Read this excerpt from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Elliot. Assuming that Eliot's reference to mermaids in this excerpt symbolizes the sources of inspiration of traditional poetry, what do these lines imply? Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me. I have seen them riding seaward on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in the chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown. The poet wants to escape from the modern world by reverting to traditional poetry. The poet likes traditional poetry, but he feels incapable of working with traditional forms. The poet draws inspiration from the same sources as traditional poets. The poet feels that traditional sources of inspiration are ineffective in the modern world.

Assuming that Eliot's reference to mermaids in this excerpt symbolizes the sources of inspiration of traditional poetry, these lines must imply that the poet feels that traditional sources of inspiration are ineffective in the modern world.

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mcarc09 mcarc09 · Answer 2 · 2019-10-10T01:58:12+02:00

Answer:

The answer is indeed D. The poet feels that traditional sources of inspiration are ineffective in the modern world.

Explanation:

In the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, Elliot creates a speaker who - as is expressed by his soliloquy - is unfit to be a hero of romantic, traditional times. Prufrock is a man who has never fulfilled his desires, who is lonely and lives through others, who is insecure of his own appearance and ability to talk to women. He is no Hamlet, but "an attendant lord, one that will do / To swell a progress, start a scene or two..."

At the end of the poem, the mermaids do not sing for Prufrock. This is the modern world he lives in, a world where there is no room for his sensitivity. The poet is, by means of his character, expressing his opinion that traditional sources of inspiration are not effective anymore. The poetic genius is destroyed by the modern world's forces.