Throughout his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T. S. Eliot uses various literary figures in well-known texts as the character J. Alfred Prufrock experiences anxiety and self-doubt. Allusions and direct references to works and authors Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare, Andrew Marvell, and the Bible are used to compare and contrast Prufrock’s insecurities and inaction. While this poem revolves around Prufrock asking a woman a question, which he never actually gets to, T. S. Eliot structures the poem almost as a quest for Prufrock to express his intentions, and thus, uses appeals to literature to illuminate how one should be active rather than passive. Published in 1915, this poem displays modernist literary techniques, especially as Prufrock’s inner monologue showcases self-consciousness. Further, Eliot’s use of allusions and direct references seem to question society’s progress; however, he also seems to suggest that looking at the past helps to understand individuals and society as a whole. In his essay “Tradition and the Individual Talent,” Eliot states, “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists” (37). Therefore, Eliot uses literary allusions within “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to showcase Prufrock’s limitations, which suggests an overarching message that humanity needs to be active in this era of advancement, as urbanization has led Prufrock, as well as society, to a sense of worthlessness.
Eliot bases the structure of the poem around Dante’s The Divine Comedy in order to set up a journey for Prufrock in his own personal Hell, as well as to show a contrast between inaction and passivity. The first literary reference is within the poem’s epigraph, which is a direct quote from Dante’s Inferno, which states,
S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma percioche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero,
Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo (Lines 1-6).
Immediately, the reader feels alienated by this quote since there is no indication as to whom it belongs to, and also because it is written in Italian rather than English. Moreover, placing this passage in the poem’s epigraph is significant because epigraphs usually introduce a main theme within a text. This passage comes from Canto 27 as Dante observes the eighth circle of Hell and asks Guido da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino and a monk who gave fraudulent counsel, the reasons for his current state. Readers who recognized these lines or spoke Italian, however, would understand that Montefeltro is concerned about his story returning to those on earth, which reveals he is worried about his reputation. Further, Montefeltro feels comfortable sharing his story with Dante because no human has been able to enter and then exit Hell; he believes his faults will not be shared. This moment is ironic, because Dante is the first person capable with that ability. By placing this passage at the beginning, it seems that Prufrock is about to delve into something personally troubling and embarrassing for him, and is only able to share the following words because he believes no one else will be able to read or hear of it. Moreover, by starting off the poem in Hell, despite this setting being stolen from Dante, Eliot is most likely suggesting that readers will be within Prufrock’s psyche, which is his own person Hell. As Montefeltro is unable to leave Hell, it seems that Prufrock will never be able to leave this mental state either, which conveys hopelessness and imprisonment.
Aa Montefeltro seems to represent Prufrock, readers of The Divine Comedy seem to become Dante as they can leave Hell with him and apply the message of his journey to their lives; however, as readers live through Prufrock in Eliot’s poem, Eliot seems to suggest that perhaps society can never truly progress. Since Dante is able to return to Earth after entering Hell, he can pass on to others the dangers of sin, as well as the knowledge of how one gets to Paradise. In contrast, Prufrock is unable to abandon his own personal Hell in the end, so it seems like readers are also tapped with him. Prufrock, in the last lines of the poem, state, “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/ By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown/ Till human voices wake us, and we drown” (129-31). By using the word “we,” Prufrock is not only talking about him drowning; he seems to be suggesting that passivity leads all of society to drown with him. Since the reader lives t