Impersonality and The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock

Abstract

Impersonality of poetry is one of the major concepts of T S Eliot. By this he means the presentation of a feeling or emotion in an objective way not just personally commented upon by the poet. In his famous essay ‘Tradition and Individual Talent’, Eliot has very elaborately talked about the meaning, nature and significance of impersonality. Most of his poems largely exhibit his given indigenous canon. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ is also a good manifestation of his desired practice of impersonality. Eliot has developed the main theme of the poem with such words, phrases, situations and objects that bring out the meaning or the theme of the poem almost as may be in the mind of the poet. The words and objects in the poem make the meaning of the poem. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock reflects a close correlation between the stanza form and the fragmented, wandering flow of Prufrock’s thoughts, particularly in connection with the unequal number of lines in the different stanzas and the variable speech rhythms. This paper qualitatively investigates the technique and style of the poet as to see how the subject matter has been impersonally portrayed. Relying upon the content of the poem and the criticism made on the poem, in particular and on the concept of impersonality in general, it has been concluded that the poet has been successful in maintaining impersonality of style in the poem.