The poems of T.S. Eliot require close reading, understanding numerous references, and careful consideration of why each word appears in the position it does and how it relates to every other word in the poem. In longer poems such as "The Waste Land" or "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the connections can become quite complex, with a number of sections linked together by a central idea which is not readily apparent until the reader begins to make the connections between images from the different sections. A reading of these poems shows that they have a dramatic structure and that this dramatic elements is very important in understanding the meaning of each poem. A poem like "Prufrock" has a central character who moves through the action of the poem as a character in a play would, while the dramatic element of "The Waste Land" might not be so readily apparent but is nonetheless just as important. Instead of through characters, Eliot develops his themes through the interplay of ideas and images, and the reader move from one image to another by means of a dramatic arc.
This same sense of drama may infuse other poems in the modern era. Keats was noted for his dramatic monologues in poetic form, but the modern poets are less direct, though no less dramatic. For Eliot, conveying ideas is more important than evoking emotion, and getting the reader to think is accomplished through the juxtaposition of images and symbols.
In T.S. Eliot's poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the central character's consciousness infuses the poem and communicates with the reader. The poem can be seen as being engendered by a combination of instinctual responses to the issues representing a certain stage in the life cycle, the stage reached by Prufrock. Prufrock is a man who has reached middle age and who is now embarking on the journey into the last portion of his life:
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
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