IJCAES SPECIAL ISSUE ON
BASIC, APPLIED & SOCIAL SCIENCES, VOLUME II, JULY 2012
[ISSN: 2231-4946]
Imagery and Symbolism in T. S. Eliot’s Novels
Dipsikha Bhagawati
Research Scholar, Singhania University
Pacheri Bari, Dist. Jhunjhuru
Abstract – The literature of the present century is a product of the intellectual cross – breeding of various
forms and kinds. T. S. Eliot belongs to a period which itself was in a dilemmatic state of two worlds –the
old and the new; the pre – war and the post war period. The breakdown of the first world war created a
complete disillusionment and disintegration and introduced harsh materialism which devastated the moral
and spiritual values. As a sensible literature, T.S. Eliot was heavily influenced by this cruciality and chaos
that was mirrored in his poems. The pessimism and despair produced by this post war period made
thinkers look for a set of values which could point the way for betterment and reform and T. S. Eliot was a
pioneering figure of this crusade.
Keywords – T. S. Eliot, Literature, Prufrock.
I.
INTRODUCTION
T. S. Eliot’s work covers a vast arena of modern life. Vikramaditya Rai comments that “Eliot with his high
charged microscopic insight portrays the graphic picture of a despaired generation, the smell of war ridden soil, a
state of psychological insurgency and the monotony and futility of modern civilization and they are the images of
imperial catastrophe.”
Symbolism suggests an image with a host of associations. For instance, rose is generally a symbol of beauty, but
Eliot makes it represent Virgin Mary. Coriolanus stands for proud and selfish man. Eliot makes it a representation of
the lost leader and isolation and spiritual alienation. According to Edmund Wilson, symbolism is the medley of
images; the deliberately mixed metaphors, the combination of the grand and the prosaic manners; the bold
amalgamation of the material with the spiritual. Images imply pictures or other sense impressions conveyed in
words. An image in poetry is a word or expression which appeals directly to the sense organs. The function of
images is to concretise an abstract idea or an inner state of mind so that it may be clear to the readers.
II.
SYMBOLS
There are two types of symbols-traditional and personal. Traditional symbols are common stock symbols which
have been used in ancient times. Poets use personal symbols to originalise their work. For example in “The Love
Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, the evening is compared to a patient lying on an operation table and endless streets are
compared to irritating, monotonous arguments. Similarly, images are also of two kinds-traditional and personal. The
metaphysical conceit which consists of comparison between remote and farfetched objects is a kind of personal
image. For example, the moving fog is compared to a lazy cat.
Published in 1915, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a symbolic poem which reflects the condition and
mood of the modern city dwellers. It expresses the hollowness, infertility, the psychological trauma, the spiritual
languor, the frustration and the hamletic state of mind of the post war generation. Eliot portrays the modern minds
and their tensed vacuity through images and symbols which are mainly functional and compact. Eliot owes largely
to the English metaphysical poets and the French symbolists poets, headed by Baudlaire.
The mental condition of Prufrock, a bald headed, middle aged man is symbolized by an etherized patient on an
operation table:
“…when the evening is spread
Out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table.”
The patient is in a peculiar state of mind; he is conscious of nothing. Such is the condition of Prufrock—the liver
who has invited for an evening together. The long city streets are compared to monotonous arguments, one
following the other-“Nerves of Prufrock draw pattern on a screen with the help of magic lantern for his beloved. In
the poem, we see the images drawn from the sordid city life and raised to the height of poetic intensity which Eliot
learnt from Baudlaire. When Prufrock says-“I have measured out my life with coffeespoon” -he simply sums up the
entire existence of the superficial but sophisticated set of people, who are being captived within a monotonous circle
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Dipsikha Bhagawati
of trivialities. The lines –“Woman come and go, talking of Michaelangelo” satirises the vague pretensions of the
modern ladies in a symbolic way. Then the image of “lonely man in shirt –sleeves, leaning out of the window” gives
the essence of sterility and vacuity characterizing the lives of these hollow men. This reminds us of the lines in the
poem-“The Darkling Thrush” by Thomas Hardy who shares a same kind of feeling with that of Eliot—
“...The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed fervourless as I.”
The spreading fog of October evening resembles a cat that is lazily walking. The fog also symbolizes the
confused state of mind of Prufrock and the unhealthy physical environment of city life. The confusion of Prufrock is
a product of the cross section of the post war world where people were disillusioned. This dilemma can be well
compared to the confused mental state of the two characters of George Orwell’s novel-“Ninety Eighty Four”. As the
hard city life was too suffocating and unreal to Prufrock, Winston in “Nineteen Eighty Four” too found it sterile:-“…Were there always these vistas of rotting nineteenth century houses, their sides shored up with baulks of timber,
their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all
directions? Wooden dwellings like horses?” [page 6-7]
This feeling of despair occurs throughout the book: “He seemed to see a vision London vast and ruinous, city of
a million dustbins…with blocked wastepipe.”[page63]
Prufrock’s death wish to suicidal propensity of the modern man is evident in different parts of the poem. The
poet has used various images to highlight the idea; for instance- “pinned on the wall”[L-58], “The floors of the silent
sea” [L-74], “The eternal footman’’[L-85], “Chambers of the sea” [L-129], “We drown” [L-131], “m Lazarus” [L94]etc.
Eliot likes the images of nature, particularly of the sea. He scatters the floors of restaurant with oyster seashell,[L-7].He refers to himself as a kind of fish in the sea[L-74]. The sea –images can also represent the mind of
Prufrock which is violated by stormy waves and cannot be relaxed.
III.
METHODOLOGY
The best delight to a literary reader is produced by the literary images in the poem. There are three allusions in
the poem-Lazarus, Prince Hamlet and John the Baptist. Besides this, the Epigraph written at the top, from Dante’s
“Inferno” signifies that the world of Prufrock is a kind of hell. The situation is reiterated by reference to Lazarus.
Prufrock says –“I am Lazarus, come from hell to tell you all”. The contemporary world is a world of dead man, i.e
those who are spiritually sterile and stoic. The second literary allusion is to Prince Hamlet. Prufrock says – “No, I
am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be”. Prufrock is indecisive and tensed like that of Hamlet. But, he is unlike
Hamet as he has no sense of responsibility. The third literary allusion is the story of John the Baptist. He condemned
King Herod for taking away his brother’s life. Baptist was killed by Salome and she brought his head to King
Herod. Hence, Prufrock says that he is not like John the Baptist. John lived for a purpose and died for a cause
whereas prufrock wishes to die because he finds his life to be purposeless –
“Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald)
brought in upon a platter.
I am no prophet –and here’s no great matter”. [L-82-83].
IV.
CONCLUSION
The symbols and images used by Eliot in “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” are appealing and very compact,
as they can penetratingly portray their concerned atmosphere and situation. They emerge out of Eliot’s deep
realization of the anarchy, futility and alienation of man in a fragmented and disintegrated war ridden world. In the
poem the techniques of the English Metaphysical poets and French Symbolists are “amalgamated, adapted and
extended.” The images and symbols used in “The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock” contribute to the literary and
artistic majesty of the poem.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
B.Rajan ed: “T.S.Eliot: A Study of His Writings by Several Hands”.
Dr.S.Sen: “T.S.Eliot:The Waste Land and Other Poems” (Unique Publishers,2010)
George Orwell: “ Nineteen Eighty Four” (1949)
Manju Jain: “ T.S.Eliot:Selected Poems” (Oxford University Press.1992)
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Imagery and Symbolism in T. S. Eliot’s Novels
[5]
[6]
[7]
M.H.Abrams&Geoffrey Galt Harpham: “A Handbook of Literary Terms” (Cengage Learning,2009)
Ramji Lall: “Thomas Hardy :Selected Poems” (Rama Brothers,2003)
Vikramaditya Rai: “ AStudy of the Poetry of T.S.Eliot” (Doaba House,1991)
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