1. T. S. Eliot’s proem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is consider anarchetypal work of modernist literature. How does this poem show the influence of the free verse of Whitman we read for the previous unit? In what ways do its stylistic inventions go beyond that of Whitman?

2. Discuss Yeats’ poem, “Sailing to Byzantium.” Where is Byzantium and what kind of voyage does he take? What solace does the aging poet find in “monuments of unageing intellect”?

Requirements: 250 words minimum initial post for each question

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Similar to the free-verse poem of William, Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” lacks a consistent regular rhythm pattern.  This means the poem has metrical flexibility that lacks the art of versification in poems. For example, lines such as “Disturb the universe” and “Of insidious intent” have three words in a line (Eliot, 2020, Stanza 6, ln10 and stanza 11, ln 9). In contrast, lines such as “But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen” have more than ten words in a line (Eliot, 2020, stanza 14, ln7). This resembles William’s poem, which has some lines with eight words and others ten. Similarly, the poem lacks a consistent number of lines in all verses, which resembles William’s piece. This means both poems lack regular meters. Likewise, the poem has intentional line breaks, a critical characteristic of William’s free verse poem. For example, “should I, after tea and cakes and ices,” This intentional line break in Eliot’s poem resembles an intentional line break in William’s piece, such as in “And what rough beast, its hour come round at last” (Yeats, n.d., stanza2  ln 13).

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