Wilderness, Prophet and Crossroad: The Mapping of New England Narrative in T. S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

In his late years T. S. Eliot declared himself to be a New England poet. The Love Song off. Alfred Prufrock, completed before Eliot' s migrating to England, is likely to be a summary of his New England experiences. The Eliot scholarship seldom touches upon the topic of New England in the poem. Such images as the wilderness, the city, and the prophet among others recall the early history of New Englanders, and the poem ironically presents as the reality the denial of New England ideals at a new age. The mapping of New England narrative can uncover Eliot' s attitudes toward religion, tradition, and art, as uneasily formed in his early years.