Imagery is a collective term.

An image, capable of an impression on our senses is something reproduced

in our minds by words used literally or figuratively. The purpose of imagery is to make poetry concrete
and to give vividness and immediacy to thought. Eliot’s ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ is noted for
its use of imagery and symbols.

“The overwhelming question” is an instance of a symbol. it is difficult to pinpoint what it really refers to,
for the speaker never mentions it overtly. What we can gather about it is that it not only suggests a
proposal of marriage but also a larger question as to the meaning of life. The ‘fog’ is another symbol
used in the poem. Its curling about the house and then falling asleep suggests sexual failure on the part
of the speaker as well as his inertia somnolence. ‘Michelangelo’ again, is a very strong which refers to
sexual feebleness and timidity. ‘Coffee spoons’ symbolically suggest doing insignificant things and
passing the time in a futile manner. Thus symbols are in abundance in the whole poem.

Along with symbols, Eliot has used several imageries in the poem. Like Guido of the epigraph, Prufrock is
imprisoned in a city-hell. A startling and memorable simile is used when the evening is compared to ‘a
patient etherized upon a table’. Since Prufrock has an affinity with the evening, the simile also refers to
his listless mental condition. Another image is found in the ‘streets that follow like a tedious argument’.
It simultaneously refers to the winding streets of the city, the unending stages of a wearisome
argument, and the tortuous mental processes of Prufrock. There are certain images of personalities in
the poem. Once such is John the Baptist. Like him, Prufrock also had seen his head ‘brought upon a
platter’ which points to his numerous bitter social experiences and humiliation. The others are Lazarus,
Hamlet and Polonius.

The symbols and imageries used in the poem are vivid, fresh, varied and interesting. They contribute
much to the understanding of the many sided personality of the protagonist, and to the intellectual
quality and imaginative depth of the poem.