TS Elliot - english Flashcards
Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock quote 2
The “crab” metaphor further symbolises his stagnation, illustrating his inability to move forward in life due to his paralyzing introspection.
Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock themes
isolation, alienation, and the entrapment
Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock quote 1
Prufrock’s fixation on his appearance—his “bald spot,” “ill-fitting shirt,” and “thin” limbs—reflects his deep sense of alienation from high society and from himself, suggesting that he feels trapped in a perpetual state of inadequacy.
Love Song of Alfred J Prufrock quote 3
Eliot’s opaque Biblical allusion to John the Baptist, who was metaphorically beheaded, parallels Prufrock’s existential crisis and the sense of a life lived without purpose.
Long Song of Alfred J prufrock quote 4
dramatic monologue and descriptions of “half-deserted streets” and “cheap hotels” evoke a joculare allusion to a modern version of Dante’s inferno, reinforcing the theme of entrapment within a nightmarish, self-imposed isolation.
Journey of the Magi themes
societal alienation and how liberation may be sought through spiritual fulfillment
Journey of the Magi quote 1
“hostile and unfriendly” cities reflects the difficulty of seeking spiritual enlightenment in a secular world, underscoring how entrenched societal norms can trap individuals in spiritual disillusionment.
Journey of the Magi quote 2
The allusion to the “old white horse galloped away in the meadow,” evoking the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, symbolises the pervasive sense of spiritual decay and the feeling that divine presence has abandoned humanity. This imagery contrasts with the Magi’s realisation of spiritual awakening, paralleling Eliot’s three dimensional view that like in Jesus’ death and ressurection faith and the broader quest for meaning may be restored.
journey of the Magi quote 3
The Magi’s anticlimactic observation of Christ’s birth as “satisfactory” and his resigned statement “I should be glad of another death” capture the profound isolation felt by those who maintain deep spiritual beliefs in a secular society
journey of the magi quote 4
he oxymoron “glad of another death” poignantly reflects the Magi’s sense of liberation only through spiritual transcendence.
The Hollow Men themes
meaningless external world, emptiness and superficial morbidity
The Hollow Men quote 1
The fragmented motif of eyes, “the eyes are not here / There are no eyes here” forces readers to confront the bleak reality of humanity’s spiritual blindness and ignorance.
The Hollow Men quote 2
paradoxical anaphora of “We are the hollow men. We are the stuffed men,” and the oxymoronic expressions “Shape without form, shade without colour,” and “paralysed force, gesture without motion,” which depict lives that are both empty and unfulfilled.
