Preview

J. Alfred Prufrock Poem

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
452 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
J. Alfred Prufrock Poem
The journey of life will ultimately always end in death. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Elliot, we can interpret the story in many ways, but in Emily Dickenson’s “712”, we see common traits between both poems.
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a story of a man. The entire poem is based off of Dante’s “Inferno”. Bringing into the thought that everyone has their own personal hell depending on their life. Prufrock, to me, is already in his hell not traveling to death. We see references of what we assume is a ghetto. Shambled hotels and bars, prostitutes and animated fag that twists in unseemly ways are obviously unseemly to him and give him a sense of unease. Another difference between this and “712” is the fact that Prufrock is forced to see all his faults even in death. He is described as an insect pinned to a board, open to all those who see him. He views it as a never ending judgement of sorts. Another differing factor is that other supernatural beings exist, other than death, because at the end of the poem he references the “sea-girls (who) watched with seaweed read and brown, Till human voices wake us, and we drown" p. 1389. The sea girls are what ancient mythology would call a siren, creature who
…show more content…
A poem, that while much shorter than “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, is still about the journey of death. The biggest difference between “712” and “Prufrock” is that Dickenson wrote about the journey with Death. She writes more about how the journey of life is always accompanied with Death and death is not a true ending. Her view point is that how every piece of life is a stepping stone farther into “Immortality”. She doesn’t write about hell, but about life. She references children playing and growing in life. “712” speaks of how humans see time. As we live, our lives seem stretched out and never ending, but when we look back we see how our lives are only a glimmer and “Feels shorter than the Day” p.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What is the mood and setting established by the speaker in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”?…

    • 795 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, was first published in 1862. Dickinson was known for writing poetry mainly about death. When we think about death, we imagine something terrifying, but in this poem it is seen in a different perspective. In the poem, the speaker comes upon death, but not in a scary or bad way. Yet, death has approached her in a gentleman-like way. In this poem it’s talked about as a kind human being, who is simply taking her along a journey around town and death is just a stop away. While reading the poem we believe that the speaker is going to her death bed but once we reach the last stanza of the poem, we are left in quite a surprise.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While “Death, Be Not Proud” is in sonnet form, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” comes in four-lined stanzas. The rigid and strict structure of the sonnet in Donne’s poem adds to the sureness with which he addresses Death. But while Dickinson’s poem follows its structure, the four-lined stanzas contribute to the poem’s meandering tone and mysterious words. The two poets skillfully use the tools available to them to fit the topics they address. These two poems differ in their tone and form.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock’s tone is sadness. This is proven when Eliot describes the setting in lines 4-9 as half deserted streets, muttering retreats, one night cheap hotels and streets like a tedious argument of insidious intent. Words like half deserted, muttering, restless, tedious and insidious portray this tone. However in Afternoons and Coffee Spoons the tone is more fearful. It’s as though the writer is having these health problems, and is seeing his life being measured out as he gets older. In lines 16-17 we see “Maybe if I could do a play by playback I could change the test results that I will get back” the lyrics display that he demonstrates fear of the future and fear of getting older. He hopes to go back and change the results for a better future. Therefore the tone in these poems…

    • 648 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As people look back to past experiences in their life what do they want to remember? Do they want to remember a wonderful life full of expieriences, or a life where they never really lived? The theme of the unlived life in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock manifests through the narrator as he truly embodies the realistic fact that some people out there are introverted, living in fear, and worrying to much about what society does not approve of them. Life is not going to live for one, one must live for life.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout human history, we have been fascinated with our own mortality. This obsession with life and death has carried over into our literary works, and given birth to stories such as Dr. Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dr. Faustus. These tales revolve around the preservation and unnatural extension of life, either through the power of science or the supernatural. On these ideas there are three pertinent examples of poems in which life is shown as being frail. In all of these poems life is presented as being weak and easily susceptible to negative outside forces. However, they each express this in a distinct manner; either through clinging to the life of a loved one, showing life’s weakness through its corruption and demonstrating…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death In Casablanca

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Because I Could not stop for death” is a poem written by Emily Dickens. In the poem the speaker tells that Death lead her through past events in her life and on in to the afterlife. The speaker in the poem is not afraid of Death, if anything she speaks of him in a friendly manner. In the last stanza of the poem it is revealed that the speaker is dead. She sees her death not as a halting point but a way to experience her life again from the…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Looking For Alaska

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This novel is defined by the search for answers about life and death, and through our personal labyrinths of suffering we retain hope. Although the plot may seem bland, it is witty, relatable, and full of surprises. This novel is far from a romantic love story,…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Emily Dickson’s poem was an acceptance of death and very calm and carefree. The theme of her poem was based off of the human life cycle and how we must all accept death. The mood on her poem was calm and it was based off of accepting death it was inspiring humans to look on their life and accomplishments and accept death. She uses literary devices such as personification to describe death. Within her poetic structure she uses regular…

    • 273 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death is an odd thing, humans do not know what waits for them the moment their hearts stop beating, they do not know where they’ll end up going- but death is a common topic. Whether it be in movies or writing, death has made its impression on the world; especially on poet Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s poems, “I heard a Fly buzz- when I died” and “Because I could not stop for Death” focus on a consistent theme of death and her own curiosity on what it might be like to die herself. Dickinson’s life and use of the archetypal device have a connection to helping fuel her dreary, death revolving, poetry.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cody, John. After Great Pain: The Inner Life of Emily Dickinson. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, Belknap Press, 1971. N. Pag. Print.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson Diction

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages

    There is a multitude of poems written with the theme of death, be it in a positive light or negative. Some poets write poems that depict Death as a spine-chilling inevitable end, others hold respect for this natural occurrence. In Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death”, diction and personification is utilized to demonstrate the speaker’s cordial friendship with Death.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Emily Dickinson might be called an artisan, since most of her poems have fewer than thirty lines, yet she deals with the most deep topics in poetry: death, love, and humanity’s relations to God and nature. Her poetry not only impresses by its on going freshness but also the animation. Her use of language and approachness of her subjects in unique ways, might attribute to why “Hope is the thing with feathers” is one of her most famous works.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Facing Mortality

    • 2565 Words
    • 11 Pages

    In this paper I have been asked to compare and contrast literary works involving the topic of my choosing. For this paper I chose the topic of death. Death can be told in many different ways, and looked at the same. This paper is going to decide how you feel about death, is it a lonely long road that ends in sorrow, or a happy journey that ends at the heart of the soul? You decide as we take different literary works to determine which way you may feel.…

    • 2565 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emily Dickinson is unquestionably one of the most significant, innovative, and renowned American poets. She did not always receive such high praise, however, as most of her fame and honor was obtained long after she died. While she was alive, she lived most of her life isolated from society as a recluse. During this reclusion, however, she wrote almost eighteen hundred poems, and one of these included “Because I could not stop for Death” (Mays 1187). This is one of her most popular poems and that is in part because it allows the audience to analyze the topic of death and the struggle to come to grip with one’s own demise. The concept of Death is humanized within this poem. “He” is portrayed as a groom and a conductor, as much as he is a robber…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays