The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock is placed in a city where we are given vivid, deathly images to acquaint ourselves with the setting. This places a very negative tone on the poem as T.S Eliot uses words such as, “half deserted streets” and “one-night cheap hotels”. He also repeats some lines which give us a very sharp image of the streets which the journey takes place. The journey is one which describes the personality of Prufrock. It allows us to get a sense of what he’s like without meeting him. When the ladies are talking of Michelangelo, he continues onward suggesting that he is unsociable and that he may feel emasculated by this. His attention to detail at this section also seems as though he is particularly interested in Michelangelo. However the poem is written so that we get a perspective of what the person going through this journey is feeling and seeing, it is almost as though we are behind his eyes looking in first person rather than looking upon the situation in third person. This raises a strange debate of perception as someone with a different personality walking down the same street may see the things completely different. This arises a strange question of how do other people see the things that I am seeing.

Hap Response

From the title we know that the poem will be about one’s fate or one’s luck as this is the definition of hap. In the first stanza we learn that our conclusion about the poem’s content is correct. Hardy is trying to make sense of why bad things always happen to him. He says that he would understand if there was some god who obtained happiness from his discontent. At the very beginning of the second stanza we are alerted of a shift by the word “Then”. In this stanza Hardy says that if this was the case he would bear through it, and eventually die. But his unhappiness had a cause, something much more powerful than he and there is nothing he could do about it, but it wasn’t just mere chance. The third paragraph also starts with a shift; “But not so”. This shows that the other two stanza’s are not true. He then continues to talk about why bad things continuously happen to him and his lifelong pilgrimage has turned to pain. The poem is written a sonnet with two quatrains and then a sestet with the rhyming scheme ABAB, CDCD, EFEFFE. The rhyming scheme has significance in the meaning of the poem as well as the last two lines are opposite the rest of the poem’s rhyme scheme. This suggests that his pilgrimage is abnormal and excessively painful compared to others.

There was a Boy Response

William Wordsworth fills the poem There was a Boy with natural imagery of the visible scenery at which the boy is familiar with. It also has a contemplative tone which makes it seem as though the boy is so small in contrast to the nature around him and he is contemplating his purpose in such a vast world. The poem deals with the essence of being alone which the boy is faced with throughout his lifelong journey. It also seems as though the boy is looking for someone to share his boyhood journey, specifically when he calls out to the owls as though he is calling for help or longing for companionship; “Blew mimic hootings to silent owls”. The next line then suggests that this is a journey which he will be facing on his own as the owls do not answer his mimic hootings.