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【摘要】:詩人T. S. 艾略特的诗歌《J?阿尔弗瑞德?普鲁弗洛克的情歌》用戏剧独白的形式描述了男主角在某个下午赴爱的约会路上种种情景交融的内心活动,表达了绝望而孤独的个人在这个迷失的现代社会的困境,揭示了我们身处的现代社会里的绝望、孤独和死气沉沉。而诗人艾略特所选择的独具匠心的诗歌题目和起始第一句诗行以及在诗歌中所用的修辞都使主题更为突出。
【关键词】:情歌,绝望,迷失,修辞
中图分类号:G623.3 文献标识码:A文章编号:1003-8809(2010)08-0032-02
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem by the American poet, T. S. Eliot, published in Chicago in June 1915. Described as a "drama of literary anguish," the poem presents the stream of consciousness of J. Alfred Prufrock, a presumably middle-aged, intellectual, indecisive man, in the form of a dramatic monologue. This poem marked the beginning of Eliot's career as an influential poet. The protagonist of this poem is on his way to an afternoon appointment to make a declaration of love to a woman. He invites the reader (or the other self) along with him through the modern city and shares his meditation about the dull, uneventful, mediocre life he leads as a result of his feelings of inadequacy and his fear of making decisions along the journey. The theme of this poem is to manifest how a desperate and lonely individual wanders in the lost modern world to reveal the lack of communication and alienation between people and a world of despair, lonliness, and sterility. This theme is perfectly delivered by various fascinating features of rendition, among which the title of the poem, the beginning, and figures of speech are the most impressive.
Eliot definitely did not name the poem as “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” randomly. “Love Song” draws a striking contrast between the form and the content. The form of the work has characteristics of most love songs, such as repetition (or refrain), rhyme, and rhythm, yet romance, joviality, and hope for love expected in a love song are never presented in the content of this poem. Eliot employed the form of a love song and the courtship between man and woman ironically to demonstrate the indifference, loneliness, alienation and desperation of people and the world at that time. The name Alfred can be interpreted as “all afraid” because Prufrock is truly a “Mr. all afraid”. He is afraid of presenting himself; he is afraid of facing people; he is afraid of declaring love; he is afraid of being refused. A balding desperate middle-aged man with thin arms and legs in a love song — what an ingenious combination!
The poem opens straightforwardly with "Let us go then, you and I." Who is “you” here? After thorough reading, we can infer that “You” is the other self of “I”. That is to say, “You and I” are divided parts of Prufrock’s own nature for he is undergoing internal conflicts. “I” is the person with instincts and physical form, while “you” is the same person with reason and soul. One self craves socializing, love from the opposite sex, and expressing his admiration to his beloved one; the other self is obsessed with his own image of balding middle-aged man with thin legs, his boring, listless life, and the fear of being refused. The opposition of the two selves tortures Prufrock from the beginning to the end. However, in the last stanza, the narrator changes from “I” to “we”, “Till human voices wake us, and we drown.” Two selves of Prufrock are combined into one, who is “drowned” in desperation. The theme of the poem is elevated and there is more. The switch of the narrator can also be interpreted as the switch from individual experience to universal status quo. It’s a world of disintegration, spiritual exhaustion, and desperation.
There are a number of striking figures of speech in the poem. In the first stanza, the images of the city are sterile and deathly; the night sky looks "Like a patient etherized upon a table", while down below barren "half-deserted streets" reveal "one-night cheap hotels/And sawdust restaurants". The evening sky is shockingly likened to “a patient etherized upon a table”, which inspires reader’s imagination to a new level: they can feel that the time that Prufrock lives is morbid, and an individual like Prufrock has no other choice but to live an insignificant and helpless life. Evening sky is about time and space, while patient on a operation table relates to the uncertainties of life. The images of the city bespeak a time of the world that needs operation, and the etherized patient reveals the paralysis of the individual and the world of the time as a whole. The somber and ghastly description of the city also makes readers wonder, whether Prufrock is on the way of proposing for love or on the journey to death.
The above images all speak to some part of Prufrock's personality. The etherized patient, for instance, reflects his paralysis (his inability to act) while the images of the city depict a certain lost loneliness.
Another fascinating and original comparison takes place in lines 50 and 51. “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” presents slides of his past life in reader’s mind: days (“evenings, mornings, afternoons”) passed by in coffee drinking, nothing extraordinary. Because he was in the middle of trivial matters all day long with nothing achieved, his life could only be measured by coffee spoons and his dreams and ambitions, if he has any, was never to be realized, let alone attracting the opposite sex. Then in lines 59 and 60, “Then how should I begin/To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?”, he compares the rest of his lifetime to the ends of cigarette, waiting to be spat out. We can surely see that he, as an individual, is week and incompetent, and he is totally hopeless and desperate. However, this cute metaphor does not confine to Prufrock’s individual experience. It also reveals a world in shackles, binding not only the inner desires, but also the outside environment for human development.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is recognized as one of the greatest poetry in the modern literary world. Why? Because it appeals richly to our senses and to our imaginations—thanks to Eliot’s exquisite rendition, we can feel, see, hear during Prufrock’s journey of love proposal; we can imagine how the city sky like a patient and how Prufrock’s past life fade away between coffee spoons. Most importantly, it touches the core of human living and suffering and loving, and it gives its reader a broader and deeper understanding of life, of his fellowmen, and of himself. We, as members of humankind, suffer as well though we do not have exactly the same experience as prufrock’s. We must have undergone the same desperation at some period to some extent. The question is—what should we do next in this modern world?
作者簡介:袁蕾,(1982-)籍贯:湖南,上海对外贸易学院,英语文学,硕士在读,英美文学,
【关键词】:情歌,绝望,迷失,修辞
中图分类号:G623.3 文献标识码:A文章编号:1003-8809(2010)08-0032-02
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a poem by the American poet, T. S. Eliot, published in Chicago in June 1915. Described as a "drama of literary anguish," the poem presents the stream of consciousness of J. Alfred Prufrock, a presumably middle-aged, intellectual, indecisive man, in the form of a dramatic monologue. This poem marked the beginning of Eliot's career as an influential poet. The protagonist of this poem is on his way to an afternoon appointment to make a declaration of love to a woman. He invites the reader (or the other self) along with him through the modern city and shares his meditation about the dull, uneventful, mediocre life he leads as a result of his feelings of inadequacy and his fear of making decisions along the journey. The theme of this poem is to manifest how a desperate and lonely individual wanders in the lost modern world to reveal the lack of communication and alienation between people and a world of despair, lonliness, and sterility. This theme is perfectly delivered by various fascinating features of rendition, among which the title of the poem, the beginning, and figures of speech are the most impressive.
Eliot definitely did not name the poem as “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” randomly. “Love Song” draws a striking contrast between the form and the content. The form of the work has characteristics of most love songs, such as repetition (or refrain), rhyme, and rhythm, yet romance, joviality, and hope for love expected in a love song are never presented in the content of this poem. Eliot employed the form of a love song and the courtship between man and woman ironically to demonstrate the indifference, loneliness, alienation and desperation of people and the world at that time. The name Alfred can be interpreted as “all afraid” because Prufrock is truly a “Mr. all afraid”. He is afraid of presenting himself; he is afraid of facing people; he is afraid of declaring love; he is afraid of being refused. A balding desperate middle-aged man with thin arms and legs in a love song — what an ingenious combination!
The poem opens straightforwardly with "Let us go then, you and I." Who is “you” here? After thorough reading, we can infer that “You” is the other self of “I”. That is to say, “You and I” are divided parts of Prufrock’s own nature for he is undergoing internal conflicts. “I” is the person with instincts and physical form, while “you” is the same person with reason and soul. One self craves socializing, love from the opposite sex, and expressing his admiration to his beloved one; the other self is obsessed with his own image of balding middle-aged man with thin legs, his boring, listless life, and the fear of being refused. The opposition of the two selves tortures Prufrock from the beginning to the end. However, in the last stanza, the narrator changes from “I” to “we”, “Till human voices wake us, and we drown.” Two selves of Prufrock are combined into one, who is “drowned” in desperation. The theme of the poem is elevated and there is more. The switch of the narrator can also be interpreted as the switch from individual experience to universal status quo. It’s a world of disintegration, spiritual exhaustion, and desperation.
There are a number of striking figures of speech in the poem. In the first stanza, the images of the city are sterile and deathly; the night sky looks "Like a patient etherized upon a table", while down below barren "half-deserted streets" reveal "one-night cheap hotels/And sawdust restaurants". The evening sky is shockingly likened to “a patient etherized upon a table”, which inspires reader’s imagination to a new level: they can feel that the time that Prufrock lives is morbid, and an individual like Prufrock has no other choice but to live an insignificant and helpless life. Evening sky is about time and space, while patient on a operation table relates to the uncertainties of life. The images of the city bespeak a time of the world that needs operation, and the etherized patient reveals the paralysis of the individual and the world of the time as a whole. The somber and ghastly description of the city also makes readers wonder, whether Prufrock is on the way of proposing for love or on the journey to death.
The above images all speak to some part of Prufrock's personality. The etherized patient, for instance, reflects his paralysis (his inability to act) while the images of the city depict a certain lost loneliness.
Another fascinating and original comparison takes place in lines 50 and 51. “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” presents slides of his past life in reader’s mind: days (“evenings, mornings, afternoons”) passed by in coffee drinking, nothing extraordinary. Because he was in the middle of trivial matters all day long with nothing achieved, his life could only be measured by coffee spoons and his dreams and ambitions, if he has any, was never to be realized, let alone attracting the opposite sex. Then in lines 59 and 60, “Then how should I begin/To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?”, he compares the rest of his lifetime to the ends of cigarette, waiting to be spat out. We can surely see that he, as an individual, is week and incompetent, and he is totally hopeless and desperate. However, this cute metaphor does not confine to Prufrock’s individual experience. It also reveals a world in shackles, binding not only the inner desires, but also the outside environment for human development.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is recognized as one of the greatest poetry in the modern literary world. Why? Because it appeals richly to our senses and to our imaginations—thanks to Eliot’s exquisite rendition, we can feel, see, hear during Prufrock’s journey of love proposal; we can imagine how the city sky like a patient and how Prufrock’s past life fade away between coffee spoons. Most importantly, it touches the core of human living and suffering and loving, and it gives its reader a broader and deeper understanding of life, of his fellowmen, and of himself. We, as members of humankind, suffer as well though we do not have exactly the same experience as prufrock’s. We must have undergone the same desperation at some period to some extent. The question is—what should we do next in this modern world?
作者簡介:袁蕾,(1982-)籍贯:湖南,上海对外贸易学院,英语文学,硕士在读,英美文学,