prufrock

• speaker is an insecure middle aged man wo expresses thoughts on his dull monotonous life
• 'love song' deeply ironic- contrasts formality of full name- connotations of prudishness- Eliot used to sign his name T stearns eliot- self reflection
• epigraph- from the divine comedy- alludes to a journey to hell, sense of entrapment represents theme of journeys which is ironic as prufrock is blatantly stagnant. Prufrock like count Guido is in hell but Prufrock is in a hell of his own making
• prufrock is trapped by his own fears and anxieties- 'i have measured out my life with coffee spoons'- metaphorical image of being stuck in routine/monotony- repetition emphasises how he feels trapped
• repetition- 'in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo'- emphasis on mundane conversations about art- highlights lack of passion in relationships
• alliteration- 'the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window panes'- creates vivid imagery- suggests decay and corruption- symbolism of yellow fog= death
• repetition- 'in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo'- emphasis on mundane conversations about art- suggests that prufrocks life is devoid of passion or excitement
• 'let us go then you and I'- suggests a sense of a journey once again ironic, state of repetiton, direct address to the reader/woman/lover/fragmented part of himself?

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• 'The muttering retreats of restless nights in one-night- cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants with oyster shells: streets that follow like a tedious argument of insidious intent'- dicton choice 'retreat suggests secrecy, setting presented as run down and dirty- Prufrock secret life- sexuality and secrecy, conflict in personified streets suggesting malicious intent presenting modernity as something to fear
• 'Lead you to an overwhelming question...oh do not ask 'what is it? Let us go'


  ellipsis emphasises build up reinforcing his inability to decide interjection conveys inability to find the question, repetiton nothing is occuring 'let us go'- STAGNANCE
• 'In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo


  Women presented as transcient 'room' with connotations of confiement contrasts street which has connotations to movement- the womens movement contrasts the stasis of prufrock
• 'the yellow fog... the yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window panes,licked its tongue, lingered'

  extended metaphor of a cat- alley cat is alienated like prufrock. Colour imagery connotations of corruption, dirtiness. Alliteration in 'licked' 'lingered' has connotations of sexuality- sensual, sensory- prufrocks fear of his own sexuality
• 'There will be time, there will be time. To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; there will be time to murder and create'


  repetition of time suggests concerns of ageing and mortality, prufrock always thinking but no conclusion. modal verb 'will' highlights intent and conflict of action and inaction. Theatrical reference suggests a self concious pysche, his attempt at communication is disabled.
• 'yet for a hundred indecision and a hundred visions and revisions'

  end and internal rhyme convey pessimism and anxiety- tortued pysche paralysed by inner conflict
• ( they will say:how him hair is growing thin'

  parenthesis suggests insecurity as he imagines plural pronoun 'they' a reflection of his anxieties.
• Do I dare... disturb the universe? In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse'


  enjambement suggests he doesn't dare express himself fear of doing anything significant or insignificant
• 'How should I presume'


  repeated phrase suggests fear of appearing arrogant insecurities on how others percieve him, insecurity.
• 'The eyes... the eyes that fix you in a.. formulated, sprawling on a pin'


  fragmentation of human body-definitive article is ambigious threatening tone, dicton choice 'fix' suggests stasis, paralysis. 'formulated' 'sprawled' tensions