The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a dramatic monologue that follows the personas unsuccessful quest to express his love to a woman. Rhapsody on a Windy Night follows the journey of the persona down a street at night during which he is constantly reminded of his memories. Both poems by T.S. Eliot, though different, have common characteristics regarding visions of journey and urban life. Differences arise in how women are shown and in the rhyme and structural layout of the poems. A musical link is present between them, which gives the impression that the two poems could be related.
Firstly if you take in account the title of both poems and read the poem itself, you can clearly see that they are, in a way, contrary. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is indeed not a love song and Rhapsody on a Windy Night does not express great enthusiasm or happiness as the title would suggest.
Another common feature of both poems is the direct and indirect references to poems by Italian poet Dante are present. At the start of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot includes an epigraph taken from Dantes Inferno Canto XXVII to describe who Prufrocks ideal listener is one who is as lost as the speaker and will never betray Prufrocks confessions. In Rhapsody on a Windy Night an indirect link is made with Dantes poem The Divine Comedy in which the personas journey is also made between midnight and 4 a.m.
Both poems by Eliot include some form of a journey. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the persona travels on a psychological journey. At the start of the poem the journey is more physical in that Prufrock actually walks to the place of the party. As the poem continues you can start to sense the journey taking place in his mind. He talks about the yellow fog in the third stanza as if he is in a trance. In the fifth stanza, Prufrock goes on to ask himself whether he dare/disturb the universe? by asking the women out, while continuously worrying about how others see him.
Prufrock continuously thinks about how he is pinnedto the wall and always under observation as it seems to him. As the poem carries on the persona delves into his mind thinking about whether it [would] have been worth it, after all and how he is not like great people, e.g. Prince Hamlet and Lazarus. By the end of the journey in his mind, Prufrock escapes into a dream of fantasy about mermaids riding seaward on the waves. The journey ends with a sense of helplessness and uncertainty.
Looking at Rhapsody on a Windy Night you can immediately conclude that it contains a physical journey. The physical journey is indeed of the persona walking down the street to his hotel. In addition to the physical journey, which provides the backbone to the poem, there is a psychological journey taking place, like in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
The physiological journey in Rhapsody on a Windy Night is based mainly on the personas memories. Throughout the poem the persona walking down the street, sees street lamps which stimulate his imagination and curiosity. He continuously thinks about the past and different memories just flood into his mind. His memory throws upa crowd of twisted things and the persona describes these memories as worn-out and ready to snap.
Like The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the journey in Rhapsody on a Windy Night and the poem itself end in a note of helplessness and uncertainty. The last lines of the poem read prepare for life/The last twist of the knife which seem to suggest that life itself is no easier or happier than the memories.
Another similarity between the two poems is the setting. Both poems are set in an urban area in the early years of the 20th century. Also both poems show the isolation of the persona. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, the persona is actually physically isolated from the society mainly because of his low self-esteem and the lack of faith in himself. In Rhapsody on a Windy Night the persona is more psychologically isolated in that he withdraws into his memories making him isolated.
These ideas might suggest to us how Eliot saw urban life in those years. It shows that society had limitations in those times, and still does, meaning that the desires of people could not be satisfied or fulfilled. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Rhapsody on a Windy Night the personas are depicted as gloomy thoughtful characters that cannot satisfy their desires. For example Prufrocks love is beyond achievement but still within his desires. Through fantasizing or day-dreaming, the personas escape the limitations of reality, attempting to fulfil their desires and alleviate the pain of living and reality. From these ideas we can say that Eliot saw life in those days as painful, stressful and problematic. This is expected since both poems were published in the gloomy days of World War I.
Differences in how women are seen in both poems are present. In The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock since the persona is unsuccessful in expressing his love to a woman, women are viewed as unapproachable and of a higher class. This is conveyed in the line the women come and go/Talking of Michelangelo. From this we can see that the women dont care for anything as they come and go, thinking themselves superior. On the other hand in Rhapsody on a Windy Night women are shown as promiscuous, sordid and of a lower class. This is evident from the negative connotations that the poet gives the woman by referring to the womans dress as torn and stained with sand and stating that the corner of her eye/Twists like a crooked pin.
The structure, rhyme scheme and rhythm of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock are irregular but not quite random. There is some form structure to the poem though only a bit. This resembles how Prufrock thinks. His mind is confused and his ideas and thoughts are everywhere. Rhapsody on a Windy Night appears to have a bit more structure to it than The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. The rhyme scheme is still irregular but not as much as that of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. There seems to be more rhyming in Rhapsody on a Windy Night. Both poems have a similar kind of rhythm. In Rhapsody on a Windy Night the stating of the time periodically and the image of the street-lamp actually help to provide structure to the poem by organising the memories of the persona.
These two poems seem to have links between them. The ideas in both are very similar and one could consider the possibility of whether one poem is an extension of the other. You could probably say that Rhapsody on a Windy Night follows the journey of Prufrock back to his hotel from the party. The mood suits this idea in that it is gloomy and offcourse, perfectly suited to the way Prufrock would feel after he is unsuccessful in asking the women out. Though the poems are indeed separate from each other, you cant help but notice similarities between them that might hint to some connection.
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