Love, Lust or Lackluster Lifestyle?
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" demonstrates the effects of social and economic
pressure in the life of a Victorian man. T.S. Eliot shows us, in an ironic monologue, how the
reality of age and social position paralyzes his character with fear. The poem opens with six lines
from Dante's "Infernio". This particular stanza explains that the speaker is in hell and the message
can only be told to someone else in hell. The speaker tells us that it is OK for the listener to hear
the message, since in order to hear you must already be in hell and no one ever returns from there.
So the message will never leave. I believe Eliot uses this message to infer that only a reader who
understands the loneliness and desperation of Prufrock can truly understand the poem. However,
in my research, I have found as many different interpretations of the poem as I have found
readers. Most agree; however, that Prufrock is speaking to the......
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