Content, Themes, Diction and Imagery of Eliots Poems Essay

The Content, Themes, Diction and Imagery of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Portrait of a Lady, Rhapsody on a Windy Night and Preludes The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Portrait of a Lady, Rhapsody on a Windy Night and Preludes deal with the psychological impasse of the sensitive person from whom life has been withheld. Both Prufrock and Portrait of a Lady depict self-conscious, philosophical characters who are unable to act and dare not chance acting. As portrayed in Prufrock the character is hesitant and determines action as risky and difficult: Do I dare Disturb the universe? (45-46). In The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the character Alfred Prufrock is struggling with the concept of†¦show more content†¦In both Prufrock and Portrait of a Lady the male observers are men of thought and not action. Their intellectualism has made both characters emotionally and physically impotent. In this sense thought appears to oppose action, of the emotional or physical type. The pair in Portrait of a Lady have become allied through a snobbish interest in music (the bored young man describes satirically a long-haired virtuoso in a Chopin recital). On the pretext of this intellectual sympathy the lady attempts to compose emotional harmony between them, which is wearisome and unattractive to her companion. He is detached and hears in the yearning music of her voice the tedious windings of the violins, cracked cornets and to his irritation and lack of emotional sympathy, a dull tom-tom in his brain begins Absurdly hammering a prelude of its own. Emotional impotence penetrates Eliots early poetry. The unemotional smile of the man in Portrait of a Lady towards the high society lady who is attempting to reach out emotionally to him despairingly, displays the extent of the observers detachment. Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know What life is, you who hold it in your hands; (Slowly twisting the lilac stalks) †¦ (44-46) I smile, of course, And go on drinking tea. (51-52). The observers within Eliots poetry are passionless andShow MoreRelatedSocieties Effects quot;the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockquot;1194 Words   |  5 PagesSociety gives us a set of unspoken rules and regulations that must be abided by or else society becomes ones own worst enemy; thus is Eliots message in his poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. This poem has been given a cynical voice in which Eliot tries to convey his message of modern society and its expectations. He is in a position in which he knows what the flaws in society are but does not have the courage or the ability to convey the message to the rest of the people. 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