J Alfred Profrock and Waiting for Godot
Discuss whether Prufrock is or is not a "modern man," in T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
With T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," it's important to identify the concept of "modern" during the early 20th Century. The modernist literary movement addressed the...
...idea of individualism, mistrust of institutions (government, religion), and the disbelief of any absolute truths.
Things which were considered traditional were now viewed as outdated. By some, T.S. Eliot's poem is considered the first of the modernist literary movement; it...
...explore[s] the peculiarly Modernist alienation of the individual in society to a point where internal emotional alienation occurs...
Georg Simmel, a sociologist, summarizes societal concerns during this time:
The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.
Eliot's image of "a patient etherized" gives the reader a sense that as this man and his companion go out, they are like sheep, moving along passively as if they had been anesthetized. The two pass through a dingy part of town with "cheap one-night hotels," perhaps alluding to clandestine rendezvous—where things are done in secret, e.g., meetings, conversations, etc.
As the two continue, they enter a place where women are having discussions about sophisticated topics such as Michelangelo, and later we learn there is tea and talk of novels—modern women?
Prufrock compares how he sees himself to how others might see him. He is uncertain as to how he should proceed: "Do I dare?" Can he move forward in this unfamiliar territory or should he turn back?
The end of the poem reflects Prufrock's feelings as he prepares to meet a woman for tea; the images of coffee spoons may hint that Prufrock has been in many of these
With T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," it's important to identify the concept of "modern" during the early 20th Century. The modernist literary movement addressed the...
...idea of individualism, mistrust of institutions (government, religion), and the disbelief of any absolute truths.
Things which were considered traditional were now viewed as outdated. By some, T.S. Eliot's poem is considered the first of the modernist literary movement; it...
...explore[s] the peculiarly Modernist alienation of the individual in society to a point where internal emotional alienation occurs...
Georg Simmel, a sociologist, summarizes societal concerns during this time:
The deepest problems of modern life derive from the claim of the individual to preserve the autonomy and individuality of his existence in the face of overwhelming social forces, of historical heritage, of external culture, and of the technique of life.
Eliot's image of "a patient etherized" gives the reader a sense that as this man and his companion go out, they are like sheep, moving along passively as if they had been anesthetized. The two pass through a dingy part of town with "cheap one-night hotels," perhaps alluding to clandestine rendezvous—where things are done in secret, e.g., meetings, conversations, etc.
As the two continue, they enter a place where women are having discussions about sophisticated topics such as Michelangelo, and later we learn there is tea and talk of novels—modern women?
Prufrock compares how he sees himself to how others might see him. He is uncertain as to how he should proceed: "Do I dare?" Can he move forward in this unfamiliar territory or should he turn back?
The end of the poem reflects Prufrock's feelings as he prepares to meet a woman for tea; the images of coffee spoons may hint that Prufrock has been in many of these