Using the first person allows the Beer to develop the character in the poem. In ‘Abbey Tomb,’ the slaughter is described in a light-hearted manner; ‘Father Abbot…caught napping in the act of praise,’ could suggest the clergyman died while praying or the Vikings found him asleep when they attacked the abbey. Another death is described with a pun, ‘Brother John lay unresponsive,’ which could be linked to the responsorial psalm or it could be the fact that the monk has been killed and not able to respond; and it is also ironic that the monk lies ‘in the warming room,’ because after a person dies their body cools. This humorous description of the slaughter is ironic because it is not a Christian reaction to these violent deaths, yet it is a monk who is describing it.
The use of the first person to develop the character is shown in Elliot’s poem. J. Prufrock reveals his innermost feeling of insignificance to the reader. ‘I am no prophet.’ And in the next stanza he says ‘I am not Prince Hamlet…Am an attendant lord’ which is a person of little importance in the play, reflecting the feeling of unimportance. He feels ‘almost ridiculous – almost, at times, the Fool.’ Like in ‘Abbey Tomb,’ Elliot creates the sense that the character is confiding in the reader.
Elliot creates a heightened link with the reader by making the character confide his innermost worries of uncertainty. This is shown by his frequent use of direct questions. ‘Do I dare disturb the universe?’ ‘How shall I presume?’ ‘How should I begin…’ It can also be seen in the metaphor of the smog as a cat, ‘yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes…curled on about the house and feel asleep.’ This metaphor stands for lack of vision literally, as he cannot see through the fog and metaphorically, as he cannot think clearly, which again reflects uncertainty. The cause of his uncertainty is obscure, perhaps it could be about asking a woman to marry him and he is doubtful of the reply? Or could it be that that Elliot was living in a time of uncertainty, such as the doubt about religion and the insignificance of the individual, and Prufrock characterises these fears?
‘The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock,’ could also be interpreted as a reflection inside Prufrock’s mind. The questions asked may be directed toward himself, he repeatedly asks ‘would it have been worth it after all,’ which reads as a rhetorical question. If this is the case, Elliot has not created a direct dialogue with the reader and Prufrock, but a character who is silently reflecting his insecurities.
Elliot’s use of the epigraph from Dante’s Inferno describes Prufrock’s ideal listener; someone who is as lost as the speaker and sympathetic toward him, and who will never betray his confidence. This type of listener desired in ‘Abbey Tomb’ is similar because Beer writes towards the reader assuming that they too understand the monk’s irritation that no one knew that he was right.
Elliot makes Prufrock recall memories, which are shared with the reader. ‘Arms that are braceleted and white and bare.’ ‘Perfume from a dress.’ ‘Arms that lie along a table, or wrap around a shawl.’ This is paralleled in ‘Abbey Tomb,’ because Beer also makes the character recall incidents in his life. The affect of the poet including memories makes the reader linked to the character because he is sharing his experiences with the audience.
Yet the dialogue does not appear to be solely with the reader because at points Prufrock is addressing another character. ‘Pillow by her head.’ and ‘To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet,’ this indicates Prufrock addressing another woman. This implication of another woman being present, distances the reader from the character of the poem. ‘To Autumn’ does not contain a direct dialogue with the reader, even though the poem is written in the second person because is addressed to Autumn, as proclaimed in the title of the poem. Keats makes no reference to the audience throughout the poem, but personifies Autumn ‘sitting careless,’ ‘thy hair soft-lifted…’ and ‘by a cider-press, with patient look, thou watchest.’ Therefore this demonstrates that a poem can be written in the second person and contain no sense of a direct dialogue with the reader.
I believe that the statement is too specific; some poems in the first or second person, like ‘Abbey Tomb,’ are purely expressed to the reader because the use of ‘I’ can create the sense of a conversation. On the other hand, in ‘the love song of J.Alfred Prufrock’ and more directly in ‘To Autumn,’ another character is addressed beside the reader which weakens the sense of a direct dialogue.
