The love song of j. alfred prufrock literary devices

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ has been called, by the academic literary critic Christopher Ricks (one of the finest living critics and the co-editor of Eliot’s poetry), the best first poem in a first volume of poems: it opened Eliot’s debut collection, Prufrock and Other Observations, in 1917.

In addition to this detailed analysis of the poem, you might find also want to read our related post on the imagery and symbolism of ‘Prufrock’.

‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’ had been written by T. S. Eliot, though, back in 1910-11, and made its debut in print in June 1915, when it was published in Poetry magazine. Previously, one poetry bookseller had rejected the poem on the grounds that it was ‘absolutely insane’: Harold Monro, an influential publisher and owner of the Poetry Bookshop in London, was offered the chance to publish ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’. He flung it back, labelling it ‘insane’, as Pete T&s eliot love song.