摘要
Being an extremely confusing image, the Mermaid is the key to approach the theme of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. With a touch of irony, the narrator exposes his helplessness and cowardice. Accompanied by the appearing of the mermaid, the ironic tone of poem turns tender, the scene has shifted from reality to imagination, and the narrator is no longer sophisticated but romantic. Moreover, because of the juxtaposition of the fragmentary scenes, the poem seems disorderly, however, the image of mermaid endows the poem an explicit structure in which the ＂waste land＂ theme is contained.
理解《情歌》一诗主题的关键在于解读诗中的美人鱼意象。《情歌》的叙述者带着调侃的口吻中流露出无奈和怯懦，描绘出杂乱的景象和人物荒芜的感情世界。然而出现在诗歌结尾部分的美人鱼意象却骤然改变了诗歌的意境，从现实转入虚幻，人物的内心从世故变为浪漫，字里行间也不再语带讥诮。而透出脉脉温情。更为重要的是，《情歌》所描写的各个场景处于跳跃变幻之中，现实与幻想相互交错．看似散漫无章，但美人鱼意象却赋予了诗歌清晰严整的结构，诗歌不仅表现出现实与梦幻的巨大反差，更与《奥德赛》第十二章处处形成鲜明的对照，加强了诗歌的讽刺意味，表现出爱的缺失所导致的精神上的荒芜状态，也即在《荒原》中得到传承与发展的荒原主题。
