The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in popular culture

Last updated

T. S. Eliot's 1915 poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is often referenced in popular culture.

Contents

Film and television

The poem is quoted several times, by various characters, in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). [1] [2]

The film I've Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987) directed by Patricia Rozema takes its title from a line in the poem; as does the film Eat the Peach (1986), directed by Peter Ormrod.

In the Woody Allen film Midnight in Paris (2011), Gil (Owen Wilson) mentions the poem to T. S. Eliot as they get into a taxi. [3] [4]

The film Saturn Returns (2009) features a diegetic reading of the poem. That scene was later used in the director Lior Shamriz's derivative experimental film Return Return, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2010.

The film It Follows (2014) features a diegetic reading of three stanzas of the poem.

In the film Mike's Murder (1984), Philip Green (played by Paul Winfield) paraphrases from the poem in describing the title character, Mike Chuhutsky (played by Mark Keyloun): "He was always preparing a face to meet the faces that he met."

In the BBC TV Serial Bird of Prey (1982), 'Prufrock' is proposed as the codename for the secret plan to murder civil servant Henry Jay (played by Richard Griffiths), suggested by his corrupt senior officer Tony Hendersly (played by Jeremy Child).

In season one, episode two of the HBO drama Succession, "Shit Show at the Fuck Factory," character Frank Vernon (played by Peter Friedman) misquotes the poem: "I am just an attendant lord, here to swell a scene or two." [5] He references the poem once more by name in season 2, episode six, "Argestes," mentioning he likes to "recite Prufrock internally" during audits. [5]

Besides these film references, there are several short video adaptations and animations of this poem that are available online. Among others, we may find Jeffrey Martin's, Patty Arroyo's, Christopher Scott's, Laura Serivans's and Yulin Kuang's adaptations. There is also a forty-minute video and musical adaptation by the American rock band Heresy (see Music).

Music

Answering Eliot's query, "Do I dare to eat a peach?", The Allman Brothers Band titled their 1972 album Eat A Peach .

James McMurtry sings "I measure out my life in coffee grounds" in his song "Charlemagne's Home Town" on the 2005 album Childish Things , a variation of the verse "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons". [6]

Frank Turner references Prufrock in the song title "I knew Prufrock before he got famous" on his 2008 album Love Ire & Song . [7]

"Afternoons & Coffeespoons" (1993), a song by the Canadian pop rock group Crash Test Dummies, is built on references to the poem, and namedrops Eliot himself. [8]

Sting sings in the song "Bring on the Night" on The Police 1979 album Reggatta de Blanc , "The afternoon has gently passed me by, the evening spreads itself against the sky" which evokes: "Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening is spread out against the sky".

Bo Burnham opens his song "Repeat Stuff" by saying "Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized upon a table... T. S. Eliot"

Tori Amos sings "Heard the eternal footman / Bought himself a bike to race" in her song "Pretty Good Year."

The song by the band Mumford & Sons, "There Will Be Time", borrows its title and part of its chorus from the poem: "And indeed there will be time".

In the ninth verse of his song "Desolation Row", Bob Dylan references Eliot and Ezra Pound "fighting in the captain's tower". He alludes to the final stanza of Prufrock describing how "Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow".

The New York progressive rock band Heresy performs a forty-minute musical and video adaptation of Eliot's poem, featuring lead vocalist Tony Garone. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was set to music by Tony Garone and Scott Harris. The video was made by Tony Garone himself, with illustrations by Julian Peters. [9] [10]

In the album I am Nothing, Versus Shade Collapse has produced a musical adaptation of the poem called "An Adaptation of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

The folk musician Peter Mulvey ends the "Notes From Elsewhere" version of his song "The Trouble With Poets" by quoting "Let us go then, you and I, / As the evening is spread out against the sky / Like a patient etherized on a table!" from the opening lines of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".[ citation needed ]

Ska band Slow Gherkin references The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in their song Shed Some Skin.

Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers reference the poem in the song "My Guernica" on their sixth studio album, "Know Your Enemy".

Literature

Novels that reference the poem include The Long Goodbye (1953) by Raymond Chandler, the young-adult novel The Chocolate War (1974) by Robert Cormier, The Eternal Footman (1999, the title of which also comes from the poem) by James K. Morrow, Leviathan Wakes (2011) by James S. A. Corey, and When Beauty Tamed the Beast (2011) by Eloisa James.

The August 1972 issue of National Lampoon featured an article by Sean Kelly entitled "The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover" which began "We'd better go quietly, you and I." [11]

Humorist Kinky Friedman wrote a novel entitled The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover. [12]

The young-adult novelists John Green and Sarah Dessen make references to the poem in their respective novels The Fault in Our Stars and Dreamland .

In The Austere Academy in A Series of Unfortunate Events , the Baudelaire orphans attend Prufrock Preparatory School.

In Giannina Braschi's Spanglish novel Yo-Yo Boing! (1998) a poet riffs on the line "Do I dare to eat a peach." [13]

Stephen King quotes this poem in his novel Under the Dome . [14]

Video games

A quote is used in the final stage of the game Cyberpunk 2077, spoken by a lingering digital copy of the deceased Alt Cunningham's consciousness.

Asteroid

Asteroid 32892 Prufrock, discovered by Anlaug Kaas at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma in 1994, was named for the eponymous narrator of T. S. Eliot's poem. [15] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 9 January 2020 ( M.P.C. 120069). [16]

Related Research Articles

<i>Eat a Peach</i> 1972 studio album and Live album by the Allman Brothers Band

Eat a Peach is the third studio album and the first double album by American rock band the Allman Brothers Band, containing a mix of live and studio recordings released in 1972. Following their artistic and commercial breakthrough with the July 1971 release of the live album At Fillmore East, the Allman Brothers Band got to work on their third studio album. Drug use among the band became an increasing problem, and at least one member underwent rehab for heroin addiction. On October 29, 1971, lead and slide guitarist Duane Allman, group leader and founder, was killed in a motorcycle accident in the band's adopted hometown of Macon, Georgia, making it the final album to feature him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epigraph (literature)</span> Short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter

In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document, monograph or section or chapter thereof. The epigraph may serve as a preface to the work; as a summary; as a counter-example; or as a link from the work to a wider literary canon, with the purpose of either inviting comparison or enlisting a conventional context.

"To His Coy Mistress" is a metaphysical poem written by the English author and politician Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) either during or just before the English Interregnum (1649–60). It was published posthumously in 1681.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock</span> 1915 poem by T. S. Eliot

"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is the first professionally published poem by American-born British poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). The poem relates the varying thoughts of its title character in a stream of consciousness. Eliot began writing the poem in February 1910, and it was first published in the June 1915 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse at the instigation of fellow American expatriate Ezra Pound. It was later printed as part of a twelve-poem chapbook entitled Prufrock and Other Observations in 1917. At the time of its publication, the poem was considered outlandish, but the poem is now seen as heralding a paradigmatic shift in poetry from late 19th-century Romanticism and Georgian lyrics to Modernism.

"Gerontion" is a poem by T. S. Eliot that was first published in 1920 in Ara Vos Prec and Poems. The title is Greek for "little old man," and the poem is an interior monologue relating the opinions and impressions of an elderly man, which describes Europe after World War I through the eyes of a man who has lived most of his life in the 19th century. Two years after it was published, Eliot considered including the poem as a preface to The Waste Land, but was talked out of this by Ezra Pound. Along with "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and The Waste Land, and other works published by Eliot in the early part of his career, '"Gerontion" discusses themes of religion, sexuality, and other general topics of modernist poetry.

An extended metaphor, also known as a conceit or sustained metaphor, is the use of a single metaphor or analogy at length in a work of literature. It differs from a mere metaphor in its length, and in having more than one single point of contact between the object described and the comparison used to describe it. These implications are repeatedly emphasized, discovered, rediscovered, and progressed in new ways.

<i>The Austere Academy</i> 2000 childrens novel

Book the Fifth: The Austere Academy is the fifth novel in the children's novel series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. The Baudelaire orphans are sent to a boarding school, overseen by monstrous employees. There, the orphans meet new friends, new enemies, and Count Olaf in disguises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Journey of the Magi</span> 1927 poem by T. S. Eliot

"Journey of the Magi" is a 43-line poem written in 1927 by T. S. Eliot (1888–1965). It is one of five poems that Eliot contributed for a series of 38 pamphlets by several authors collectively titled the Ariel Poems and released by the British publishing house Faber and Gwyer. Published in August 1927, "Journey of the Magi" was the eighth in the series and was accompanied by illustrations drawn by American-born avant garde artist Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954). The poems, including "Journey of the Magi", were later published in both editions of Eliot's collected poems in 1936 and 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puerto Rican literature</span> From oral story telling to its present-day

Puerto Rican literature is the body of literature produced by writers of Puerto Rican descent. It evolved from the art of oral storytelling. Written works by the indigenous inhabitants of Puerto Rico were originally prohibited and repressed by the Spanish colonial government.

Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) is a long poem by Ezra Pound. It has been regarded as a turning point in Pound's career, and its completion was swiftly followed by his departure from England. The name "Selwyn" might have been an homage to Rhymers' Club member Selwyn Image. The name and personality of the titular subject are also reminiscent of T. S. Eliot's main character in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".

<i>Harmony No Harmony</i> Album by Million Dead

Harmony No Harmony is the second and final full-length album released by British band Million Dead. It is the first to feature new guitarist Tom Fowler who replaced original guitarist Cameron Dean. Lead singer Frank Turner's mother makes an appearance on the song "To Whom It May Concern". Members of the band Drive Like You Stole It appear on both "To Whom It May Concern" and "Father My Father". In a podcast released in May 2015, Turner revealed that there would be a vinyl re-release of the record in 2015 to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hollow Men</span> Modernist poem by T. S. Eliot

"The Hollow Men" (1925) is a poem by the modernist writer T. S. Eliot. Like much of his work, its themes are overlapping and fragmentary, concerned with post–World War I Europe under the Treaty of Versailles, hopelessness, religious conversion, redemption and, some critics argue, his failing marriage with Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot. It was published two years before Eliot converted to Anglicanism.

Paradise Lost has had a profound impact on writers, artists and illustrators, and, in the twentieth century, filmmakers.

"Portrait of a Lady" is a poem by American-British poet T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), first published in September 1915 in Others: A Magazine of the New Verse. It was published again in March 1916 in Others: An Anthology of the New Verse, in February 1917 in The New Poetry: An Anthology, and finally in his 1917 collection of poems, Prufrock and Other Observations.

This is an incomplete list of music based on the works of Oscar Wilde.

<i>Eat the Peach</i> 1986 Irish film by Peter Ormrod

Eat the Peach is a 1986 Irish comedy film, directed by Peter Ormrod. The title derives from the T. S. Eliot poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." It was written by Peter Ormrod with John Kelleher.

Till Human Voices Wake Us may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bring On the Night (song)</span> 1979 single by the Police

"Bring on the Night" is a song by British rock band the Police. Written by the band's bassist and vocalist Sting, the song appeared as the fourth track on the band's second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979).

Empire of Dreams is a postmodern poetry epic by Puerto Rican author Giannina Braschi, who is considered "one of the most revolutionary voices in Latin American literature today".

Persona poetry is poetry that is written from the perspective of a 'persona' that a poet creates, who is the speaker of the poem. Dramatic monologues are a type of persona poem, because "as they must create a character, necessarily create a persona".

References

  1. ↑ "Apocalypse Now Redux (1979/2001)", Film Freak Central, 16 August 2014, originally published 17 August 2001
  2. ↑ Greg M. Colón Semenza, Bob Hasenfratz (2015). The History of British Literature on Film, 1895–2015. Bloomsbury. p. 314. ISBN   9781623561871.
  3. ↑ "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" – T. S. Eliot, old taxi park, 4 June
  4. ↑ "Midnight in Paris: a beginner's guide to modernism" by Jonathan Jones, The Guardian , 12 October 2011
  5. 1 2 Earls, Maurice (2024-04-01). "Entering the Whirlpool". DRB. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  6. ↑ Horowitz, Hal. "Childish Things – Overview". AllMusic . Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  7. ↑ "Love Ire & Song – Overview". AllMusic . Retrieved 2013-03-09.
  8. ↑ Melis, Matt (2008-05-24). "Guilty Pleasure: Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled His Feet". Consequence of Sound.
  9. ↑ "Heresy – Prufrock: A Musical Adaptation of the Poem by T.S. Eliot". Progzilla Radio. 2017-03-20. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  10. ↑ martin (2017-05-09). "Review – Heresy – Prufrock – by James R Turner". Progradar. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  11. ↑ "Issue #29 The Miracle of Democracy". Marksverylarge.com. 1997-11-03. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  12. ↑ "Fiction Book Review: The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover by Kinky Friedman, Author Simon & Schuster $23 (240p) ISBN 978-0-684-80377-7". www.publishersweekly.com. September 1996. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
  13. ↑ Jones, Ellen (2020-02-01). "'I want my closet back': queering and unqueering language in Giannina Braschi's Yo-Yo Boing!". Textual Practice. 34 (2): 283–301. doi:10.1080/0950236X.2018.1508060. ISSN   0950-236X. S2CID   149606983.
  14. ↑ "Stephen King Is Quietly Enthralled By "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"". CrimeReads. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  15. ↑ "(32892) Prufrock". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  16. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.