Teaching T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" to students

English

Teaching the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock to High School Students or Undergraduates:

Learning for History, Literature, and Personal Involvement

Teachers of high school English and undergraduate general courses are of utmost importance. Their class may be some students' only exposure to literature and literary theory. Because of this, teachers at this level have utmost responsibility. It is their duty to engage students, to impress them with the importance of the subject and the contributions it has made to history, literature, and one's personal life. T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a work of much complexity that can leave many seasoned readers grasping for meaning. On the other hand, Eliot's rhyme, imagery, energy, and seeming nonsense makes the work tangible to students whose idea of literature is filled with dry puritanical poems and Greek epics. Thus, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" makes for an interesting early introduction to literature for both its accessibility and its literary value. Indeed, through this poem, teachers can engage students in deciphering a literary work's importance as literature through from, importance to history through author and contribution, and importance to one's self through personal response. The following lesson plan will address each of these areas, allowing students to use this piece of literature not only for its own value and understanding, but also as a bridge to understanding literature's place in society.

Teaching "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" as Poetry

To begin teaching this complex work, the teacher must begin with its form. As a poem, students are likely to feel some alienation with the work at first. Perhaps their only associations with poetry are those formed when exposed to the literary from in previous classes. Perhaps they have written angst-filled poetry and are about sensitive about the topic. They may think that poetry is hard to understand, silly, useless, or even a "disgusting" way to express "mushy" feelings. Confronted with the title of this poem, they may groan in reaction to "another love poem," but just a simple reading of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" will show them that this is not just another silly love song. Thus, it is important to gather student reactions to or assumptions about poetry before the first initial reading. The final objective of this lesson is to teach students that poetry comes in many sizes, shapes and forms. Students must understand that as readers and writers, form should be observed "as a tool, rather than as a requirement" ("Compiling Poetry Collections"). T.S. Eliot's mixture of form and freedom in "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is the perfect model for this understanding, but to fully comprehend, students must write a poem of their own.

Activity 1: Ask the students to take out an index card, or supply an index card for them. Tell them to write down the first things that come into their mind when you say, "poetry." They can write full sentences, words, phrases, whatever they want to get the idea across. If they have a personal story about writing poetry, they can choose to write about that. Challenge some of the more engaged students to write a poem about poetry. Give about 10-15 minutes for this exercise.

Activity 2: Ask students to trade cards with a partner and talk about their ideas for 5-7 minutes. Some questions for discussion: How did you see poetry differently than your partner? Who likes poetry and who doesn't? Why?

Activity 3: Ask students to share what they and their partner came up with. What do most people in the class see as poetry? As the students supply answers, write their words and phrases on the board in a confetti or graphite style.

Activity 4: Pass out a copy of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," and ask students to read the poem to themselves. They can choose to make notes, or to just sink into the reading without worrying about note taking. Give about 10 minutes for this initial reading.

Activity 5: Explain to students both sound and vision are important to poetry. Tell the students that in order to appreciate the poem fully, it must be read out loud, but first, tell them you want to show them how some poetry is more visually oriented. Place E.E. Cummings' "Snow" on the overhead projector. Then, read "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" out loud, followed by a reading of "Snow" out loud. Ask the students to discuss which of the poems is more visually oriented and which is more audibly oriented.

Activity 6: Ask the students to get into their pairs again and discuss what poetry is. How have their definitions changed? Erase the words on the board, and write the word "everything" in block letters. Poetry can be everything.

Activity 7: Ask the students to get out an index card. Tell them that in the next 15 minutes, they will write a poem. Remind them that poetry can be everything, but put some popular forms on the board -- haiku, limerick, etc. Tell the students to use the form as a tool if they wish, but remind them that it is not a requirement.

Teaching "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" With Personal Response

While teaching students to understand literary forms, historical significance, and the analysis that accents both is certainly important, it is also important to teach poetry as the impetus of personal response. Instead of simply teaching literature for its academic value, this teaches students to appreciate literature for pleasure. Not only will this help cultivate in students a love of reading, but it may also help toward the cultivation or an attitude of literacy in families. As attitudes of literacy help students succeed in school, this is an important development to encourage. Thus, students should be encouraged to interpret "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" for themselves, learning that no right or wrong answer exists, and that literature is a conduit through which one can have a personal response. The following lesson plan can stand by itself or follow the teaching of the poem as history.

Activity 1: Ask the students to take out an index card and write for five minutes about what toasted marshmallows make them think about. Teachers should tell the students that they can write about whatever pops into their head, giving them hints such as family memories, advertisements, funny conversations, or delicious treats.

Activity 2: Ask students to share some of their memories with the rest of the class. Make sure to point out how each student has a different association with the toasted marshmallows.

Activity 3: Tell the students that literature is a little like toasted marshmallows -- each person can have a different, correct response. Illustrate this by reading "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" out loud, pausing to discuss different feelings at different lines. For instance, teachers may say, "this line makes me sad," or "this line makes me think about WWII," or "this line makes me wonder if he loves this woman at all."

Activity 4: Ask students to mimic your example, reading the poem to themselves, and marking next to it when they have a reaction to the words.

Activity 5: Ask the students to get into groups and share their meanings, then ask a spokesperson from each group to discuss their different interpretations. Make sure to congratulate each group for its unique thinking.