Center Of The Poem The Narrator example essay topic

T.S. Eliot's poem 'The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock'; is quite a lengthy poem for the novice poetry reader, which consists of some 130 lines. Yet, it is the poem's mass that enables the rookie to discern the theme at length. In the beginning and later towards the ending of the poem, the narrator seems to be daydreaming, using a lot of imagery to portray fun or pretty places of solitude, which makes the stanzas ambiguous. In the center of the poem the narrator describes his human feelings towards the surrounding people and objects; here is where a logical connection can be grasped. The narrator is preoccupied with the passing of time and often thinks of tranquil, imaginary places to elude his plaguing thoughts of social ostracism. The theme of this poem, suggesting from the era of time and the narrator's tone, is that age is a burden and man is deeply troubled by it.

The author is stating the trouble the narrator is having dealing with middle age and the inhibition to communicate. There are several meanings in the poem that suggest this. Eliot uses the words, 'And how should I begin?' ; and 'How should I presume?' ; repetitiously. This shows the narrator is un confident with himself mentally and physically. Lines 41 and 44, ' (They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!' ; ) '; , and ' (They will say: 'But how his arms and legs are thin!' ; ) '; indicates he is terrified of what will happen if people see his balding head or his slim and aging body. He feels that people will think he is old and useless and that they will talk about him behind his back.

Another suggestion of aging and how it anguishes the emotions is the stereotype old men have of faltering when trying to communicate ideas with people. The repetition of words the narrator uses like 'vision and revision'; , illustrates his feelings of inadequacy in communicating with the people around him. Moreover, his insecurity and low self-esteem obscures his love life greatly. It hinders him from doing the things he wishes to do.

The woman he is in love with is younger than he is and this is emotionally painful for him. He does not believe that some younger women could possibly accept him or find him attractive. To express any kind of affection or attraction toward her is awkward and difficult for him. Lines 79-80, 'Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?' ; reflects how he suppresses an urge to express affection. The narrator has tenderness in his regard for her, but cannot bring it upon himself to physically say it.

His apprehensiveness is very troublesome for him indeed. The final and most interesting device of this poem is Eliot's usage of allusion to convey indirect comparisons between historical figures, the narrator, and the air of a particular social clique. In lines 34-35, 'In the room the women come and go, talking of Michelangelo. ' ; Eliot uses Michelangelo (a very notable artist and optimist) to convey the actions and appearance of the women here. This gives the reader a picture of busy women bustling about in a joyful manner in order to get things done. A second use of allusion, one found to be rather ambiguous, is made with Lazarus.

This allusion is the more difficult of the two mentioned because Lazarus, according to the King James Bible, was a very old man whom Jesus called forth form the tomb and restored to life. Perhaps the narrator feels he needs a miracle to make him feel young again. In lines 92-95, 'To have squeezed the universe into a ball, To roll it towards some overwhelming question, To say: 'I am Lazarus, come form the dead, Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all'; , could mean the narrator needs a miracle to make him young again. Only with the restoration of his youth can he confidently pour his heart out to all the beautiful young women he encounters. Or on the other hand, this could be interpreted as an another insecurity. He sees his old age, as the end of his romantic zeal, assuming any response to his love from a young woman would be heartless and short-lived.

The difficulty here is deciphering between whether the allusion to Lazarus is comparing the narrator with God's graciousness, or whether the allusion is to an insecurity of aging that inhibits the man from mingling with young women. With this in mind, and also considering the time this poem was written in (~1917), when people where very fond of religion and would hardly mock the word of God, the reader is inclined to vacillate. Overall, Eliot uses this poem to depict the confused mind of the narrator. The narrator is feeling confused and overwhelmed by the adversities of life so it is logical that his thoughts will have the same types of characteristics. His thoughts lead to ambiguity such as at the start of the poem 'There you go then, you and I'; . This could be referring to the narrator and himself, or the narrator and his lover.