Elliot Case
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Throughout the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, author T.S. Eliot employs a variety of literary devices and a unique form in order to convey a distinct tone and evoke emotion in the reader. Among the many literary devices, repetition, and imagery all have a prominent impact on the tone of the poem, glum. Eliots use of repetition is vital to the poem. It can most evidently be seen with the repeated line “In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo” (Eliot 14,35). Eliot uses the device of repetition in order to form a point of reference that can continually bring the reader back to the setting that Prufrock finds himself in while he muses aloud throughout the poem. Imagery also adds to the tone and overall emotion of the poem. It aids in revealing the inner feelings of Prufrock. For example, when he says he “should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas”(74); he is indicating that he wishes he hadnt been born. Prufrock also does not feel comfortable revealing his feelings; he views it as a lantern throwing “nerves in patterns on a screen” (105). In accordance with repetition and imagery, Eliot take a unique spin on the typical forms of poetry and is today credited for making the leap into modern poetry for it. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is written as a dramatic monologue. Throughout the poem and monologue of Prufrock, the reader is able to discover intimate facts and emotions that he would have other wise not disclosed. While the overarching form is dramatic monologue, Eliot experiments throughout his poem using different rhyming couplets and meters in order to really make his thoughts and emotions evident. Through both literary devices and unique form, Eliot sets a definite tone and evokes emotion in his reader.
Eliot, T.S. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” The Harper American Literature. By Donald McQuade. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. 1996-999. Print.