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¶ … Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
Author Charles Child Walcutt writes in his work "Eliot's 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'" that Prufrock is on the verge of proposing to a woman he is going to tea with. This gloomy poem seems far from a poem of marriage and love, even though it is called a "love song." Instead, it seems to be a poem of a man looking back on his life and regretting many of decisions, rather than a story of a young, confident man on the way to propose to the woman he loves. Throughout the poem, Prufrock reflects on his life and the lives of people around him, such as the "lonely men" leaning out of windows watching the world go by. He too is watching his own world go by, and it seems he is not happy with what he sees.
He reflects that he "grows old," and the poem ends on the note that as his life passes; he knows it will come to its inevitable end. A man in love is joyous and sure of himself, rather than frightened and insecure. Prufrock also distances himself from the people at the tea, saying they talk of "Michelangelo," which seems to say he has little in common with them. A man who loves a woman will try to find things in common with her to enjoy her company. This man instead finds things that make them different.
Finally, there is an underlying gloomy theme throughout the poem that cannot point to love. Prufrock often mentions the "yellow smoke and fog" that surrounds the city, and this almost sounds like poison or death creeping through the streets. He also talks about time "to murder." This is not a love song at all - the title is ironic. Instead, this is a poem about death and the inevitability of death. The critic Walcutt seems to be taking the poem much too literally, and reading much between the lines. Instead of love, this poem looks at the instability and inevitability of our lives, and how all of us face one future - death. It is a depressing and gloomy poem, and really has nothing to do with the celebration of love and upcoming marriage.
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
More a synopsis of emotional entanglement than a treatise on gender or sexuality, T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” encapsulates the ennui and numbness of the modern world. The speaker reveals gender only tacitly, as through two separate mentions of encroaching baldness. The choral incantations of the women who “come and go/ talking of Michelangelo” refer to a bourgeoisie existence and do not reveal gender discrimination (lines
.. I grow old...' are the evidence of the impending fear of death. One unusual part of the poem is how Eliot, or Prufrock, puts himself into a role in one of Shakespeare's plays and then admits that he is no Hamlet by saying 'No! I am not the Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be.' Although I am guessing, I feel that Eliot was trying to say that Shakespeare's
That is not it, at all." (Eliot, 875) In these lines the poet makes a play upon words with the word "all": it is either to know all, or else not to be able to render one's meaning in a work of art. Eliot finds it impossible to actually unveil the mystery and tell all, it is not only that complete knowledge of the universe is impossible, but that the mystery
Ultimately, as his dialogue continues, it becomes clear that Prufrock is afraid. He is afraid of growing old, of ending up alone, and of being ridiculous and a fool because he did not to back to the woman he loved and make the relationship right. Eliot writes, "At times, indeed, almost ridiculous -- / Almost, at times, the Fool" (Eliot 118-119). Prufrock then is a sad and lonely character
Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot, and the Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost are two poems that imagine how life might be if the narrator had acted differently. However, the two poems are almost opposites in their intent and impact. Eliot's poem is a lamentation over a life not lived, over a failure to act. Frost's poem is a celebration over an unconventional life bravely