T. S. Eliot | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 6 pages of analysis & critique of T. S. Eliot.
Related Topics

T. S. Eliot | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 6 pages of analysis & critique of T. S. Eliot.
This section contains 1,653 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by John Berryman

To begin with Eliot's title, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," is the second half quite what the first led us to expect? A man named J. Alfred Prufrock could hardly be expected to sing a love song; he sounds too well dressed. His name takes something away from the notion of a love song; the form of the title, that is to say, is reductive. How does he begin singing?

    Let us go then, you and I,
    When the evening is spread out against the sky …

That sounds very pretty—lyrical—he does seem, after all, in spite of his name, to be inviting her for an evening; there is a nice rhyme—it sounds like other dim romantic verse. Then comes the third line:

       Like a patient etherised upon a table …

With this line, modern poetry begins.

In the first place, the third line proves...

(read more)

This section contains 1,653 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by John Berryman
Copyrights
Gale
Critical Essay by John Berryman from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.