Eliot, T S--(Thomas Stearns),--1888-1965--Love song of J Alfred Prufrock

Concentrating on Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," with M. L. Rosenthal's term "floating realities" as my starting point, I discuss how time and its malleable nature relates to Prufrock's "linear reality" and his "non-linear" "floating realities." Prufrock's "linear reality" is the external world of appearances and his internal psychological landscape. I then reveal the "floating realities" that are generated by Eliot's otherworldly allusions. Finally, I discuss chaos theory, another way to explore the poem's multi-dimensional nature.

The teaching of the Modernist movement can be frustrating for both teachers and students. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which is commonly found in high school textbooks, can be daunting for teachers who do not know how to approach it. The purpose of this document is to supply teachers with the knowledge they need to effectively teach this important poem. The Modernist movement as a whole is examined, as is the life of T. S. Eliot. The poem is elucidated on a stanza-by-stanza basis; this examination is followed by individual essays on theme, allusion, and metaphor. Last, the teacher will find questions to pose to students and ways in which these issues can be tackled by the student critic.