The Poetics of Observation in Prufrock and Other Observations: On the Types of Observation and Persona

Abstract

The aim of this paper is threefold. First, this study introduces the context of objectivity in modernist poetry, especially Moore’s objectivity and Williams’s objectivity. Second, it differentiates T. S. Eliot’s objectivity from their objectivity. In doing so, this paper analyzes the poems in Prufrock and Other Observations according to the different type of observation and the different type of persona. The poetics of observation in Eliot’s Prufrock and Other Observations is dramatic, psychological, and complex. His manner of observation is more inward looking than Moore’s, and his poetics of exploring urban reality is more dramatic and psychological than Williams’s. Third, this paper intends to rescue Eliot from Williams’s harsh criticism against him. From Williams’s point of view, Eliot’s poetry represents the “old” world spirit. However, Eliot’s seemingly traditional way of dealing with the world is so resilient that we can appreciate his work even after the age of Eliot and across geographical borders.