Poem Summary:

• “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” portrays Eliot’s modernist examination of the human psyche – observing a neurotic, oversensitive man interact and engage with both the internal and external struggles of communication.
• Journeying through a disorderly array of disparate environments and fragmented scenes, Eliot comments simultaneously on the physical urban landscape and abstract consciousness to explore the effects of modernity.
• While Prufrock’s character exceeds the generic expectations of articulation and eloquence, his frustration remains in his inability to communicate his personal feelings of isolation and disorientation.
• The poem is a dramatic examination of the internal conflict ridden inside J. Alfred Prufrock – the poem’s narrator.
• The poem translates Prufrock’s physical and emotional journey in the realization of his isolation from the outside world. Eliot’s embalms the characterization of Prufrock as the ‘archetypal’ male – over-educated, eloquent and paranoid- however, as the reader becomes acquainted with the character’s neurotic mindset we realize this is Prufrock’s downfall.

Eliot exposes Prufrock’s social inadequacies to explore his isolation from the modernized, industrialist world – desperate to uncover his fragmented mind and discover the own meaning of his existence.

Form:

• There resides a distinctive importance in terms of form, rhythm and diameter within this poem. Eliot utilizes the dramatic monologue to both include and engage the reader to take part in the inner journey of Prufrock psyche.
• Most importantly, Eliots use of the dramatic monologue is also to further the ‘dramatic revelation’ Prufrock encompasses when manipulating and understanding his own conflicting thoughts of love and isolation.
• While Eliot’s rhyming scheme may initially interpreted as randomly placed, the poet employs a specific alamagation of poetic forms and features. The use of refrains, recurrent questioning and consistent negative appraisals all equate to earlier poetic traditions of modernism; heightening Eliot’s portrayal of the neurotic man of modernity.
• The fragmented sonnet form - noted in the final stanza - mimics the similar conclusion of a Petrarchan sonnet. However, Eliot’s pessimistic tone coupled with his own anti-Romantic approach echoes the poet’s bleak attitude towards the degrading effects of modernity.
• Fragmentation – the modernist poet believed that their writing should mirror their fractured and chaotic world.