English Advanced: Module B T.S Eliot Essay

[Balajanovski]

I have recently gotten this practise essay on T.S Eliot's poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock marked by my school english teacher, and I was told that my essay would only get me a 14/20 in an exam.

Could I please have some feedback on how I may best improve my essay?
Thank you in advance for your time.

Q. It is through its detailed illustration of human life that poetry becomes memorable. Discuss this statement with reference to The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

T.S Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is still able to memorably resonate with new readers because it depicts the internal struggle of an individual in a society which is undergoing radical changes in beliefs and epistemological grounds as they try to rediscover meaning in modern human life. Through the depiction of an individual’s state of consistent passivity and procrastination, an investigation of an individual’s journey to find new meaning and identity in life and a pessimistic portrayal of modernity’s effects on social and individual isolation for human life, Eliot’s poetry engages with the effects of the lack of meaning in a modernising, nihilistic society on human existence, making its message increasingly more relevant to contemporary responders, who witness the transition of society further into nihilism.

Through the depiction of an individual’s consistent state of passivity and procrastination, Eliot’s poem embodies the directionlessness of human existence in a modernist world, in which all that was previously meaningful had begun to decay. Such a detailed exploration of human life allows the responder to memorably be provided insight into the feelings of being lost through vicariously experiencing the persona’s existential crisis. Eliot’s persona is depicted as seemingly avoiding asking his ‘overwhelming question’, through his repetition of the line, ‘There will be time’. Eliot furthermore embodies the persona’s passivity through his stream of consciousness, in which he views the evening ‘Like a patient etherized upon a table’, the use of simile conveying Prufrock’s psyche’s state of indecision, as if his mind were etherized. The metaphor for the fog as being a cat, ‘that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes’, is even attributed somnolent aspects, depicted as having, ‘Curled once about the house and [fallen] asleep’, with Eliot attributing the indecisiveness and passivity of his persona through the image in his stream of consciousness. With the lack of meaning in the modernist age, as opposed to before, individuals lack the drive to figuratively spur them to action. Eliot particularly juxtaposes his persona’s own state of indecision with a peasant from the antiquity through his allusion to Hesiod’s Works and Days, when Prufrock ponders, ‘And time for all the works and days of hands’. This allusion is intentionally ironic, as Hesiod’s poem is about a diligent farmer’s completion of specific agricultural duties at specific times of the year, contrasting Eliot’s portrayal of modernist human existence as being aimless, to draw the responder’s attention particularly to how human existence had degraded into meaningless nihilism in modern times. Eliot’s poem remains memorable due to how it appeals to the common human experience of feeling lost and losing one’s bearings in an ever changing world, an idea which is increasingly more relevant in a contemporary society that seems to be changing at an ever accelerating rate.

Eliot’s poetry investigates an individual’s journey to find a new meaning and identity in life, in a world where all that was previously meaningful had collapsed. By portraying a detailed exploration of Prufrock’s internal angst in the modernist work, Eliot allows the responder to memorably vicariously experience the feelings of anxiety associated with witnessing the rapid alteration of a society’s belief system, resonating with the existentialist philosophy of Kierkegaard surrounding the nature of angst. The persona’s existentialist angst is depicted through the tone of anxiety which underpins his stream of consciousness, with him pondering, ‘I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter’, the repetition throughout the poem of the objective correlative of a bald head for Prufrock’s insecurities and anxieties emphasising how his angst plays such a substantial role in his life. This existential worry is a product of Prufrock’s disillusionment with what is seen as meaningful in modern society, as evident in ‘In the room women come and go \ Talking of Michelangelo’, where the repetition of this stanza makes evident how Prufrock sees modern parties, such as the one he is attending, to be devoid of meaning. Existentialism was prevalent in Eliot’s early 20th century context, and by looking through the existentialist lense of Kierkegaard, Prufrock’s angst is evidently a product of all the new possibilities open for what to find meaningful in life on the collapse of what was previously found meaningful, which leads to his stalling attitude evident in ‘Do I dare \ Disturb the universe?’. The repetition of ‘Do I dare’ emphasises his etherized state, where he is unable to take a Kierkegaardian ‘leap of faith’ to ‘Disturb the universe’, the metaphor for his life likened to the universe emphasising his desire to find new meaning outside of his upper class modern life, which he realised was full of banal parties and formulated phrases, whilst drawing attention to the propagating ramifications it would have on his perception of meaning, his figurative universe. Eliot’s persona’s journey encapsulates the common human experience of trying to find meaning in life, appealing to responders who too had difficulty in attempting to overcome their stagnative attitudes to take Kierkegaardian ‘leaps of faith’, contributing to its relevance and memorableness in a nihilistic contemporary society in which taking the steps to find new meaning have become increasingly more difficult.

Eliot’s poetry portrays a pessimistic outlook on modernity to reflect the notions of social and individual isolation for human life in a modernist world. Eliot’s persona is depicted as being socially ostracized, unable to speak with women and believing that he will never be able to form a successful relationship. This is encapsulated by, ‘And I have known the eyes already, known them all- / The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase’, displaying how Prufrock feels that all the women he has approached do not see him for what he is, their predispositions oversimplifying his complex personality into the metaphor of a ‘formulated phrase’, one which is merely a summary. Prufrock articulates his difficulties in adhering to social protocol which lead to his further isolation, through the repeated internal monological questions of, ‘Do I dare to eat a peach?’ and ‘Shall I part my hair behind?’. Eliot emphasises Prufrock’s isolation and disenfranchisement with modern society through the use of metaphor in ‘I should have been a pair of ragged claws \ Scuttling across the floors of silent seas’, with Prufrock wishing he were a crayfish at the bottom of the sea characterising him as a man who is so overwhelmed with the tedium of social protocol and his own ineptitude at forming cohesive relationships that he believes the pressures of the sea would be easier to bear than the figurative pressures of society. Eliot’s message is timeless in how it appeals to contemporary responders who too sympathise with Prufrock’s struggle in forming meaningful and cohesive human relationships in an age where meaning is increasingly more difficult to find.

Eliot’s poem warns against the existentialist nightmare of not living a fulfilling life, embodied by his persona, who fails to rise above his internal anxieties and the rigidity of social protocol to live his life to its potential. The persona fears that if they do not find this new meaning in life he will die having lived a meaningless existence, pondering, ‘No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do’, the allusion to Shakespeare’s Hamlet emphasising how Prufrock sees himself not as encapsulating the character Hamlet, who is characterised as intelligent, articulate and important, being the protagonist of the drama, yet instead Polonius, the ‘attendant lord’, who is characterised as foolish and is unimportant, a side character in Shakespeare’s play who lives a meaningless existence in the grand scheme of the play. This fear is further encapsulated in the persona’s thoughts, ‘And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker’, the metonym of the footman for death encapsulating his visualisation of his own death as death laughing at him for failing to rise up above the rigidity of social protocol to ask his ‘overwhelming question’. From the perspective of existentialist philosopher Nietzsche, Prufrock encapsulates the archetype of the ‘last man’, tired of life and taking no risks in fear of being ‘pinned and wriggling on [a] wall’, the metaphor likening Prufrock to a bug captured on a board emphasising Prufrock’s attitude of stagnation in fear of being trapped by other people’s predispositions over his insecurities. Prufrock starkly contrasts Nietzsche’s concept of the ubermensch, which he believed would have renewed meaning in human existence on the degradation of Christianity, and in this way, through Prufrock, Eliot personifies many of the fears in existentialist philosophy of human life degrading into meaningless, nihilistic existence with the lack of Judeo-Christian values in western society. Eliot’s persona appeals increasingly to people in the contemporary era as he encapsulates the doubts and fears which many responders experience and how they inhibit them from achieving their goals, raising Nietzsche’s memorable fear that society would be comprised of mainly ‘last men’ rather than ‘ubermensch’.

Eliot’s poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock portrays a memorable depiction of how a radically changing society may affect an individual’s perspectives on human life and its meaning. Eliot’s poetry depicts an individual’s state of consistent passivity and procrastination in society as they lack the compass to direct them, their fruitless journey to find new meaning in a nihilistic society devoid of it and a pessimistic portrayal of modernity’s effects on social and individual isolation for human life. In doing so, Eliot engages with the effects of the lack of meaning in a modernising, nihilistic society on human existence, resonating with new responders from the contemporary era who witness the further transition of society into nihilism.