The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock Essay

People often find the need to seek the meaning of life. They feel as though there has to be more to life or that they are blinded to something vital in the grand scheme of things. Different people use different means, some go on grand journeys hoping to find some sort of wisdom in their experience. This is where we find a parallel in the lives of Chris McCandless and Siddhartha, the main characters of Into the wild by Jon Krakauer and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. In both stories the main character lives a well off life but becomes dissatisfied by societal conventions.

As this book ends, it questions about if there is life worth living. Mankind today has destroyed the idea of truth their ancestors had created. Without this truth, it becomes harder for people to experience what people went through to find meaning. For example, Dr. King’s legacy would not have influence people today if he had no purpose. His legacy cause today’s people to look at racism as a scar against all races.

When shown that our world is but a loop, we choose to continue. When shown that everything we do is simply the same struggle, over and over, forever the same waste of time, we don’t break away. We still go down this path of the least resistance, because we believe that that’s the way the world is. No matter what we as human beings do in life, we seem to be forever trapped in cycles, whether it be a cycle of work, a cycle of love, or any other type. But why do we follow monotonous cycles in life and even conform to such cycles?

The definition of a perfect life has changed drastically over time. In the 21st century, one is particularly obsessed with relationships, careers and the luxury of one 's homes. Aside from the lavishness, some may encounter issues with discovering themselves. Young people especially, struggle to understand their purpose, leaving them in mini personal crisis. Knowing one’s purpose allows one to live their lives accordingly.

The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock written by T.S. Elliot, is the despondent poem of a middle-aged man named Prufrock suffering from an acute spiritual malaise due to his monotonous and tentative existence. Eliot beautifully told Prufrock's tale through careful use of literary devices. A device that appeared frequently throughout the poem was an allusion. These allusions were used to easily bring forth the impressions and characteristics conveyed by the sources alluded to, as well as creating flexibility for his readers. Hamlet, To His Coy Mistress, and The Bible are a few notable sources that Eliot alludes to within the poem.

During the struggle of having a meaningful life, an individual must be able to define what is meaningful and how to obtain it. In the story excerpt “The Signature of All Things” by Elizabeth Gilbert, the protagonist, Alma, explores the part of her childhood where she breaks away from routine and makes the decision to make the most of the moment. To contrast, the poem “Atrophy” by Julia Copus explores the outcome of people who do not make the most of their lives and are stuck thinking of their wasted potential. An individual must routinely reconcile their past and present to obtain the power to make autonomous choices in order to create a meaningful life before the opportunity to grasp this power reaches its expiration date.

Peyton Williamson Professor Tanya Boler English 223301 March 23, 2015 Analysis of the Modern Connections Present in “The Love Story of J. Alfred Prufrock” T.S. Elliot was one of the most well-read literary composers and seemed to be his own endless book of literary references. His mind could simply make literary connections in a work without his actual conscious consent. There were times when his own literary works were made up almost entirely of allusions to other works of literature.

The reader can acknowledge how Singer believes that the primary source of living a meaningful life, is love. Within his novel, the Pursuit of Love, Irving Singer discusses how love is the central definition of what meaning is, as well as further analyzes how love is not a desire to be loved. Nonetheless, Irving Singer would claim that life is not meaningless because humans search for meaning within all aspects of our existence. By solely being alive, individuals find the things that matter to them; therefore, whatever we as individuals believe “matters,” is a prerequisite for our life because it will bring happiness. Irving Singer’s optimistic theories make him an ideal philosopher because he offers an immense amount of insight by discussing how we can add meaning to our lives.

Susan Wolf’s book, Meaning in Life and Why It Matters, is a collection of her lectures and her own philosophical views on what makes a life meaningful. There is no doubt that life is meaningful, but what gives it meaning? Most people, if asked the question, “what is your life's meaning” would say “to be happy.” Wolf shuts down this answer, and states that living a happy life is not equivalent to living a meaningful life. For example, Mother Theresa and Ghandi did not always live a happy life, but their lives were very much meaningful.

The way that such intricate, specific, and divergent books and life events relate is quite showing that the choices we make do affect others and ourselves, our passions define us in positive and negative ways, and being alone in an indifferent world makes us more aware in the end. Hardship and toil prove themselves to be worth it because for Marjane, Meursault, and myself, the results of our hard work with teach us more strength and independence than before. Existentialism exists more than we can see, and its philosophy promotes learning from

Why do we exist? Does it have any meaning or purpose? The movie Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life attempts to answer these questions and express these meanings and purposes of life by touching mainly on two

Is love always a positive influence? The poems “A Love Song” by William Williams and “Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Shelley both discuss love. “A Love Song” is full of negative imagery, and suggests that love changes how one sees the world for the worse. In contrast the poem “Love’s Philosophy” uses positive diction and beautiful imagery to convey the idea that love is something to be desired by all. Both authors convey these themes using the literary devices of diction, imagery, and tone.

Seung Woo Lee Ms.Aubrey World Literature September 11, 2014 World Literature Paper To many, the meaning of of life is a constant cycle of searching and failing. Many have attempted to ascertain the true value and meaning of life. People repeatedly question the purpose of life.

Leading a human life is a full-time occupation, to which everyone devotes decades of intense concern.” (Nagel, 719) Nagel also argues that we all reflect about whether life is worth it or not. To avoid this this absurdity, we try to give meaning to our lives through what we do “seeking fulfillment in service to society, the state, the revolution, the progress of history, the advance of science, or religion and the glory of God.” (Nagel, 720) But this leads to the conflict that if this thing that gives meaning to our life, it must be significant.

That is our choice the way we live our temporary life and the way we make it meaningful for ourselves What is the meaning of life? Why we exist here? What are we living for? These questions are asked, discussed and argued by many philosophers around the world to look for a significance of people’s living or existence in general.