Table of Contents
What is the meaning behind The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?
It is an examination of the tortured psyche of the prototypical modern man—overeducated, eloquent, neurotic, and emotionally stilted. Prufrock, the poem’s speaker, seems to be addressing a potential lover, with whom he would like to “force the moment to its crisis” by somehow consummating their relationship.
What is the meaning of the phrase in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock I have measured out my life with coffee spoons?
The words, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” is indicative of Prufrock thinking that he has already lived out the root meaning of measure from the Online Etymological Dictionary, which describes the term as the “limited extent” (51).
What is the main theme of the love song?
The main themes in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” are the overwhelming question, the condition of modernity, and the crisis of mortality. The overwhelming question: Prufrock nods to an “overwhelming question” that haunts his thoughts but never explicitly names it.
What is Prufrock thinking of at the end of the poem?
2- At the end of the poem, Prufrock looks like he identifies his self more with mermaids than with real people. We can see this in the use of the pronoun “we” when speak of the mermaids.
What is the meaning of evenings mornings afternoons?
Prufrock explains that he has already had many experiences throughout his lifetime. He is bragging about living through “the evenings, mornings, afternoons”. Eliot alludes to Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” play when using the term “dying fall”.
Why does Eliot describe the fog as a cat in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot describes the fog using the metaphor of a cat to provide readers with a familiar image of an unfamiliar phenomenon. It is both vivid and appropriate.
What does dying fall mean?
The phrase “dying fall” is, you guessed it, another literary reference, this time to Shakespeare’s famous play, Twelfth Night. In the first scene of the play, a lovesick count named Orsino is listening to music that has a “dying fall.” The music reminds him of his love for one of the other characters.
What does it mean to be full of high sentence?
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; Full of high sentence has a double meaning: it can mean that Prufrock is able to express himself in high language. But also he sentences himself = he judges himself and others probably too critically. Obtuse = indirect. At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
What does a fall mean in music?
jazz term describing a note of definite pitch sliding downwards to another note of definite pitch.
What does Prufrock do as he grows old?
He is deeply distressed over the fact that he is growing old, and feels that the prime of his life has passed him by. His preoccupation with time throughout the poem characterizes his fear of aging. He is a man experiencing a mid-life crisis, brought about by his perception of aging and his own feelings of inadequacy.
What is the climax of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?
The poem climaxes with Prufrock’s greatest fear: that he should speak his mind to the woman he loves, and she replies, “That is not it at all, /That is not what I meant, at all” (109-110). In a sense, Prufrock has justified his cowardice up to this point.
How does Eliot portray the boredom and loneliness of modern man in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock?
Prufrock is bored by the mechanical routine, by the trivialities of social life, his own indecision, by his own inertness and laziness. There is a lurking death-wish – ‘and we drown’ – a desire to escape from reality. Like the evening, he is lazy and malingerer to avoid action and duty.