someone with OCD; the way that they jump from one thing to another and completely over analyze each thing. There was something said about this being one person describing the way hell is to another, but in the same case, couldn't the inner thoughts of someone with some type of mental disorder be their own internal hell?
That is cool how you looked up the name and what it means. I think you are right on that this poem is just about a guy who sits back in pity of himself just wishing he could make something or do something better with his life. It seems as though something from his past could be holding him back as to why he is the way he is. Maybe it was a family tragedy or a heartbreak, since the story is about love. However i think that he sees the world differently than most people he encounters leaving him in a place of loneliness, almost purposeless with being alive... if he only knew what he was created for.
ReplyDelete