J. Alfred Prufrock and the Dramatic Monologue
The early examples of dramatic monologue created strong expectations about the genre. This unique type of poetry offers a refreshing change from other types of poetry and intrigues the reader, beckoning an analysis and interpretation of the speaker and his or her character. Two defining early dramatic monologues are; Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Lord Alfred Tennyson's "Ulysses". These two poems, both written mid-nineteenth century, share many characteristics. Both speak through the voice of a single speaker, to an audience, about a specific situation in a realistic format. These words, in essence, reveal the character of the poetic speaker. The two poems also have notable speakers who hold an important position in the world and are attempting to persuade their listeners. By the time T.S. Eliot arrived on the scene, these conventions of the dramatic monologue were all but set in stone. With "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", written in the twentieth century, Eliot alters the tradition. Eliot redefines the form and expectations of the dramatic monologue set by poets such as Tennyson and Browning. His speaker is average, and there is no audience to persuade. The format is circular as opposed to linear. Elio
The lost tone of the epigraph foreshadows that the listener, if any, is remote, and that the message was supposed to be lost. This contradicts the unofficial tradition of persuasion in dramatic monologue. If Prufrock never intended on anyone hearing what he has to say, there is no way he can be attempting to convince someone of his ideas. The poem suggests, instead, that Prufrock is talking to himself. Although he occasionally uses the pronoun "we", the poem does not reveal who this audience is, and its connection to Prufrock. This second feature of the dramatic monologue is also subverted by Eliot. t uses the subversion of two aspects of dramatic monologue (i.e. the speaker and the audience) to support the third aspect of the poem (i.e. the character). Eliot offers this subverted format in order to emphasize the solitude of the speaker and the isolation of his message from an audience. And would it have been worth it, after all,... Prufrock fears judgment from society, so he isolates himself from the world. He accepts his lower station in life, yet is saddened that he has "heard the mermaids singing" (124) and knows that they will not sing to him. The tradition of a speaker who holds a high and important position in life serves to exacerbate the average qualities of Prufrock. Although Ulysses and the Duke may not be as heroic as they think convey they are, they were confident in their decisions. On the other hand, Prufrock made almost no decisions. He says that "In a minute there is time/ For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse" (47), and shows his own doubt and fear of making any forward moves. This weakness is fitting since there is no audience for Prufrock to persuade. Even if Prufrock were attempting to persuade, he has no focused message to convey. The format of the poem serves to show Prufrock's isolation, since he has no audience. Since dramatic monologue traditionally has an audience, the effect is that much greater. Although the genre generally deals with a "specific situation at a critical moment" (RP 175), Prufrock's logic is circular and unrealistic. In comparison with other dramatic monologues, these differences are magnified. After close analysis of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", the reader may wonder if it was all some colossal mistake. Maybe Eliot never intended for this to be a dramatic monologue. Instead, however, it shows the creative genius of th
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tennyson's Ulysses, Tennyson Browning, Tennyson Browning's, Ulysses Duke, Dante's Inferno, Duke Nay, Prufrock Prufrock, Alfred Prufrock, Maybe Eliot, Instead Prufrock, dramatic monologue, alfred prufrock, feature dramatic, feature dramatic monologue, rp 175, love song alfred, specific situation, tries persuade, single speaker, love song, throughout poem, song alfred, song alfred prufrock, moment rp 175, conventions dramatic monologue,
Approximate Word count = 1641
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
