When I started reading "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot, I immediately recognized it. It only took me a moment to remember where I had heard it before. The first stanza is recited by the protagonist of The Fault in Our Stars, a novel by John Green. Because that book is one of my favorites, I was immediately biased in favor of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." Because one of my favorite authors saw fit to put a section of the poem in his novel, I wanted to read it fully and deeply and get as much out of it as I could.
In a similar story, the first work by e.e. cummings that I ever experienced was in the novel The Summer I Turned Pretty. It was the poem "maggie and milly and molly and may," and it was recited by several of the characters at the end of the book. I instantly loved the poem, and have been favorably biased toward e.e. cummings ever since.
I find it really interesting how connected certain works become in our minds. I will probably never be able to read or hear "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" without thinking of The Fault in Our Stars, just as many of you have discussed "O Captain, My Captain" in relation to The Dead Poets Society. In the same way, this happens a lot with music. How many times have you been in a car with someone who has to change the song because it was related to their last relationship?
How else have your experiences with a work been influenced by how you were introduced to it?
Lindsey, I noticed the same thing from TFiOS! And I too wanted to really understand the poem because I loved the novel so much. I really enjoy when this happens, when I find works referenced in other works that I love, I immediately become more interested in what I am currently studying. I almost wonder sometimes if authors like John Green do this just because they love works such as "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and they want their audience to experience it as well (specially in the case of John being that he has a younger audience.)
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