"Questioning Meaning in T.S. Eliot" by Mara M. Araujo

Project Title

"The Chambers of the Sea" and a "Knock Upon the Door": Questioning Meaning in T.S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land"

Author Information

Mara M. Araujo, Bridgewater State UniversityFollow

Abstract/Description

T.S. Eliot is an undeniably prominent figure in the Modernist poetry movement. Not only was he greatly influenced by his contemporaries but he was also a notable literary figure himself. To this day, he is regarded as an eminent voice for his war-torn generation. Considered by many to be Eliot’s finest works both “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and “The Waste Land” present broken thoughts, images, and allusions to the past, all fused together to reveal the disintegration of the modern world. This paper explores how "The Wasteland” differs from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in that though the speakers in both poems are searching, Prufrock’s journey ends in definite pessimism while the speaker in “The Waste Land” is left still searching.

Note on the Author

Mara Araujo is a graduating senior majoring in English and minoring in Communications. Her paper was completed in the fall semester of 2014 as part of the Modern British Poetry course taught by Dr. Tom Curley (English).

Recommended Citation

Araujo, Mara M. (2015). "The Chambers of the Sea" and a "Knock Upon the Door": Questioning Meaning in T.S. Eliot’s "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Waste Land". Undergraduate Review, 11, 26-30.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev/vol11/iss1/6

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Articles published in The Undergraduate Review are the property of the individual contributors and may not be reprinted, reformatted, repurposed or duplicated, without the contributor’s consent.

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