Examine Eliot’s treatment of women in Prufrock, Preludes, Portrait of E

Examine Eliots treatment of women in Prufrock, Preludes, Portrait ofa Lady and Rhapsody on a aerial NightIn each four of the songs Prufrock, Preludes, Portrait of aLady and Rhapsody on a Windy Night, Eliot makes references towomen. Eliot seems to treat women close as objects to either belooked at with call into question and, at times, fascination or as objects to bescorned upon. In all of the poems Eliot makes the voice of the poemslightly distanced from the women and this, to me, makes the womenseem almost untouchable.When looking at the poem Prufrock we must first notice that the fulltitle is The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock. This title seems almostironic as, after reading the poem, we realise that the poem is not alove song at all. The title is beauteous however, like the women Eliotmakes reference to in the poem In the room the women come and go /Talking of Michelangelo. This small, non-descriptive mention of womentells us much about Eliots perception of women in Prufrock. Thesetwo lines, presented to us almost like a chorus, interrupt the prey ofthe poem, which is perhaps what women did in Eliots life. These linesalso show Eliots fascination with women as women were less educatedthan men around 1910 when Prufrock was conceived, so for these womento talk of Michelangelo is almost shocking and something to bemarvelled upon. In Prufrock, I believe Eliot is concerned with thehigh society of women and the poem shows his fascination with them.The tone of Prufrock is not bitter towards the women, nor does itcelebrate them, it except comments on the women and Eliot seems togive a fairly neutral vista of women.Portrait of a Lady is another poem in which Eliot ex... ...apsody on aWindy Night. By appealing to our senses, Eliot draws us in to hispoetry up to a point where we can almost smell exactly what he isdescribing, which brings us closer to the women in his poems.Between the four poems Prufrock, Portrait of a Lady, Preludesand Rhapsody on a Windy Nigh t Eliot provides us with a rounded viewof women. He describes the beautiful and untouchable side of them inPrufrock, the darker, more sordid side of women in Preludes andRhapsody on a Windy Night with a comment of how false women canbe in Portrait of a Lady. Eliots imagery is effective in the poems,as by using it he justifies his reasons for describing the women inthe way he does. I feel that Eliot describes women in the way in whichhe views them, drawing from personal experiences and what he takesfrom poets who have gone in the lead him.