The Love Song The Love Song of of

J. Alfred PrufrockJ. Alfred Prufrock – T.S. Eliot

Background• Poem was written post World War 1, after which a sense of

futility and loss has infected society.• The rise of Industrialization and the modern city is well under

way.• Unlike Romantic poetry that is ordered, Modern poetry

examines a chaotic world.• Some other contrasts include:o Optimism vs Pessimismo Clear Sense of Identity vs Confused Identityo Moral/Values vs Collapse of Moralityo Faith vs Loss of Faith

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot was born in Missouri on September 26, 1888. Died in London in 1965.After a year in Paris, he returned to Harvard to pursue a doctorate in philosophy, but returned to Europe and settled in England in 1914. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was published in 1915.By 1930, and for the next thirty years, he was the most dominant figure in poetry and literary criticism in the English-speaking world.

Inventions and Technological Breakthroughs

• What were some of the primary effects of each invention/technological breakthrough?

• How do you think individuals responded to the inventions/technological advancements? What became easier? What became harder in one’s daily life?

• What are some of the effects of the invention of motion pictures (both in terms of the technology itself and the ability to capture moving images of various content/subject matters)?

Rise of the Modern City

• Imagine first riding on an elevated railroad through a city or in a city subway? What would this ride feel like if you never had experienced it before?

• Compare the pedestrians, horse/carriages you see to the new forms of transportation.

• What would life be like before the advancements in transportation in the late 1800s/early 1900s? What effects did such technological breakthroughs have on individuals in their local and larger worlds?

Post World War 1

• What would life had been like for a soldier returning to his former life after time in the trenches?

• What would the devastated landscape feel like, especially if you were in Europe?

From the Evening Sun, 1913.

Dramatic MonologueA dramatic monologue is a poem in which there is one imaginary speaker addressing an imaginary audience.

The critic M.H. Abrams said that a dramatic monologue must contain three criteria. First, it encompasses the

assertions of a “specific individual (other than the poet) at a specific moment in time.” Second, the monologue is “specifically directed at a listener or listeners whose

presence is not directly referenced but is merely suggested in the speaker’s words.” Third, the “primary

focus of the monologue is the development and revelation of the speaker’s character.”

Epigraph

In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the

beginning of a work. It serves as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-

example, or to link the work, either to invite comparison or set the tone.