In the early 1900s, the modernism art movement dominated many facets of aesthetic representation as writers, artists, and musicians abandoned the starched and conventional styles of the Victorian era for a less restrictive form of expression. Artisans, especially writers of the time, experimented in their craft by ignoring traditional narrative and poetic forms in an attempt to convey their personal contempt for the social climate of a newly industrialized culture consumed by monetary wealth and ideals of distinguished refinement who upheld its standards. This disregard for society's conventional values ​​became a dominant theme in modern American literature, as writers like TS Eliot shifted the focus of their works away from depicting and praising upper- and middle-class society. to turn to their personal criticism of this way of life. . Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", embodies this modern popular theme by directing the reader's attention to how an individual is unconsciously affected by the norms of society by focusing on itself and how social ethics can give rise to feelings of inadequacy. and alienation. Eliot uses a number of particularly modern techniques to construct his "love song" which, ironically, is not a lyrical praise of beauty or a confession of eternal devotion. Instead, the reader is invited to explore the mind of a nervous man, presumably middle-aged due to the reference to the "baldness in the middle of [his] hair" (40), who is apprehensive about attending social functions where "the women come and go/Let's talk about Michelangelo" (13-14). This refrain, repeated in lines 35-36, represents the nature of the socialites Prufrock encounters, individuals who use an i...... middle of paper ......ing line that eloquently depicts the act of daydreaming and having a quiet fantasy abruptly disrupted by reality (131-133). that in its ruminations that Prufrock can escape the demands of society and the expectation of rejection Eliot's poem, with its abstract images, its inconsistent stanza structures and its attention to the concepts of individualism and alienation, is a clear example of literary modernism. His "love song" exists as a poetic commentary on his society, criticizing the frivolities of upper-class socialites and sympathetic towards those members of society who felt the intense isolation that results, essentially, about not "fitting in" and In a society dominated by wealthy tycoons and modern industry, Eliot used his talent to challenge the ideals of the ruling class and call attention to the concept the most simplistic, but the most modern of all: the individual..