A Review of the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and the Hollow Men

T.S. Eliot’s poetry effectively paints a portrait of ontological uncertainty, with jarring relevance such that it resonates with contemporary audiences by compelling us to question our own existence. ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ (1915) illuminates the alienation of individuals as a catalyst for physical and emotional paralysis, revealing its impact on the persona’s fragmented state of mind. Adopting a more holistic view on life, Eliot delves into the disturbing reality of the world in ‘The Hollow Men’ (1925), portraying a bleak vision of modern existence in which futility and spiritual emptiness have overtaken humanity.

This is reflective of Eliot’s early 20th-century context, where industrialisation and modernisation generated a stagnant lifestyle devoid of meaning and purpose, analogous with our narcissistic modern society’s obsession with individualism.

In ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, Eliot presents humanity as both physically and emotionally trapped in an urban wasteland, paralysed by the consequences of its “indecisions” and inaction. The emotions that the persona experiences evoke ontological ideas about lacking the ability to connect with others, akin to our modern society’s self-absorbed, judgemental nature, heightened by the advent of social media and mobile technology. Prufrock’s fear of scrutiny by society is reflected in the simile, “The evening spread out against the sky, like a patient etherised upon a table,” where the evening, as a metaphor for all of society, is likened to a forlorn laboratory specimen. This fear of scrutiny is reinforced through the parallel of society’s “eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase” to Prufrock being “pinned and wriggling on the wall” like an insect specimen, revealing the extent of the persona’s alienation and low self-esteem such that he cannot construct meaningful human connections. Eliot compares Prufrock to a crab in the synecdoche, “a pair of ragged claws,” to imply his state of inertia as he avoids social conformity by laterally “scuttling” about, never advancing. This is symbolic of the persona’s depersonalisation, as he is represented as a man essentially castrated by his own inhibitions. Thus, through Prufrock’s neurotic state of mind, the superficiality of modern society is conveyed as a catalyst for an individual’s alienation and existential uncertainty, underscoring man’s crippling inability to act.

Furthermore, Eliot explores how the indecision and paralysis of man, which manifests in one’s fragmented mind, leads to a relentless pursuit for meaning in a futile existence. Through his modernist unstructured and stream of consciousness style, Eliot presents Prufrock’s fragmented mind as having succumbed to paralysis, Accepting indefinite indecision over his purpose in life. This is demonstrated through him having “seen the eternal Footman hold [his] coat, and snicker”. Eliot alludes to Prufrock’s awareness of his own mortality and impending death. This figure of death judges him through “snicker[ing]”. It imposes an inferiority complex and sense of worthlessness within Prufrock, as even death does not welcome him due to the insignificance of his life. Eliot compels us to question our own fragmented existence by asking “would it have been worth it, after all?” He directly includes the responder through second-person writing and rhetorical questioning. Ultimately, the fragmented poetic form echoes the persona’s inner struggle and reflects upon modern-day anxiety and existential questioning. This, in addition to creating a sense of monotony, suggests that life amounts to nothing.

In “The Hollow Men”, Eliot examines the absence of metaphysical purpose in a futile physical existence, plagued by man’s spiritual emptiness. Reflective of the trauma and disassociation inflicted on society after World War I. Eliot’s representation of futility and desolation condemns the spiritual hollowness that was corrupting society and stripping it of meaning and fulfillment. Humanity’s spiritual emptiness is portrayed through the objective correlative of the landscape as “dry”, “dead”, and full of “cacti”, emphasizing Eliot’s criticism of the fading influence of Christian values. Eliot expands on this idea by alluding to Dante’s ‘Paradiso’ through “eyes I dare not meet”. Interconnecting Dante the Pilgrim’s lack of self-worth, impotency, and loneliness with the spiritually empty ‘hollow men’. Any prospect for atonement is rejected through the fragmentation and incompleteness of the Lord’s Prayer in “For Thine is/Life is/For Thine is the”. Signifying the hollow men’s despair for divine salvation. This highlights the worthlessness of life in a modern society, in accordance with critic Edmund Wilson’s statement, “Hollow Men is the nadir of the phase of despair and desolation”. Hence, Eliot’s portrayal of the spiritual desolation of modern man remains relevant in our secular world, where a failure to embrace spirituality diminishes an individual’s metaphysical purpose in life.

In response to humanity’s lack of spiritual vision and identity after World War I, ‘The Hollow Men’ elicits a sense of unfulfillment and paralysis in the realisation of our own worthlessness and stagnancy in life. Eliot employs a lexical and semantic pattern through “shape without form, shade without colour, paralyzed force, gesture without motion” to contrast prospect and fulfillment with failure, emphasising the notion of a “paralyzed force” governing the hollow men’s unfulfillment in life. The inclusive nature of “we are the hollow men, the stuffed men” speaks to all humanity in Eliot’s direct mode of address as we are all “stuffed” with a lack of substance and conviction. Our hollowness is represented through the motif of the hollow men being unable to communicate with their “dried voices” despite their mutual proximity of “leaning together”. This incapacity for interaction is epitomised in the contradictory use of inclusive language in “we grope together and avoid speech”. Although the men share the same struggles of inner discord and blindness, they “avoid speech” as their inner fragmentations deprive them the ability to communicate. Thus, through the hollow men’s incapacity for meaningful connection, Eliot argues that it is our self-induced paralysis that consumes the modern man and generates humanity’s hollowness.

Eliot’s poems preserve their dynamic appeal to a variety of audiences because they illustrate the fundamental struggles of individuals in our contemporary society as much as they did during the Modernist period. Through the exploration of man’s existential questions, Eliot demonstrates a coherence of form and philosophy that epitomised the ontological uncertainty during modernity. Consequently, his poems resonate in a contemporary society that threatens to isolate and ostracise the emotionally unstable, self-doubting individual who fails to conform, retaining its values applicable to all audiences regardless of context.

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