out of nowhere, in a kind of scattershot approach. Occasionally the imagery, as Eliot's friend the critic F. R. Leavis noted, is somewhat "conventional":

The yellow fog that runs its back upon the windowpanes,
The yellow smoke that runs its muzzle on the windowpanes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening.

This personification of smoke and fog is like a kind of background sound, not jarring in the way Eliot's more interesting phraseology is, yet still disturbing. But even here, there is a curious distancing from what we would consider the more realistic imagery of pre-twentieth-century poetry. The texture of the verse is soothing in some way but carries with it a suggestion of subversiveness and confusion. The very opening of "Prufrock," the first reference to "evening",

Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky.

really doesn't make literal sense, even as a figure of speech, if one thinks about it. The idea of an "evening" being "spread out" against a physical dimension of the environment is an oddity, at least. The effect is to create a soft blur, a meta-world of half-meanings and hypnotic musical patterns and then to jump out at the reader with an inappropriate (by previous poetic standards) figure of speech such as:

I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.

Prufrock is the proverbial but somehow revolutionary "little man." His entire existence is a kind of figure of speech, an emblem of the impersonality and emptiness of the modern age. He compares himself to a crab:

I should have been a pair of ragged claws.

Altogether the poem is a picture of self-effacement, with diction that is somehow ultra-poetic even as it seeks to debunk the normally affective tone of traditional poetry by using figures such as "patients etherized," "coffee spoon," and half-nonsensical assertions like:

In the room the women come and go,
Talking of Michelangelo.

"Prufrock" the poem, like Prufrock the character, is a kind of self-contradiction: a mirror of the modern age with its advancement and its sterility and meaninglessness. The figures of speech and the imagery throughout the work are focal points of this contradictory and ambiguous themes that set the tone for much of the modernist wave in literature.

Figures of speech include words and phrases that have figurative, as well as literal, meaning. They include similes and metaphors, which are typically identified with the words "like" and "as," respectively. So in Prufrock, any comparison that uses like or as is a figure of speech. One of the most famous examples is in the opening line:

When the evening is spread out against the sky

Like a patient etherized upon a table;

Another type of figure of speech is personification—speaking of an animal or object or idea as if it were a person. See the sections on "yellow fog" and the "peacefully sleeping" afternoon, and the line about the "eternal footman." Still another figure of speech is a rhetorical question. This is a question used for dramatic effect, in which no answer is expected. Look for the question marks in Prufrock. Are the questions intended to be answered?

Hyperbole is still another figure of speech. Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration, such as, "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." At one point in Prufrock, the speaker writes, "I have measured out my life in coffee spoons." Could that be hyperbole? Can you find other examples?

Yet another figure of speech employed liberally in Prufock is called synecdoche, which is the use of part of something to imply the whole. Check out the consecutive stanzas that begin, "I have known the eyes already" and "I have known the arms already."

Metonymy is figure of speech that involves invoking the name of one thing for another thing that's closely related. What does the poet mean when he writes, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be"?

The speaker uses similes to compare the "evening . . . spread out against the sky" to "a patient etherized upon a table" and to depict "Streets that follow like a tedious argument / Of insidious intent." Similes compare two unalike things using the words like or as.

The speaker uses a metaphor to compare the "yellow fog" to a kind of animal that might rub "its back upon the window-panes," rub "its muzzle on the window-panes," or lick "its tongue into the corners of the evening." This animal (the fog) "fall[s] upon its back" and makes a "sudden leap," then curls "around the house" and falls "asleep." A metaphor is a comparison of two unalike things where one thing is said to be another.

The speaker says that "there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet," and he seems to be describing figurative masks that each person wears: another metaphor. The speaker uses a further metaphor to compare his life to something one might measure "with coffee spoons," as though his life is as mundane and ordinary as grains of sugar. Another metaphor compares the speaker to a bug that has been captured and catalogued; he describes being "pinned and wriggling on the wall" like such a specimen.

He also says, "And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!" personifying the night: giving it human attributes like being able to sleep. He refers to death as "the eternal Footman," another metaphor. He uses an allusion—a reference to another text or person—when he refers to "Prince Hamlet." Another metaphor compares the tops of the waves to "white hair."

Some figures of speech in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" include the following:

Simile: Simile compares two items using like or as. In the opening lines of the poem, the narrator likens the sky to "a patient etherized upon a table."

Repetition: Eliot uses repetition to emphasize the monotony of the endless tea parties Prufrock attends. He repeats these lines several times:

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

When looking for figurative language in any work of literature, the goal is to seek linguistic examples that  "imply a non-literal meaning which does make sense or that could be true."  Given how Eliot develops "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," there are many different example of figurative language throughout the text.  One can find examples of comparative language and imagery based language that represents a "non- literal meaning" that serve to represent truth.

One of the earliest examples of figurative language is seen in line 3 of the poem, not counting the epigraph. "Like a patient etherized upon a table" represents the opening invitation the speaker offers.  In undertaking a voyage, the exposition of which includes looking at the evening "spread out across the sky," the simile employed conveys a sense of helplessness.  There is a lack of agency evident in this use of language.  This is not the triumphant march of one who appropriates the world in successful vision.  Rather, Prufrock has invited the reader into his own world.  It is a world where there is pain, insecurity, and doubt.  The imagery Eliot uses to enhance his initial simile reflects this.  It is a world of "half- deserted streets," "muttering retreats," and "sleepless nights."  The only way slumber is established is through the ether. Eliot has transformed the Dante vision of Virgil leading us with confidence and self- assuredness about our own being in the world. Rather, this invitation is one to see the world as it is, an oppressive force that does not allow one to forget that they are simply a smaller part in its larger configuration.  It is a world in which one is no different than a "patient etherized upon the table." The procedure that is about to be preformed is a painful one, reflective of the need for sedation for the deep cuts and brutal incisions about to be made.  The non- literal meaning of language is effective in being able to establish the paradigm that Eliot and Prufrock want us to embrace.

Later on, the initial image of the modern city is supported with another use of figurative language.  The construction of streets that "that follow like a tedious argument" is important.  Eliot suggests that the architecture of the city, of the world, is reflective of the pain intrinsic to living in it.  There is no direct sense of guidance and finding answers. Rather, consciousness consists of traveling down streets that are composed "like a tedious argument."  They can be akin to the idea of being so technical and precise that they are confusing in their intricacies.  Another way of understanding this simile is to focus on their tedious aspect in how they lack meaning and lack a sense of overall purpose. Either reading substantiates the vision of consciousness that Prufrock invites the reader to explore through language that is not entirely literal, but something that does make sense.

One of the most compelling uses of figurative language is in Prufrock's self- assessment of his own life.  Not including the epigraph, line 51 speaks of how Prufrock has "measured out" his life "with coffee spoons."  This is a figurative use of language because life cannot be actually measured out with coffee spoons.  In its figurative use, Prufrock seeks to make a couple of realities clear about his life. The first is his awkwardness and sense of discomfort in being in the world.  The tension involved in social engagements, seeking to blend in with others has only been able to be matched with the excessive cups of coffee he needs to feel comfortable.  At the same time, the larger meaning from this figurative statement is that something so large and expansive as consciousness has been reduced to something so feeble such as measuring out through spoons of coffee.  There is a sense of disenfranchisement revealed in the use of figurative language in which one's life is measured through coffee spoons.  It is not literal because while coffee spoons have been used, Eliot is deliberate in seeking to apply the metaphor to what consciousness in the modern setting looks like.

Eliot uses figurative language to convey how it feels to live in this setting. Prufrock is open about how he feels "trapped" by the gaze of "the other."  In this case, "the other" refers to women and men who judge him, see him as forever on the outside, looking in.  Given how the poem operates as a "love song," this is mostly connective to his experiences with women.  In describing what it actually feels like to be trapped by this gaze from "the other," figurative language is employed:

The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase/ And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,/ Then how should I begin/ To spit out all the butt- ends of my days and ways... 

The exploration of the pain intrinsic to being in the modern setting can be seen in the description of what it feels to be "pinned."  Eliot uses figurative language to describe this experience of being "pinned."  The speaker is not literally "pinned" to any object.  Yet, there is a metaphorical crucifixion that happens in the modern setting when individuals are forced to see themselves through the eyes of "the other."  There is a loss of freedom, a loss of identity, where people are "pinned and wriggling."  The employment of figurative language, personification as a worm, reflects how human endeavor can be reduced to something of animals.  It also is an allusion to death, the worms that help to decompose the body.  An experience to take place after life is something that Prufrock believes actually takes place within it.

These examples can help set the stage for further discovery of figurative language in the poem.  It is not exceedingly difficult to do this.  I would suggest that the basic idea that emerges from the poem is the conveying of helplessness that Prufrock feels.  Virginia Woolf described Modernism as a "shift in human relations."  In this light, Eliot is trying to "shift" how the human being is perceived.  Eliot no longer believes in the Romantic embrace of human endeavor, one where the individual is striving across with a triumphant strut to being in the world.  There is not the cadence of a firm and definite march to this construction of humanity.  Rather, Eliot sees existence as "a pair of ragged claws/ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas (73- 74)."   This figurative employment is how Eliot sees being in the world. It involves shifting the use of language to reflect such a condition.  Once this is established, the abundant examples of figurative language to articulate such a condition can be harvested.  

Five literary devices used in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are rhyme, imagery, personification, simile, and allusion.

Throughout the poem, T. S. Eliot alternates rhymed couplets with single, unrhymed lines. This is evident from the first stanza. The first two lines end with the rhyming “I” and “sky,” and in the last two lines “is it” rhymes with “visit.”

Imagery is the use of any or all of the five senses to create vivid impressions. Eliot primarily uses visual imagery but also frequently incorporates hearing, touch, and taste. In creating these images, the poet sometimes employs other devices, such as simile and personification. A simile is a comparison of unlike things for effect using “like” or “as.” Personification is the attribution of human qualities to animals, objects, or ideas.

Examples of visual and tactile imagery that employ personification and simile are found in stanzas 1 and 3. In the first stanza, Eliot personifies the evening by using a simile, thus creating a visual image.

... the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table

In stanza 3, the image is both visual and tactile, and the fog is personified:

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes

Allusion is a reference to an actual person, a literary character, or a true or fictional event that is indirectly connected to the text. In stanza 2, the allusion to Michelangelo conveys the women’s concern with the Italian Renaissance and the arts more generally.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

In this poem, daily life is a strain and a drag for Prufrock.  He expresses frustration in the daily routines, and in how meaningless it all seems.  Here's a good passage:

"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."

This refers to how tedious and monotonous life is.  One day is exactly like the previous, so it feels like he knows exactly what is going to happen.  The coffee spoons reference is how we go through the exact routine every day (getting coffee in the morning, etc.).  It feels like his entire life is spent living and doing the same things over and over.

Other references to daily life occur when he refers to how there is ample time to analyze and mull over life's meaning "before the taking of toast and tea," and how ridiculous it is that they go about speaking of silly, shallow things ("Michelangelo") at these tea parties, over and over again, when all he wants to do is address real issues, and talk about things that truly matter.  Later, her refers to his days as "butt-ends," a negative description that shows how he feels his days are the useless butt-ends of living, worth only being spit out in disgust.

All of this refers to his weariness of the meaningless routine, and how he wants to get at the heart of matter and to have the courage to speak what he really feels.  I hope that helped; good luck!

The images in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T. S. Eliot relate to nature and modernity.

The first images in “Prufrock” tie together nature and modernity. Eliot says, "The evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table.” Eliot links advances in science with the natural landscape of the world.

Another key image in the poem involves the color yellow. In stanzas 3 and 4, Eliot focuses on “yellow fog” and “yellow smoke.” Using personification, he gives the yellow smoke human traits. It “licked its tongue into the corners of the evening” and is “rubbing its back upon the window-panes.” The images of the yellow fog help produce the poem’s somber and haunted presentation of modern times.

A third image relates to the women. They “come and go / Talking of Michelangelo.” The pace of the women might allude to the speed of modernity. Their impermanence implies that they’re not talking about Michelangelo with much seriousness.

Additional images concern the speaker. The speaker says he “should have been a pair of ragged claws.” Later, he presents an image of his “trousers rolled.” These images reinforce the frazzled tone of the poem and the fragmentation of modernity.

This famous poem is presented as a dramatic monologue, which is a poem in which a character speaks directly to one or more listeners. It is important to be aware of the role that rhyme plays in constructing this poem. Although the poem is written in free verse with irregular line lengths, there is an overall coherence of rhyme which aids the structure.

Many of the lines rhyme, although not all, and certain patterns of rhyme that are present in the poem help to create a central structure. The first stanza for example has a rhyme scheme of A, A, B, D, D, D, D, E, E, F, G, G. The music and rhythm of the poem is thus greatly aided by the loose use of rhyme to create structure. In addition, it is important to note how rhyme is used not just to repeat sounds but also to repeat ideas. The most obvious example of this comes in the third stanza, when "time" is repeated to suggest the way that various ideas and themes appear and re-appear throughout the poem:

There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That life and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of toast and tea.

Here the repetition of the word time is used to establish how indecisive J. Alfred Prufrock is, and how he "murders and creates" different selves and ideas in his endless ruminations on how he is regarded and viewed by others and how he can create a good impression. Thus it is that there is always time for a "hundred indecisions" and "visions and revisions" for a man who lives a life defered that is "measured out... with coffee spoons."

One structural technique that Eliot uses to reinforce the theme that Prufrock is stuck in time is repetition. He repeats the following lines:

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.