I think he may be on to something...

  I think the title “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is symbolic and can be interpreted in several different ways. I do not find it ironic because it portrays much of the same emotions as most all love songs. The poem speaks of longing, loneliness, loss, of fantasy, fleeting lust, fear, fornication, feelings of inadequacy, despair, contempt, confusion, regret, revenge, and redemption. Another thing I noticed in the title was his name. His first name is not fully written, as if it is not important, the middle name is Alfred which is rather plain, and the last name Prufrock contains the word Frock which is defined as both, “a gown or dress worn by a girl or woman” and “a loose outer garment worn by peasants and workers” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/frock?s=ts ). I found this interesting because in the poem he speaks a lot about
women, and describes himself in a lower class way, almost as one would describe a peasant. At one point during the poem he even goes as far as to make a reference to the biblical story of Lazarus, which solidifies his view of himself as lower class or not worthy of luxuries and pleasures.
Prufrock gives the impression that women are magical, intelligent creatures, whose lasting attention he is not worthy of. He says “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each, I do not think that they will sing to me” (Eliot 430). I get the impression that the women that have come in to his life have come in for brief periods but never stayed and he believes that they have not stayed because he is not smart enough to keep up with their conversations; “in the room the women come and go talking of michelangelo” (Eliot 427). Or handsome and put together enough to escape their harsh judgement; “they will say: 'how his hair is growing thin!'...'but how his arms and legs are thin!'” (Eliot 428). It is clear that he sees himself in a very different light then he seems women.

Both the setting and the tone of this poem are depressing, dreary, daunting, and dark. There are numerous repeated images such as “yellow fog...yellow smoke” (Eliot 427-428), “tedious argument... insidious intent” (Eliot 427), “a hundred indecisions” (Eliot 428), “overwhelming question” (Eliot 427, 428, 429),as well as the repeated use of the word, time. Paired with the uses of repetition Prufrock also uses descriptions such as “I am pinned and wriggling on the wall” (Eliot 428), “we have lingered in the chambers of the sea... till human voices wake us, and we drown” (Eliot 430) and many words such as “etherized” (Eliot 427), “murder”(Eliot 428) “descend” (Eliot 428), “dying” (Eliot 428), “lonely” (Eliot 429), “malingers” (Eliot 429), “force...crisis...wept...prayed” (Eliot 429), to mention just a few. The images created with this sort of language are powerful and serve well to portray the strong emotion of the poem.

 

 

Demeter and Persephone is a Greek myth developed to explain the reason behind the seasons winter and spring. I believe that some of the Universal themes are, loss, loyalty, love, change and compromise.