The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Magill Book Reviews)

The reader accompanies J. Alfred Prufrock as he tries to resolve his emotional conflicts, to make a serious proposal to a woman, and to become reconciled with his approaching old age. The monologue takes the form of a mental rehearsal of the evening’s excursion through a city’s streets, his arrival at the woman’s apartment, the small talk, the meal, to its climax in his proposal, and contemplation of its possible rejection.

As he reflects on these prospects, Prufrock constantly compares himself with negative aspects of the city or contrasts his ambivalence with the moral courage of various cultural heroes. His own lack of resolve is like the languid fog, the cultivated boredom of ordinary, passive citizens. Ironically, his education has only served to heighten his sense of failure: He is so different from figures such as Hamlet and John the Baptist.

His self-consciousness is conveyed in surprisingly, deliberately “unpoetic” images: He imagines himself being examined--and criticized--by sophisticated acquaintances, and so he takes refuge in thinking of himself as a solitary crab or a lonely beachcomber. Like Polonius in HAMLET, he is always near the action, never part of it; and he fears the risk of commitment, for like the imaginary pursuer of mermaids, he might for his efforts lose the half-life he has. So he continues to procrastinate.

The combination of psychological realism, free association, ordinary speech, sharp irony, anticlimax, and symbolism, and the juxtaposition of secular and religious allusions are all characteristic of Eliot’s verse, and indeed of much modern poetry. For these reasons, as well as for its clarity and pathos, this work is one of the most influential of the 20th century.

Suggested Readings

Ackroyd, Peter. T. S. Eliot: A Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

Bush, Ronald. T. S. Eliot: A Study in Character and Style. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.

Kenner, Hugh. The Invisible Poet. New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1959.

Wagner, Linda W. T. S. Eliot: A Collection of Criticism. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974.