Chapter - 14
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

- Thomas Stearns Eliot

Introduction of the Poem

It was first published in 1915. It has revolutionary theme and technique that took the literary world by surprise when the poem appeared in 1915 in an issue of Poetry. It is a typical of the innovations which Eliot brought in the technique of poetry. It is anti-romantic in its conception. It was metropolitan imagery with great success and provides a striking example of Eliot's use of free verse. It is a highly suggestive imagery, the use of the interpretative metaphor, the extreme sensitivity of the subtle conversational tone, the delicate irony, the use of self mockery as an emotional counterpoise, the air of seemingly cruel detachment and the extraordinarily ambitious plan is conveying through the poem.

In this poem Prufrock asks his divided self to accompany him in the evening through the semi-deserted streets full of cheep hotels and resturants. He wished to have a sight of the place where people discuss things and they are not able to realize it necessary to know the name of Prufrock and difficult word. Then he took a decision to visit the gallery filled with artistic design. It is getting evening and the fog started falling, sn.oke is another to come out of the chimneys covering different objects. There is another thing to be noticed that modern society is involved in hypocrisy. It can not take any decisions. Prufrock was also unable to take any firm decision in his youth. That is why . he had to suffer a lot.

He has much disturbed due to his physical ugliness, his dress and the generation-gap prevent him from taking any decision regarding his beloved. He has a keen desire to tell the people his experiences of life. Because the people are passing through spiritual crisis. But he is unsuccessful to do that. He wants to be a man of firm-determination so that he may be noticed by the people. Prufrock is very much known to his beloved but he is not able to manage the courage to tell his feeling to her. He loves her very much. He wants to open his heart to his beloved but he lacks confidence. He is afraid of rebuff by her. He wants to go on the sea shore where he wishes to hear the mermaids singing.

The poem is remarkable for having the some foremost points-

(i) Prufrock wants to tell the people his experiences of life and world. But he fails to do so. He is familiar with his beloved but he cannot gather courage to let her know his feelings.

(ii) Prufrock wants to open his heart to his beloved but he lacks confidence. He is an ordinary man with common weakness.

This poem expresses a-future theme of Alfred by his song. Through his song he wants to be a man effected juncture and he wants to be a man of whole country. He would like to go where the people may be benefited by his experiences of life. He wants to tell truth of world to the society that has been hypocritic. The society cannot take any decision and he wants to make society able to take the decision. He loved his beloved very much and he would like to tell his feeling but he was unable to do that at last he wishes to go on sea- shore so that he may be able to hear the mermaids singing.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' by T.S. Eliot has been described as a dramatic monlogue because it is an attempt at self. expression by a sentimental middle aged gentleman over the teacups. It is dramatic in the sense that it shows us the personality of Prufrock and not of the poet. The poem is concerned with the self- revlation of Prufrock who is a neurotic person. He is going to sophisticated party, apparently a ladies occasion of a cultural kind. Here Prufrock finds himself boring and physically unattractive. He twice refers to his balding head describes his plain, middle aged clothing, and draws us into his point of view of the social world. Prufrock organizes over his social actions, worrying over how others will see him. He thinks about woman's arms and perfumes, but does not know how to act. He walks trought the streets and watches lonely men leaning out their windows. The day passes at a social engangement but he can not muster the strength to act, and he admits that he is afraid.

Substance of the Poem

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is one of the first remarkable poems of the city man and is also the first notable poem of T.S. Eliot. Eliot presents the despair and passivity of a middle-aged man, Alfred J. Prufrock.

He is in love, but his love song is never sung. He meditates too much and his cowardice is his Achilles heel. He is haunted by problem whether he should reveal his love to the lady and he is undone. The poem is typically not of the 20th century but, of all ages. It deals with the emotional frustration anc despair, hollowness of human beings living at any period in history.

This poem is an investigation of the disturbed consciousness of the typical modern man who is overeducated, powerful, anxious and emotionally artificial. He becomes conscious of his growing age and unkempt clothing. He rarely thinks of himself and can not enjoy even a peach. He does not have the courage to do anything in life except thinking and thinking. At the end of the poem, he hears the mermaids singing for each other and he surely knows they won't sing to him.

हिन्दी सारांश

द लव सॉंग ऑफ जे. अल्फ्रेड प्रूफ्रोक एक सबसे अच्छी और यादगार सिटीमेन की कविता है। कवि टी. एस. इलियट इस कविता के माध्यम से जे. अल्फ्रेड प्रफ्रोक आदमी की निराशा और सहनशीलता की वर्णन करता है । कवि कहता है कि वह प्रेम में है, लेकिन अपने प्रेम को व्यक्त करने के लिये प्रेमगीत नहीं गा सकता है। वह ध्यान करता है लेकिन उसकी कमजोरी उसकी कायरता है। वह अपनी समस्याओं से घिरा हुआ है फिर भी अपने प्रेम को प्रेमिका के लिये व्यक्त करता है और उसका प्रेम भी अपूर्ण है। ये कविता बीसवीं शताब्दी के मनुष्य के दुःख, अवसाद, निराशा, खोखलेपन और उसके समय काल को व्यक्त करती है।

ये कविता आधुनिक अशिक्षित मनुष्य के अंशात चेतना के बारे में अभिव्यक्ति को व्यक्त करती है जो कि जरूरत से ज्यादा पढ़ा-लिखा (शिक्षित) ताकतवर, चिंतित और दिखावटी है। वह केवल अपने मैले कपड़े और बढ़ती उम्र के लिये चिंतित है। वह अपने लिये शायद ही कभी सोचता हो और सुन्दर स्त्री का आनंद ले सके। वह सिवाय सोचने के और अधिक सोचने के अलावा कोई अन्य कार्य नहीं कर सकता है क्योंकि उसके अंदर अब कोई साहस ही नहीं रहा । कविता के अन्त में वह मत्स्यांगना के गाने को एक- दूसरे के लिये सुनता है और ये निश्चित है कि वे इसके लिये नहीं गा रही है।

Life and Works

Life - T.S. Eliot has been acclaimed as the greatest English poet of the 20th century. He is the most dominant figure of the twentieth century. He was born in the city of St. Louis in Missoruie in America on 26th Sep, 1888. His father was a well-known brick-klin owner of Missourie. His mother was a woman of literary taste. He received his early education in a school in St. Louis. He was admitted to Harvard University in 1906. He studied classical literature along with English, German and French literature. After graduating from Harvard in 1910 he went to Sorbonne in Paris where he remained for a year and returned Harvard for the study of philosophy including Indian philosophy and religion.

In 1914 T. S. Eliot went to Germany for higher studies from where he shifted to Oxford. Because of financial difficulties he had to take up a job in a school, near London even when he was busy on his Ph.D. Thesis in philosophy. While in London he came in contact with a number of well known writers which helped him in developing his literary taste. After his mariage with Miss Vivienne Haigh Wood, Eliot took up his residence in London. In 1917 he gave up his teaching job and got employment as a clerk in Loyds Bank. This was also the period when Eliot's literary activities were intensified,

In 1925 T. S. Eliot joined the firm of Faber and Faber, publishers and remained one of its directors till his death. In 1927 he adopted British citizenship and also embraced Anglo catholic religion. He declared himself an Anglo-catholic in' religion, a classicist in literature and royalist in politics. He had by now established his reputation as a world literary figure and during the last phase of his life he was an unrivalled master in the fields of poetry, drama and criticism. He died in London on 4th January 1965.

Poetical works The first great work of Eliot was Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Eliot presents here "The nervous tension and supressed hysteria of this world of frustrated, rudderless, cultured, well, to do people. 'The poems' exhibit the same mood. In 'Waste Land' Eliot attempted to create a sense of the sordidness and De vulgarity, the moral debility, and spiritual disillusionment about modern life. The resurrection of Eliot's faith is best represented in Four Quartect's appearing separately under Burnt Norston, East Coker', "The Dry Salvager'. His poems are given below as -
1. Prufrock- 1911,
2. The Waste Land - 1922
3. The Hollow Man 1925
4. Ash Wednesday
5. Burnt Norton
6. Little Gidding
7. Coriolon
8. The Cultivation of Chrismas Tree - 1954.

Eliot as a Poet

Eliot has been considered the greatest English poet of the 20th century. His poetry is characterised by private allusions, the use of symbols, wide Learning and concise expressions. In his earlier poetry he voices the frustration, the disenchantment and the utter hollowness of the generation which faced the first world war from the point of view of technique, he was the nost original of poets employing an interactive rhythm that world and he used words and images that evoke the incipient horror of a crumbling civilization. In his later poetry he turned to the consolations of religion. He

English/123 was influenced in some degree by Hinduism. He made bold experiments in verse forms and in the diction and imagery of poetry. He is a poet of intellect rather than of emotion. His style is severely plain and intellectual. There is a certain coldness in him but his coldness in matched by the richness of context in his poetry.

Eliot is a modern poet. Poetry takes a new birth in his hands. He avoids in his poetry passion and excitement. He attempts in his poetry an integration of the inner and outer world in a new way. In his hands poetry entered new depths of life making a headway for a fuller understanding of the eternal values of life in the changing world. Eliot's poetry contains philosophy, religion and variety of life. He is moved to write poetry partly by a desire to show an evidence of both decadence of Europe and the necessity of a superior truth. He is difficult poet to understand and his poetry loaded with the weight of his stupendous learning and stubtle allusiveness baffles and average well informed reader.

The poetry of Eliot has many original qualities. He has welded images and symbols together with the result that the two have become one. All his poems contains beautiful images. While seeking to appeal to emotions is of an intellectual character. It is written with deliberation and is not the result of spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. It is loaded with learning and is heavy with thought. The thinker in Eliot overflowers the artist and the poet, and the stamp of a highly subtle and intellectual personality is on everyline of the poet. The odour of bookshiness everywhere in Eliot's poetry. Eliot's poetry abound in philosophy, religion and variety of life. His philosophy consists of the criticism of contemporary life and he attacks religious convictions. He remains the hollow and hypocritic in his early poems. He is religious and mystic. In 'Four Quartets Christian' mysticism is found. In the poems he takes a voyage within. His mysticism can be seen in the following lines.
"Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future
And time future contained in time past
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable."
(Bront Norton)

Contribution of T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot is a modern poet. Poetry takes a new birth in his hands. He avoids in his poetry passion and excitement of the 1930s. He attempts in his poetry an integration of the inner and outer world in a new way. In his hands poetry entered new depths of life making a headway for a fuller understanding of the eternal values of life in the changing world, Eliot's poetry contains philosophy, religion and variety of life. Eliot is moved to write poetry partly by a desire to show an evidence of both the decandence of Europe and the necessity of a superior truth. His early poems show the hollowness and the hypocrisy of the present time. His poetry is intellectual. It is antiromantic.

Eliot's poetry has many original qualities. He has welded images and symbols together with the result that the two have become one. All his poems contain beautiful images. In his "Love Song" we come across some of the best examples of Eliot's imagery but not in the glitering framework of the orthodox. Imagists - certain half - deserted streets.' The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window panes", and the famous quotation - "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons". His images are monumental. They have power in the mind, Eliot's images hover and cling about us in a rather friendly way. His images are not static hard or brittle. They sketch themselves and yawn in an amusingly human way. His images are vivid.

His contribution to Modern Poetry: Eliot's first contribution to modern poetry is complex urban poetic emotion. Eliot's second contribution to modern English Poetry is the doctrine of esoteric modern poetry. It is difficult and complicated. Eliot revived the poetry of impersonal emotion. His contribution to modern English Poetry is the revival of the poetry of impersonal emotion is the third peculiar feature of his poetry. Eliot's most remarkable contribution to modern poetry is the objective correlative. It is a means of representing impersonal emotion in poetry. It is the most striking feature of Eliot's poetry. Eliot's greatest contribution to modern English poetry is that he has employed old myths and personal symbolism to represent problems of the modern world. Eliot's next contribution to modern English poetry is the profound poetic thought made elegant and serious by means of literary echoes of great poets of the present and the past. Eliot's next contribution to modern English poetry is the creation and use of such verse as is musical, capable and powerful to the last degree. His verse is irregular. It is so musical that I.A. Richards has described "The Waste Land' as music of ideas. Its rhythms are so regulated that they rise to the level of speech rhythms. Eliot's next contribution to modern poetry lies in the fact that he opened the mental vista of the spiritual poetry for the modern man. The next feature of his poetry is evidently its striking moral fibre which gives the reader of glimpse of the world of spiritualism. According to R.A. Scolt James, Eliot brought into poetry something which is this generation was needed a language, spare, snewy, modern, afresh and springy metrical form, thought that was adult and an imagination which was needed aware of what is bewildering and terrifying in modern life and in all life. He has done more than any other living English poet to make this age conscious of itself and in being conscious apprehensive. His last contribution is his own poetry.

Eliot's Style

As far as Eliot is concerned of being a nature poet he is not far from Nature. He is a minute observer of nature. His poetry is a pretty good record of his observation of urban life and natural scene. He has used nature scenes as symbols. His treatment of nature is symbolic.

Eliot avoids in his poetry passion and excitement of the nineteenth century. He attempts in his poetry an integration of the inner and outer world in a new way. In his hand poetry entered new depths of life making a headway for a fuller understanding of external values of life in the changing world. Eliot's poetry has philosophy, religion and variety of life.

Eliot's poetry is called intellectual. Naturally it is anti-romantic. His digust against dis-integrating western civilization led him to attack romantic poets. He is totally against romantic substitution of individual experience.

Eliot's poetry reveals the metaphysical characteristics of abrupt and surprising colloquial beginnings and its tendency of paradoxes. Eliot's metaphysicism lies not in his imitation of the metaphysicals, but in his temper, his mood, his way of thinking. He attributes to metaphysical poetry is the direct sensuous apprehension of thought' and the ability to feel, their thought as immediately as the odour of a rose.

'Objective Correlative' is a term first used by T. S. Eliot to describe a pattern of objects, actions or events or a situation which can serve effectively to awaken in the neorder the emotional response which the another desires without speaking a direct statement of that. It is an impersonal or objective means of communicating feeling.

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