Objective Correlative in Eliot’s “The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock”

Muhammad Sufyan
BENF17R29
BS 7TH B (PPP)
1 Introduced
Imagining a horror movie scene in daylight, where people are moving around, children are
playing and so. Such scene will not evoke a horror emotion in the audience. If the same scene
takes place at night, with music and horrible costumes which will definitely evoke a horrible
emotion in audience. Same goes with a romantic scene a director will not shoot in poor
surroundings rather he will prefer a hillside or a garden. Because the emotion that the director
wants to evoke in his audience will not lose its beauty if he shoots in surroundings which are
poor. It is quite natural phenomenon that we as a human being can identify when people get
happy or sad around us. Think of a poem, drama, novel or any piece of art make one laugh or
cry? What makes then different how they evoke such emotions his reader’s minds Why they
have similar effects on others? What makes them unique? How these emotions are evoked in
words The following study will investigate these questions. Artists use different methods,
techniques, and literary devices such as; simile, metaphor, personification and etc. One the
literary devices amongst them is known as objective correlative. which a poet uses in his poem
as TS Eliot use his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock to evoke a particular emotion in
reader’s mind. Objective Correlative, combines a set of images, objects, or situation, to evoke
that one particular emotion. The following pages, discusses the usage of objective correlative in
the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
2 Origin
The term was originally coined by an American painter and a poet Washington Allston, in
around 1840. He introduced this term in his Art Lecture on Introductory Discourse. For him
objective correlative was mare a process by which external world creates or producer’s
pleasurable emotions. Later in 1919 T.S. Eliot, an American-British poet, author, critic and
essayist, rediscovered the term and popularized it. He gave the term a new meaning not only
meaning but associated it with Formalist interpretations of literature. Eliot in his essay “Hamlet
and his Problems", which ironically the essay had not got a warming acceptance but the term
objective correlative gat a huge amount of fame, Eliot conceptualized objective correlative as
following:
“The only way of expressing emotion in the form of art is by finding an objective correlative’,
that is to say that, a set of objects, situation, or a chain of events which shell be the formula of
 that particular emotion, so that when the external facts which must terminate in sensory
experience, are given the emotion is immediately evoked.”
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot is a fine example of objective correlative, but,
there is a difference between objective correlative and other the literary devices like metaphor.
Apparently metaphor; tends to be more distant and on the other hand, objective correlative tends
to create closet assembled reaction. Since metaphor tends to create a stagnant response in reader
and does not generate deep emotion response in reader on contrary objective correlative does.
Let say,
‘’He found himself as an eagle deprived of its wings’’
The loneliness of a man can be displayed metaphorically here and any average reader can
understand the speaker is missing a piece of himself desperately. The same sentence can be re
written like this,
‘’He quietly shrieked towards the desolate bridge.”
So, in both the sentences speaker’s hollowness and emptiness has been shown. But the
observation of metaphor and objective correlative is different and difficult to detect at the same
time, as it has been mentioned earlier that the objective correlative indicates inner emotions and
state of mind.
3 Use of objective correlative is Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
In Eliot’s most celebrated poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the application of objective
correlative can have been seen. In his poem Eliot introduced a middle aged (around 40 years old
man named Prufrock). Who has been mentioned as a spiritually sick one owning overwhelming
question. Prufrock’s Spiritual sickness has not been presented directly rather through images and
symbol as media for objective correlative. And each image, evoked a particular sort of emotion
with each line. The poem starts with an image of an epigraph from Dante’s Inferno, that depicts
the state of mind of the protagonist which is hellish. Then the reader is bombarded reader with a
series of images like: evening, sky, an authorised patient, half deserted streets, oyster shells,
cheap hotels, which alludes Prufrock's mental state and his loneliness. Eliot illustrates a dull
surroundings and make an atmosphere in such a way that the Prufrock’s passivity and
disappointment, that he is suffering from, has been established. Eliot shows the life pattern of the
Morden men’s emotions which they possess but failed to act and pictured modern as a patient in
a state of anaesthesia.
Let us go then you and I
When the evening is spread against the sky
Like a patient etherised upon a table
 Prufrock and his supposed companion are passing through streets which are half deserted, which
demonstrate dissatisfaction and weariness of him. The cheap hotels, with oyster’s shell where
muttering retreats not only express, explain rather reflects the feelings of Prufrock’s restlessness,
disappointment and dissatisfaction of his life's experience thus one can easily interpret the life of
Prufrock which is empty, mechanical, and black. This image also shows the low life pattern of
modern men who seeks loyalty in such places.
Let us go through certain half deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one night cheap hotels
And a sawdust restaurant with oyster shells
As the song progresses Prufrock takes his readers into a party at hotel where many women are
gathered. But irony is that, he is not being seen delved amongst them. Rather he pictures them as
were they are not interested in him as they were talking about Michael Angelo’s. this image
reminds him, his lack of physical strength and productivity. Despite the fact, he wants women’s
attention but as a matter of fact he is alone because of his aging effects.
In the room the women come and go talking of Michael Angelo
So Prufrock as a result he with his companion escapes from there and goes out. Here again the
dissatisfaction with his surrounding environment of Prufrock is bombarded by more imagery in
lines (15 to 22)
The yellow fog that runs it’s back upon th window pains
The yellow smock that rubs its muzzle on the window panes
Licked its tongue into the corner of the evening (Up to line 22)
The image of yellow fog can be interpreted in two ways, the one is that the women’s world from
where Prufrock just has escaped is mysterious and foggy and the second depicts, the protagonist
as a person who wants to intermingle in the company of women but he is aware of the its defects.
Though Prufrock does not forget the defects, yet he thinks of the women’s world, which will not
sing to him but rather they will point out his physical defects, and will humiliate him. Hence he
imagined what the women insight might be and how they have penetrating looks, concerning
man’s physical qualities. They will start from his bald head then passes through his thin arms and
ends to his thin legs which ultimately do not show any hint of manhood to them (women). After
all knowing the insight he and being disappointed, he asserts his overall weariness with his life
he said:
For I have known them already known them all
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
 I have measured out my life with coffee spoons
Subsequently, one can interpret that Prufrock looks to feel as if his life has come to an end and
he has nothing more to offer. So he decided to go out and have a fine walk upon the sea shore
and to listen mermaids singing who would not sing for him at all and lastly he wished to enter
into sea and to die.
Till the human voice wake us, and we drown.

4 Symbols as vehicle for objective correlative

“Life should be represented in literature through symbols, and not realist form"
(Jules Laforgue)
Symbols plays an important role in the system of objective correlative. So in the case of
Prufrock, symbols have been employed through certain images. Such as: coffee spoon
symbolises specific information that people have about the real world. One of the interesting
symbol that the poem have is related to marriage and often is depicted as (Do I dear or Can I)
that is the core matter of the poem.
And the symbol of marriage is shows as peach, which Prufrock is not daring to eat. Generally,
symbol of peach is taken as a symbol of sex or Lust and in Chinese culture peach is taken as an
immorality and marriage relationship but in Prufrock’s case both the interpretations are true. The
irony is that, he is not going to express his feelings and passion that he has for a woman whose
love he seeks. One can demonstrate this by critically examining the following line.
Do I dare to eat a peach?
And may find out the real dilemma of Prufrock, is relating to marriage or sex.
Magic lantern as a symbol has been shown in line 105, Prufrock is finding it difficult to express
his emotions and wishes to has a magical lantern that could pictured his emotions to whom he
loves.
Besides imagery and symbols poem use some other literary as a media to objective correlative.
The poem unfolds with a passage from Dante’s Divine Comedy, which suggests Prufrock as a
damned man whose words will not be heard by others. So in the start of the poem he introduced
himself as a character and speak to those who know the kind of hell in which is.
5 conclusion
In a nutshell the song has used various images, symbols and some other literary devices as media
for the system of objective correlative. Eliot not only uses these devices but also arranges them
in a way to show the inner emotion of Prufrock and also depict the social illness of the respective
society in which he lives in.