Relationship Between The Past And Present In Eliot
Submitted by johnnyboy on May 8, 2008
Category: English
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Considering in detail one or two poems, or passages from longer poems, discuss ways in which Eliot explores the relationship between the present and the past.
In Portrait of a Lady (Portrait) and The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (Prufrock), Eliot extensively depicts the relationship between the present and the past.
The common theme in these two poems is regret. Prufrock and the lady from Portrait both appear to regret their pasts and continue to lead unfulfilled existences in the present. Prufrock has a longing for love or passion but he has been scared by past experiences and therefore, he fails to seize the opportunities that present themselves ‘Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me.’ Portraits lady regrets her youth, as she feels that enough was not made of it ‘what life is, you who hold it in your hands.’