Love Song of 1910

Bombs Away!!                                                                    

T.S. Eliot’s poem entitled “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was written by Eliot some time between 1910 and 1911. The most evident historical significance is that this poem was composed before WWI. However, it still possesses the same somber tone that post WWI poetry is infused with. This is most likely creatively related to the other pre-WWI events and customs. These events include but are not limited to one’s affecting arts and culture, science, technology, and ideas, social change, and war. politics and nature. One example concerning Art and Culture was the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre on August 22nd 1911. This is simply one example of the growing popularity of art in terms of its monetary value. In a way, it goes against the pre-modern idea of art for art’s sake that was also adopted by the modernists. This is loosely related to to Eliot’s line in “Prufrock” “In the room the women come and go/[t]alking of Michelangelo” (Eliot 35-36). This may be an example Eliot’s possible disgust over the discussion of art as high brow status symbol instead of something to be cherished. One historical event that pertains to Science, Technology and Ideas was the first official airmail flight on February 18th, 1911. This was significant because it increased the speed of mail delivery by an extreme amount. This allowed people to share information very rapidly. This increase in communication most likely lead people to feel that they had more of an effect on the world as their letters and information could be sent around the world at a rapid rate. This may be related to Eliot’s quipping of “Do I dare/[d]isturb the universe?” (45-6) to help characterize the expansive affect people could now have on the world. The may also be related to Eliot’s description of all the eyes that are always on Prufrock. The samemillions of eyes that leave him “pinned and wriggling on the wall” (58). An example of social change would be the September 1st, 1910 papal compulsory oath against modernism. This was significant because it points out people were shocked by modernism’s new and different tendencies. These are the same characteristics of modernism that were found in Eliot’s poem. An example of this would be Eliot’s comparing himself to John the Baptist. An idea that the Catholic Church may see as sacrilege. The final historical grouping of War and Political change holds the most significance. One of the more significant example was the worlds first official aerial bombing on November 1st, 1911. This was an event that had to make people feel uneasy as the idea of bombs suddenly falling from the sky and onto to your town had to be a terrifying new concept. This relates completely to to the uneasiness and mere terror of the public sphere that Prufrock so possesses in Eliot’s work. This is clear when he states: “And in short, I was afraid” (86). Therefore, the somber modernist tone that Eliot possesses in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” was most likely influenced by the historical events around the poems time of composition.