Significance of the Title, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Eliot was probably acquainted with the
name Prufrock Littau, furniture dealers, in St. Luis in the early years of the
twentieth century. The name compounded of ‘prude’ and ‘frock’, awaken
associations of prudence, primness, prudishness, etc. the romantic expectations
aroused by the first half of the title, ‘The Love Song of ’, are played off
against the somewhat absurd, unromantic sound of 
the name, ‘J. Alfred Prufrock’, to suggest that the poem is not a conventional love song in the Elizabethan or Romantic tradition. The name is used mockingly for the range of unromantic associations that the poem raises. It also suggests Prufrock’s social class. However, ironically, in the body of the poem there is hardly any mention of lovemaking, rather the lover tries to invent excuses for postponing the proposal to his lady love.
the name, ‘J. Alfred Prufrock’, to suggest that the poem is not a conventional love song in the Elizabethan or Romantic tradition. The name is used mockingly for the range of unromantic associations that the poem raises. It also suggests Prufrock’s social class. However, ironically, in the body of the poem there is hardly any mention of lovemaking, rather the lover tries to invent excuses for postponing the proposal to his lady love.
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Do you wanna like to attempt MCQs on this poem?
ReplyDeleteHere are the MCQS.
https://www.msmsol.com/2021/01/repeated-mcqs-from-love-song-of-j.html