Here is the answer and explanation to the question In T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” what figures of speech are used in lines 57–58 and 73–74?
In T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” what figures of speech are used in lines 57–58 and 73–74?
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The main device that T. S. Eliot uses in these lines is metaphor, a figure of speech employing direct comparison of unlike things. He compares himself to an unidentified insect specimen and to an unnamed sea creature. He also uses a type of metaphoric comparison called synecdoche, the use of a part to represent the whole. In the line, “I should have been a pair of ragged claws,” rather than compare himself to a specific, whole animal, likely a crab, Prufrock uses the claws to stand for the entire sea creature.
Other literary devices include types of repetition. Alliteration, the repetition of initial consonant sounds, appears in lines 57–58 in “when”–used twice—“wriggling,” and “wall.” The W sound is emphasized by use of assonance, repeating a vowel sound, within the “aw” sound of “sprawled” and “wall.” Alliteration is also used in Lines 73–74, “should … scuttling … silent seas.” The S sound there is further emphasized by use of consonance, the repetition of the same consonant within a word, in the final S of plural worlds throughout these lines: “claws … across … floors … seas.” Eliot does something similar with the C sound that begins “claws” and appears within “scuttling” and “across.”
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Lines 57-58 are as follows:
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall
Here, the speaker uses a metaphor, comparing himself to an insect specimen pinned to a wall while it is still alive. The speaker also uses vivid imagery, which is description using the five senses of sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch. Here we can see the insect pinned and wriggling, an unpleasant and painful sight.
Eliot employs assonance in these lines as well: assonance occurs when a vowel sound repeats within words near each other. Here, “pinned” and “wriggling” share the short “I” sound. Eliot uses anaphora, which is repetition at the beginning of successive lines of poetry, in the “when I am” construction at the beginning of each line.
Lines 73-74 are as follows:
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
The speaker again uses vivid imagery. The second line employs alliteration, which is when words beginning with the same consonant are placed close to each other: Scuttling, silent, and seas all begin with “s.”
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In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” T.S. Eliot uses a variety of figures of speech, especially metaphors. A metaphor is a comparison that does not use the words “like” or “as.” Two examples of metaphors are seen in lines 57 – 58 and 73 – 74. In the first of these, the persona of the poem compares himself to a specimen being mounted for scientific study. It could be a butterfly, insect, or other such creature that is being called to mind. The metaphor is made more graphic by showing that the persona is being mounted while he is still alive, for he is “pinned and wriggling on the wall.” In the second, the persona compares himself to a crab or other such creature that scuttles along the ocean floor. Both these metaphors speak to the insignificance that the persona feels when confronted not only with social situations, which he finds awkward, but also with the great questions of life, such as the meaning of existence and whether there is an afterlife.
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