Response to Question on Poetry: Literature Analysis

This essay provides an analysis of poetry, particularly focusing on the works of T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats. It examines the themes of inaction, fragmentation, and the impact of World War I on the modern poetic voice. The essay explores the characters' introspective nature, contrasting them with traditional heroic figures. It delves into the poems "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "An Irish Airman Foresees His Death," highlighting their portrayal of the human condition and the characters' contemplation of life and death. The analysis also touches upon the silence and lack of direct action of the protagonists, setting them apart from conventional heroes. The essay concludes by referencing the literary context and the impact of the war on the poets' perspective. This assignment is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib.

Running Head: RESPONSE TO QUESTION ON POETRY
Response to question on poetry
Name of the Student:
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Author Note:

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RESPONSE TO QUESTION ON POETRY
Along with the evolution of the world in its natural course, it has also come across
changes in the various aspects of definitions such as that of what is denoted as a heroic act
and who is a hero. Similar changes have been noticed in the world of literature since it is the
most honest reflection of life. The speakers of modern times are suffering from their world of
inaction, where they only think, and contemplate, and ponder instead of taking so action like
that of the speaker of T.S. Eliot’s one of the most celebrated work “The Love Song of J.
Alfred Prufrock” and that of the airman in Yeats’ “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death”. The
world of these protagonists are broken and fragmented, as the most direct and obvious
consequences of the First World War. The loss of human live, the lack of faith, and the sheer
inhuman nature of man has almost shocked them into silence (Eliot). Hence, they
contemplate about every single movement of theirs- Prufrock thinks about proposing to the
lady in the room about his appearance and how he might end up being rejected. Similarly the
Irish Airman understood about the futility of the years to come which according to him was
“a waste of breath” and life could never be in perfect balance with death- death shall always
lurk in the background (Yeats). However, unlike the speaker of (Yeats)’ “The Second
Coming” the heroes know better, hence they are quiet, and at a lack of words , unlike the
traditional sense of heroes who spoke in soliloquies and asides before performing acts which
deemed them to be heroes like that of “Macbeth” by William Shakespeare.

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RESPONSE TO QUESTION ON POETRY
Work Cited
Eliot, Thomas Stearns. "The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Poetry 6.3 (1915): 130-135.
Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Vol. 3. Lippincott, 1915.
Yeats, William Butler, and Alexander Norman Jeffares. Selected poetry. London: Macmillan,
1962.
Yeats, William Butler. "An Irish airman foresees his death." The Wild Swans at Coole (1989).