Introduction to Modernism:

Background to “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

At the beginning of the 1900s, the world view of writers was changing in many ways. The world seemed to have shifted on its axis. Popular culture was catching up to changes in many fields. So, what had changed to precipitate a shift?

For about two centuries, philosophers had already shifted radically in their perspective on what we can know. Kant had said that men cannot know truth beyond limits of the mind and the senses, never knowing the essence of a thing-in-itself. Kierkegaard later posited that perception of truth is relative to each one’s personal experience. And Nietzsche had extended that thought into a nihilism (the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless). For some, this led to a search for power and projecting personal values onto others. This came late in the 1800s.

Around that time, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution made many question what was special about humankind. And Freud taught a psychology that focused on primitive and subconscious urges that lead people to act as they do. Reason was in question.

Meantime, oddly, science was bounding forward at an unprecedented pace from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. Inventions such as autos, airplanes, radios, electric lights, and moving pictures changed everyday life. And by 1905 the very substance of the universe, time, space, and gravity, were refocused in the newly discovered Theory of Relativity. People began to wonder:

Is truth relative?

Society also witnessed a dangerous rise in nationalism, while industrialism could mass produce more tools for modern warfare, more slums, and more pollution (though smog had been a problem since the 1700s in places like London). The fragile balance of power that was held through a network of treaties around Europe broke with the advent of World War I (1914-1918),

Which was then called “the war to end all wars.”

Even before this war, in a world so apparently subject to change, the arts had also begun to change. Graphic art had shifted from a focus on the realistic visual effects of light (Impressionism)—to a personal, subjective art of emotion (Expressionism)—to an abstract reconstruction of reality (Cubism and Surrealism)—and even a total disavowal of terms for what is art (Absurdism). [For a visual tour of this shift, see the following in images on cell phone or computer]:

Monet’s “Impression, Sunrise” (1872)

Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (1889)

Munch’s “The Scream” (1893)

Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907)

Duchamp’s “Fountain” (1917)

Contemporary literature was also subject to change and subjective uncertainty. Both poets and novelists styled their art in distrust of history, legacy, reason, and sentimentality. Books, like cinema, could feature a barrage of images to represent a mystical, changing world—sometimes as external objects/ sometimes in interior mental monologues. And poems were often framed without rhythm or rhyme, cut to the bare bones of imagery. One early Imagist poem began as 31 lines that were cut to only two lines. Here is “In a Station of the Metro” by Pound:

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:

Petals on a wet, black bough.

The poem is not even a complete sentence.

By 1915, one year into WWI, T.S. Eliot published “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” This love song begins with a descent into hell and moves on to a ‘date’ “When the evening is spread out against the sky/ Like a patient etherized upon a table.”

See “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock | Representative Poetry Online” at

https://rpo.library.utoronto.ca>poems

This version translates the Italian epigraph quoted from “The Inferno” in Dante’s Divine Comedy, which opens Eliot’s poem. Other copies are also available online.

Note that the poem came out in the same year that poison gas was used in WWI. Over 40 million would die in that war, and another 50 million from 1918-1920 from the Spanish Flu in the post-war years of poverty and recovery.

After you read the poem, write a few notes about the theme or themes, the persona of Prufrock, and the way the poem ends: What does it mean? The notes may contain lines from the poem. This is not an essay. You may use any helpful study aids, but the conclusions come from you and how you tie lines of the poem into your ideas of theme, persona, and conclusions. Submit by Friday at midnight under PRUFROCK NOTES.

[Next week is the final exam on poems, to be posted online in ecampus.]

A-B-C-D Approach to Objective Writing

Writing objectives is much like writing outcomes in the nursing process. Objectives must be measurable, contain action verbs, be specific, include timelines, and indicate the degree to which you expect the leaner to achieve.

A helpful formula to write objectives is the A-B-C-D approach:

· Audience: Who is the audience for the class? Is it a student nurse? A staff nurse? A participant in a class?

· Behavior: What do I want the audience to accomplish by the end of the class? An example of a behavior is being able to identify the signs and symptoms of infection.

· Condition: How will students demonstrate mastery and be assessed in their learning? An example could be that students will demonstrate their knowledge of a lab or clinical area by taking a written test.

· Degree: How well will students perform their new knowledge? Should students be able to identify all signs and symptoms of infection, or would it be satisfactory if they identified only two symptoms?

A sample objective that illustrates these points is: “After reading this lecture (condition), the graduate student in the nurse educator track (audience) will be able to write an objective (behavior) using the A-B-C-D approach (degree).”

The above objective dictates that the student will be able to write an objective, as opposed to discussing or identifying it. Since the objective says “write,” the student must write an objective to meet this objective. If the objective instead said: “List the components of a complete learner objective,” the appropriate evaluation would require that the student list the A-B-C-D; whereas the objective “describe the components” would have students describe the meaning of each A-B-C-D step. Well-written objectives will dictate the evaluation process.

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Notes on Browning’s

“My Last Duchess”

Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet who became famous for the dramatic monologue, a narrative by one person who reveals his or her character by telling a story. “My Last Duchess,” one of his most famous dramatic monologues, set a pattern for many poets of the twentieth century.

Browning set this poem in the Italian Renaissance days of Machiavelli, the Borgias, and the Medici, when court intrigues among the kings, queens, and dukes were part of a shifting political landscape as aristocratic families murdered, manipulated, and married their way into power. Marriage was often a means to money and influence, and dowries were expected as the bride’s family contributed a generous portion of worldly property to the new union.

This monologue implies that the Duke of Ferrara is entertaining the representative of a count, an advisor helping arrange a marriage. The Duke reveals more than he realizes as he meets with the Count’s advisor.

“My Last Duchess”—Robert Browning

FERRARA

That’s my last duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive. I call

That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will ‘t please you sit and look at her? I said 5

“Fra Pandolf ” by design, for never read

Strangers like you that pictured countenance,

The depth and passion of its earnest glance,

But to myself they turned (since none puts by

The curtain I have drawn for you but I) 10

And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst*, *dared

How such a glance came there; so, not the first

Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ‘twas not

Her husband’s presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps 15

Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps

Over my Lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint

Must never hope to reproduce the faint

Half-flush that dies along her throat”; such stuff

Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough 20

For calling up that spot of joy. She had

A heart … how shall I say? … too soon made glad,

Too easily impressed; she liked what’er

She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

Sir, ‘twas all one! My favor at her breast, 25

The dropping of the daylight in the West,

The bough of cherries some officious fool

Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule

She rode with round the terrace—all and each

Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 30

Or blush, at least. She thanked men,--good; but thanked

Somehow … I know not how … as if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame

This sort of trifling*? Even had you skill 35 *jesting, toying, or

In speech—(which I have not)—to make your will flirting

Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this

Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,

Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let

Herself be lessoned* so, nor plainly set 40 *taught

Her wits to yours, forsooth*, and made excuse, *in truth

--E’en* then would be some stooping; and I choose *even

Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; 45

Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands

As if alive. Will ‘t please you rise? We’ll meet

The company below, then. I repeat,

The Count your Master’s known munificence* * lavish generosity

Is ample warrant that no just pretense* 50 *request or claim

Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;

Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed,

At starting, is my object*. Nay, we’ll go *goal

Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,

Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, 55

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

Commentary

In lines one through ten, the “last duchess” in the fresco on the wall portrays the deceased wife that the duke describes to this advisor. The Duke’s attitude toward the portrait speaks of his feelings for his late wife. It is noteworthy that the Duke has placed a curtain over the portrait to control access to her likeness. He makes a point to mention the name and skill of the artist and the curious “countenance” of the woman in the painting. Her look suggests the suggestive smile of a Mona Lisa, and this leads the Duke down memory lane.

Lines 11-30 record a shift: This aristocrat exposes annoyance at the lady’s constantly ready and accessible smile and “A heart … how shall I say … too son made glad,/ Too easily impressed” by artist, nature, or “fool.”

Lines 31-44 express how the lordly Duke chafes at the memory of how she acted “as if she ranked/ My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name/ With anybody’s gift.” He suggests that she might have been “lessoned” or taught more respect (though readers may note thatthis might have lessened her natural joy and celebration of life). But he says, “I choose never to stoop.”

Browning may intend the lessoned/ lessened pun to show how the lady’s open heart would take on the snobbery and pretense of the Duke—if he had his way.

In lines 45-47, the Duke now revels in his assertion of final control: “I gave commands;/ Then all smiles stopped,” implying a sudden demise. And there is no sign of remorse, since “There she stands/ As if alive.” [Is he preening and posing as one who gets what he wants? Or is he just orally processing an inner satisfaction?]

The succeeding lines 48-53 return to the present business, as the Duke notes “The Count your Master’s known munificence/ Is ample warrant” of a fair dowry in the upcoming marriage. Munificence is lavish generosity—which the Duke himself so lacks. This is implied not only in the past treatment of his late wife, but in the description of his wife-to-be as “my object”—for the Duke shows a very detached conscience in regard to his last soul mate as a castoff object, no more.

In lines 53-54, the reader can infer the advisor’r reaction to the former duchess’ death when the Duke stops a quick retreat—“Nay, we’ll go / Together down, Sir!” This advisor, possibly a type of consigliere to his Count, does not want to stay. [Why is this family representative so ready to leave? Is he getting cold feet about this marriage-merger?]

Lines 54-56 indicate that the Duke appears oblivious to this shift, still dropping names and bragging about another piece of art. He points out “Neptune,” who is “Taming a sea-horse,” which reflects his own unctuous, smug, self-satisfied dominance of all in his domain. His attitude, like his sculpture, seems “cast in bronze.”

Although—or because—the Duke allows no one else to speak, he seems unaware that this former wife may truly be his “last duchess.”

The reader, placed in the role of his audience (the count’s advisor), can understand more about the Duke than the autocrat knows of himself.

How would you describe the Duke and his attitude toward people?

How is the poem revealing layers of dramatic irony and symbols?