Ennui in “The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock” and “Telescope” by Cage The Elephant

             T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock” is a classic modernist display of ennui, as the speaker’s anxiety about attending a party leads him to contemplate his entire existence. Similarly, the lyrics of Cage The Elephant’s “Telescope”—written by lead singer Matt Schultz—describe a lonely man wasting away his days in isolation and boredom. Unlike many other musical expressions of youthful angst, the song is not irreverent and brash, but rather a thoughtful—albeit desperate—articulation. Both works offer reflections on life’s frustrations, namely emptiness and loneliness. The most notable difference between the two works is that “Telescope’s” subject-turned-speaker is physically separated from others, while Prufrock feels isolated because of his insecurities and fears.

            “Prufrock” and “Telescope” share a general view of life’s emptiness, or at least fear that their own are being wasted. Schultz begins by singing that through his telescope, he sees “[a] pair of eyes peer back at me/he walks and talks and looks like me”. This figure “fills his life with pointless things/and wonders how it all turns out” (Schultz). This expresses a resigned dissatisfaction with life also evident in Prufrock’s claim that he has “known them all already…/known the evenings, mornings, afternoons” (Eliot 49-50). There is a futile monotony to life that is manifest in both of these works. The song’s chorus declares: “I don't think you understand/There's nowhere left to turn/The walls keep breaking/Time is like a leaf in the wind/Either it's time well spent or time I've wasted/Don't waste it” (Schultz). By describing time as “a leaf in the wind”, he’s attempting to demonstrate the fleeting nature of time and the next lines display his fear that he’s wasting away his life meaninglessly. Prufrock expresses a similar worry in line 90, asking, “would it have been worth while,/To have bitten off the matter with a smile,/To have squeezed the universe into a ball” (Eliot 90-92). Like the song’s general regret of wasted time, Prufrock too regrets missed opportunities.

            A major contrast between the two works is the manner of their isolation. Prufrock begins by speaking to a companion: “Let us go then, you and I” (1) and he often speaks in second-person to a “you”. Additionally, much of his verse is concerned with his social anxiety toward attending a party. Clearly, he is not alone physically. His isolation is mental and emotional. He feels no connection with the women who “come and go/Talking of Michelangelo” (13-14), and he claims to “have known the arms already…/Arms that are braceleted and white and bare” (62-63). He seems to look down upon many of those he meets and is disinterested in knowing them further. Additionally, he is quite self-conscious, repeatedly worrying about the appearance of his balding head. All of these factors combine to build a barrier between Prufrock and those around him, which is responsible for much of his existential frustration. Oppositely, “Telescope” is much more about physical isolation, though its causes are similarly mental. Undoubtedly, the speaker’s loneliness is a result of an emotional disconnect with others, but unlike Prufrock, it is exacerbated by physical barriers. Schultz states that “He locks his doors and never leaves” and that “He battens all the hatches down/And wonders why he hears no sounds”. Taken literally, the lyrics are very different from Eliot’s poem, however, their intentions are very similar. Both of the works convey the pitfalls of allowing anxiety and fear to control one’s life.

Prufrock can be characterized by his regular shifts in attitude, from dramatically serious to slightly dismissive of himself. He calls himself “Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;/At times, indeed, almost ridiculous” (Eliot 117-18). While he can be very intense at times—stating, “Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter” (82)—he follows it by stating, “I am no prophet—and here’s no great matter” (83). These shifts highlight his insecurities and the harmful circle that they create. His social and existential anxiety causes him to worry excessively and his recognition of that makes him more insecure and dismissive of his own concerns, perpetuating the cycle. Ultimately, this leads him to a darker ending. He fears that he has grown old and in the last lines states, “We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/…Till human voices wake us, and we drown” (129,131).

The pessimistic conclusion of “Prufrock” is similar to that of “Telescope”. The song contrasts the poem in maintaining a serious and pessimistic tone throughout, but the ending is perhaps more desperate. The bridge before the final chorus is delivered very passionately by Schultz and the last lines state, “Let me go, let me be/I don't need to be here/I'm alone, can't you see? Can't you see?”. These lines portray the hopelessness of his situation and emphasize loneliness as the chief affliction.

Being shorter, “Telescope” has less subject-matter and complexity than “Prufrock”—which delves more deeply into anxiety and fear—but they both provide strong depictions of existential dissatisfaction, or ennui, particularly in relation to the isolation that their speakers experience.