On "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains the poem through Nietzsche's philosophy of nihilism. Accordingly, one of the themes of the poem is the condition of heightened awareness of inadequacy. The essay includes an explanation of the reference in the poem's epigram to Dante's Inferno, and the allusion in the third section to John the Baptist. The paper examines the poem's "fatalistic" tone throughout and carefully discusses the imagery.

From the Paper:

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is essentially a commentary on the existential angst of the narrator (assumed to be Prufrock) as he winds down his years, aware of the significance of life, yet hopelessly unaware of the exact nature of that significance. It is a predicament common to all people, and the poem finds its resonance in this bleak truth. According to Nietzsche, the soul (that is the self-conscious) is created by the internalization (repression) of instinct (or desire). Awareness then, is actually awareness of inadequacy. By heightening the inadequacy, the soul grows. Such a condition of heightened inadequacy is the condition of Prufrock, and the theme of the poem. "

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