Unlike Any Love Song I Have Ever Known

T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock," does not read as a typical personified view of a love song. In fact, the narrator seems to distance himself from his potential love interest as the poem progresses instead of drawing closer. This distancing is showed in two distinct ways. The first way being his description of location. He begins by inviting his love interest to certain places like in the second stanza, "Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets," which shows his intense want for immediate interaction (4). Then in the end, brought on by a gradual change of heart Eliot shows great distance through references to vast oceans. The second way that distancing is displayed is Prufock's view of himself. Although the narrator describes and seems to be quite educated in the world, Eliot shows that he is not confident in himself. He states that, "Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse/ At times, indeed, almost ridiculous-/ Almost, at times, the Fool," which shows his seemingly defeat brought on not by dismissal from the potential lover, but by himself (117-119). This is unlike any love poem I have ever known and focuses solely on lack of self-love and not the pursuit of love from another.