However, Cheevy sees Romance as wandering about town, homeless. Likewise, Art is a "vagrant," someone seen as a nuisance who has no home and begs for money. Both Art and Romance have lost their high standing; as Cheevy sees it, they are no longer respected as they should be. Similarly, Cheevy is also a beggar whom people despise, and he feels he should be more respected -- even though, as Robinson makes clear, he has done nothing to gain that respect. Cheevy might be where he is in life because of his lowly birth, but he has done nothing to improve himself.
While he may be thinking to himself or speaking to someone, Prufrock in T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Profrock" displays insecurities and feelings of failure, just as Miniver Cheevy does. The speaker of the poem, he considers that there will be "…time yet for a hundred indecisions,/and for a hundred visions and revisions" (ll. 32-3). This is a man who is unsure of himself and the choices he has made. He is concerned about how the people will view him: "…indeed there will be time/to wonder, 'Do I dare? and, 'Do I dare?'/Time to turn back and descend the stair…/(They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!')" (ll. 37-41). As someone who second guesses himself, he is thinking of not going forward in life ("Time to turn back and descend the stair," l. 39). He is also concerned with
41). Prufrock defines himself as lower middle class and learned. His "necktie" is "rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin" (l. 43), and he compares himself to several literary figures. Unlike Miniver Cheevy, it appears that Prufrock has some income, and he has tried to be successful, even if he has failed by his own estimation: "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker" (l. 84).
It is the symbolism of a flickering flame that suggests Prufrock believes his opportunities have passed him by. He has had a "moment of greatness" for a very short period, but now it is gone. Prufrock feels that who he is and who he can be is forever established, even though he desires love and fulfillment: "The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,/and when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,/When I am pinned at wriggling on the wall" (ll. 56-8). In this extended metaphor, Prufrock is "formulated" because those in his social scene have certain ideas about him that will never change, and he feels there is nothing he can do to change these opinions. He describes himself as a common fly pinned to the wall, trying to fulfill unmet desires but unable to move ("I am pinned and wriggling on the wall," l. 58). That Prufock compares himself to a bug on the wall emphasizes how small and insignificant he believes himself to be. Eliot also uses several literary allusions to emphasize Prufrock's sentiments about himself. He is not like John the Baptist ("I am no prophet," l. 83). Salome wants John the Baptist's head on a platter, and she receives it. Prufrock knows of no one who is so passionate for his head. He compares himself to the tragic character Hamlet and his friends (ll. 111-17). But Prufrock is not
