Ahsan ALI & F201711063

Maryam Ashraf & F2017119069

American Poetry

Assignment

(Q) How does Eliot’s Prufrock represent Modern Man’s anxieties? Cortically

analyze and explain with the help of textual references.

Literature is a reflection of every society and T.S Eliot was a great artist who sketched

the true picture of modern man. The social, political, literary and economical changes were made

in the 20th century and it was famous as modern age. And Eliot highlights the anxiety, ambiguity,

decline and disorder of his age through his most famous poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred

Prufrock.” The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a master piece of T.S Eliot and he tried to

highlight the bitterness between the modern and materialistic man. This poem is also about

mental conflict and restlessness.

The Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock highlights the ugliness, violence and bleakness of

the modern civilization. This is not a love song as its title shows. It is an elegy about a man who

trapped in a dilemma to maintain his identity and existence in the modern world. The vary first

anxiety of modern man is about thinning and baldness and Prufrock is very obsessed about his

baldness. This anxious obsession shows the theme of self consciousness that how much a

modern man was materialistic and he did work for several hours. Due to over work, he started

lose his health and his hairs as well.

With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-

[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]...

 My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin-

[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!" (40-44)

Prufrock’s anxiety about his baldness and thinning also highlights his infatuated fear

about his aging and death. He was so materialistic that he wants to enjoy his life and things

which he had earned. He didn’t want to die. He was afraid of his ageing and death so much that

this theme echoed several times in the poem. "I have seen the Eternal footman hold my coat,

and snicker, And in short I was afraid" (lines 85-86). Here he said that death is approaching

him in his old age. And his life all about to end. He was also concerned about his appearance due

to his old age and baldness. This shows his anxiety about human interaction as well.

Another anxiety related to self consciousness and fear of human interaction was sexual

anxiety. In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo (13-14). Michelangelo

was world’s famous painter and poet and he was considered as the perfect Renaissance man and

ideal for perfection. Prufrock was unable to compare with Michelangelo and he faced sexual

anxiety, when he found himself inadequate as compared to Michelangelo. And related to aging

and death anxieties, Prufrock also talked about the modernization and industrialization. And he

talked about the “the yellow fog” and “the yellow smoke” which arose from the chimneys and

houses and highlights the negative effects of industries on the health of people.

Another important and general anxiety is the continuously repetition of “there will be

time.” This line is repeated several times and the poet tries to convince himself about his

inactions and it’s a kind of excuses for his delayed actions. There are multiple actions were

discussed in this stanza and the poet was acknowledging his inability to take right decision on

right time. And he shows his anxieties directly when he says

“Time for you and time for me,

 And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

And for a hundred visions and revisions” (31-33).

And the final anxiety (I have found in the poem) is weakness, meagerness and rout. And

he compares himself with an insect and said:

“Sprawling on a pin

Pinned and wriggling on the wall” (57-58).

This shows his anxiousness and he continues, “I should have been a pair of ragged

claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (73-74). The poet directly reveals his anxiety

and fears that he is not a leading character like Hamlet and he should have been a small creature

(insect) rather than a human because he didn’t follow the right path and now he is no worthy to

this species.