T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” has many
connections to Sherwood Anderson’s WInesburg,
Ohio, particularly in theme and organization that contribute to the common
idea of an internal brokenness and struggle, or as termed by Anderson a “grotesqueness”.
T.S.
Eliot first makes this connection through the organization of the poem. A long
poem, written as a variation of a dramatic monologue, the poem divides up very
easily, reading as both a part and as a whole. LikeWinesburg, Ohio, which can be considered both a novel and a collection
of short stories, the poem can be read as a whole or in segments, each segment
being a story within a story. This broken structure connects with the idea of
fragmentation, or brokenness, seen in both WInesburg,
Ohio and the poem. The poem also displays this fragmentation through the
intertwining of formal and informal structure. Like the grotesques, Prufrock
struggles internally and this brokenness and disconnect seen in both works is
echoed in the divided structure of the poem. The destructive power of this
internal battle is particularly seen in the poem with the ending phrase of “we
drown”. Drowning indicates a struggle, a challenge between getting air and
succumbing to the water, just as characters in both instances face.
Additionally,
the poem echoes WInesburg, Ohio in
thematic content. This idea of brokenness seen in both works, connects to the
idea of the grotesque in Winesburg, Ohio.
A grotesque is described as someone who takes a truth and embraces it, living
their life by it; however, this contrasts with the idea that the truths are
beautiful. This creates an interesting
juxtaposition in both works. Just as many of the “grotesque” characters in WInesburg face, Prufrock also faces isolation.
This separation, as also indicated by the structure’s fragmented feel, also
combines with the need for understanding seen in WInesburg. Prufrock’s communicate
what he needs to say, as he mentions “It is impossible to say just what I
mean!"—displaying this difficulty with connecting to others . Many
characters in Winesburg also have this problem with connecting, and as a result
never are truly understood. Enoch, for example does not communicate the true
meaning of his art, so he is never really understood.
The
idea of the subconscious and dreams is also prominent in both stories. Prufrock
says, “the frame, once chosen, within which the author has elected to work, may
itself evoke other psychic material; and then, lines of poetry may come into
being, not from the original impulse, but from a secondary stimulation of the
unconscious mind." Like many of the Winesburg
Characters he also struggles with the difference between his dreams and
reality, or the subconscious and conscious. This also draws back to the
isolation and inability to communicate as things are said and appear one way,
but in the subconscious a whole different world is created and the true inner
thoughts of someone are released. This forms the fragmentation and separation
not only between the character and others, but within the self.
