Blog 2 Topic 3

In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” written by T.S. Eliot, there are allusions made to several people and great works throughout history. While each allusion may stand on its own, each attributing their own part to develop the poem, one can connect all the allusions to create another characteristic of the poem.

Prufrock, although not aloud, tells us his story on how he almost had an interaction with a girl. While he only thinks it in his head, he tries to convince us that he is a scholar without explicitly saying that he is. Throughout the entirety of the story, Prufrock makes allusions to famous works of literature throughout history and other scholars. In the beginning he references Dante Alighieri’s work from “The Divine Comedy,” which is a recount of his journey through hell. At this point he doesn’t even bother to translate the passage for us, maybe making a statement that he understands it, which can lead others to believe that he is a scholar or at least is versed in these types of literature. Later he makes allusions to Hesiod’s “Works and Days,” Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” and Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Together, these allusions lead us to believe not only that his life seems to coincide with the premise of each piece of literature but also that he is actually knowledgable enough to even reference them.

Another connection between some of his allusions is that many of them incorporate the theme of death. With Dante, he literally goes to hell and comes back. Although he doesn’t die per se, he does go to a place where the dead walk. Michelangelo was famous for painting “The Last Judgement,” which is a depiction of the final days of the earth where the living join the dead after being judged by God. This allusion fits well since Prufrock is afraid of being judged for what he is and what he isn’t, which makes him think of dying (an exaggeration of course). He goes on to mention St. John the Baptist who was beheaded for the musing of a lady, a feeling Prufrock can somewhat relate to as he contemplates his actions before attempting to talk to the girl in the story. Another biblical allusion he makes is in reference to Lazarus, a man that was risen from the dead by Jesus. Lastly, he talks about the play Hamlet, in which almost, if not all, the characters end up dying by the end of the story. The theme of death seems to creep up into his mind a lot as he over exaggerates the consequences of his actions and inactions.

In the same way you can connect the allusions together through death, they can also be connected together as they all attribute a piece of Prufrock’s psyche. In the beginning, we meet Dante. While in hell Dante meets Guido, a war general that committed a variety of war crimes. In this part of his psyche, we see Prufrock admit to us, like how Guido admitted to Dante, that he will tell us a story that he otherwise would not have in fear of destroying his reputation. Here we see that he is insecure about himself and he fears judgement from other people. Despite fearing judgement, Prufrock continues to try and hide his true self from both the reader and the girl in the story. Next he alludes to Hesiod’s “Works and Days,” in which Hesiod tells his brother to stop his tricks and schemes and resort towards honest work in order to achieve what he wants. In an internal struggle with himself, morally, to sacrifice his reputation for being able to get the girl Prufrock is stuck between his actions and in a way goes insane. Insanity that can be seen in the actions of Prince Hamlet, a figure he also alludes to. In the story of Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is directly involved in the death of his love which can be translated to the destruction of the chance Prufrock has with the girl he’s chasing. Lastly, we see that like in Andrew Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress, Prufrock is cursed with a lack of time which makes him act irrationally when it comes to making decisions.

After reading the entire story, we can conclude that T.S. Eliot made strategic decisions as to what he alluded to. Whether or not we had interpreted the allusions the way he would’ve liked us to, we can still see a connection between them nonetheless. The allusions create a picture of Prufrock’s mind that in turn lets the readers understand why he acts the way he does.