Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay In Depth Analysis

In Depth Analysis of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock The five-line interlude ending on the floors of silent seas forms an encapsulated version of the remainder of the poem, in which the frustrated effort to establish purposive discourse leads once again to withdrawal downward and inward to a silent world of instinctual being. A return to images of distension and distracting sensuality provokes a final impulse toward violent imposition of the will--to force the moment to its crisis--which ends, like previous thoughts of disturbing the universe, in ruthless self-mockery. The image of decapitation parodies the theme of disconnected being and provides for at least a negative definition of the self: I am no prophet. By this†¦show more content†¦It sets these infinitives against present participles, which are constantly muttering, sprawling, rubbing, scuttling, and settling. Finally, it opposes these transitive verbs to intransitive verbs which lie, linger, malinger, lean, curl, trail, wrap, slip, and sleep. A relative lack of modifiers and the absence of plural forms further distinguishes the passage cited above. By contrast the language of disordered experience, of imprecision and aimlessness, abounds in modifiers and plurals: restless nights, one-night cheap hotels, visions and revisions, the sunsets and the dooryards, and the sprinkled streets. The structure of the imagery at this point in the poem corresponds to the thematic role played by linguistic form. To have bitten off the matter, in addition to its hint of blunt force, would constitute a positive reaction against endlessly idle talk; squeezing the universe into a ball would counteract the worlds tendency to fall apart and to spread itself out like yellow fog; finally, the act of rolling it toward some overwhelming question at least imparts direction to the movement of the universe, even if the actual destination, like the question, remains unclear. The idea of proclaiming oneself a prophet come back to tell you all implies a power of linguistic discourse equal in magnitude to the physical act of squeezing the universe into a ball. Once more the idea of language joins with images ofShow MoreRelatedNarratology And The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay2087 Words   |  9 PagesNarratology and â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† Seymour Chatman writes of showing and telling as the distinctions that have been made when one is describing the narrative process (97). Although he goes on to explain how, in the study of the narrative discourse and narrative statements, the differences create ramifications that run much deeper than merely acts of showing and telling, the overall message remains the same: The narrative of any given story relates to how it is being shared, toRead MoreModern F. Robert Frost1547 Words   |  7 Pagesan interpretation. There is not merely one thing of importance in â€Å"life and art,† but two: â€Å"being threatened and being saved.† As a result, it is the form of this querulous line which amazed and interested Ellen Bryant Voigt who said in an in-depth analysis of Frost’s â€Å"Directive†: â€Å"‘[T]his’ functions grammatically as a demonstrative pronoun standing in for an elided referent †¦ but ‘this’ also appears in our lexicon and grammar as an adjective; so its placement †¦ seems to press the adverb that follows