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• To read and analyze a poem about a man unable to commit to love or to life

• To recognize and understand the allusions in a poem

• To write two or three paragraphs on the theme of communication in a poem

T. S. Eliot was born in 1888 and died in 1965.

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BACKGROUND

The Time and PlaceWhen Eliot wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” cities were growing at a rapid rate. In many countries, people in cities outnumbered those inhabiting rural areas. Factories were overrunning residential areas, people were crowding into huge apartment buildings, and skyscrapers were being built in great numbers. While factory owners were amassing great wealth, workers often toiled under miserable conditions. In his poems, T. S. Eliot expressed the feelings of loneliness, alienation, and frustration that came with these changes. To help communicate these feelings, he sometimes made references to the work of fourteenth-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri. In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot begins with a quote from Dante’s The Divine Comedy.

Stream of ConsciousnessStream of consciousness is a term first used by the American psychologist William James to describe the spontaneous flow of a person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

BACKGROUND (cont.)

Under the influence of James’s ideas, writers in the early 1900s began trying to represent the random movements of a character’s mind. To achieve their goal, they eliminated conjunctions and other connecting devices from their writing. They also linked thoughts and images that seemed dissimilar, but that could be associated in the mind.

FOCUS ACTIVITY

List IdeasCreate a list of words describing the nature of love songs.

The title of a poem often provides clues to its main idea. What do you think a “love song” should be like?

Setting a PurposeRead to find out one writer’s version of a love song.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L

A Active Reading

QuestionWhy might Eliot have chosen to present this epigraph in Italian rather than in an English translation?Possible answer: He may have wanted to keep his poem at a high intellectual level and assumed many of his readers would know Italian.

What effect does this epigraph have on the way readers should approach this poem?

It alerts them to the poem’s sophistication and suggests that they should expect subtle literary devices and scholarly allusions.

Author’s CraftB

JuxtapositionRead the first two lines of the poem.

What feelings do they evoke? How does the third line change the image?

The first two lines suggest a lovely, romantic evening. The juxtaposition of the third line, with its image of a sick, etherized patient, dramatically alters the image–the feelings the evening evokes are no longer lovely and romantic, but dark and ominous.

Literary ElementsC

MetaphorThink about the metaphor developed in the fourth stanza.

What animal is the smoke compared to?

Most probably it is a cat.

Compare this metaphor to that of an evening “etherised” in line 3. How are they alike?

Both imply slow motion or paralysis.

Author’s CraftD

JuxtapositionDescribe the effect of juxtaposing the actions of “taking of a toast and tea” and having time for “visions and revisions.”

The juxtaposition is ironic since eating is a mundane activity, while having visions is a far more elevated one. Thus, the intellectual work of visions is trivialized by being placed on the same level as “taking of a toast and tea.”

Literary ElementsE

CharacterBased on what you have read up through line 48, describe the speaker’s character.

He is fastidiously dressed and has thinning hair and thin arms and legs. Indecisive and disillusioned, he lacks the energy to pursue his dreams and goals.

Critical ThinkingF

InferringLine 51 is one of this poem’s most quoted lines.

What does this line say about the kind of life the speaker has lived?

His life has been trivial. He has lived in parlors drinking coffee while observing the lives of others.

Author’s CraftG

AmbiguityPoets often use ambiguity as a strategy for conveying more than one idea. In lines 56 and 57, Eliot’s use of the word formulated is deliberately ambiguous.

How might Eliot mean both “reduced to a formula” and “put in a precise form”?

Critical ThinkingH

Drawing ConclusionsThink about the meaning of lines 73 and 74.

What do these lines say about Prufrock’s opinion of himself?

Prufrock sees himself as no better than something with claws that lives in the ocean. He has a low opinion of himself.

Literary ElementsI

RhymeWhat effect does Eliot achieve by rhyming ices with crisis in lines 79 and 80?

Structurally, he links the two lines; more significantly, the rhyme mocks the situation by contrasting the occasion of a tea party with that of the momentous question he hopes to ask.

Literary ElementsJ

AllusionThe allusion to Lazarus in lines 94 and 95 is linked to the idea of resurrection in the epigraph from Dante.

How does this allusion expand on the meaning of the poem?

Prufrock has repressed the passionate side of his character so decisively that it cannot be resurrected.

Literary ElementsK

AllusionIn an early scene of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince Hamlet vows to avenge his father’s death. Throughout the play he finds reasons not to do so until the final scene. Prufrock, too, finds action impossible–though his reasons are less persuasive than Hamlet’s. The description of the attendant lord in lines 112–119 is a reference to Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain in Hamlet.

Active ReadingL

RespondHow would you describe the tone of lines 120–124?

The tone is self-mocking.

Personal Response

Analyzing Literature

Literary Elements

Literature and Writing

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PERSONAL RESPONSEWhat are your impressions of J. Alfred Prufrock?

Prufrock will travel with “you” through “half-deserted streets” and past “cheap hotels / And sawdust restaurants” to a tea party.

RECALL

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INTERPRET

According to lines 1–10, with whom will Prufrock make his visit and through what places will they travel? To what will they be led?

Prufrock sees himself as a helpless “patient,” traveling hopelessly through life. The places are sickly, lonely, and sordid.

In your opinion, what do Prufrock’s descriptions of the sky and of the places he will travel through suggest about his state of mind? What do these places have in common?

He will have time for everything: “to prepare a face,” “to murder and create,” for “all the works and days of hands,” “a hundred indecisions … visions and revisions,” “To wonder ‘Do I dare?’” and “to turn back.”

RECALL

Reread lines 26–48. What kinds of activities does Prufrock say he will have time for?

Prufrock recognizes ample time for what he wants to do, if he could decide and follow through. In asking whether he dares to disturb the universe, Prufrock wonders whether he dares to take action, or change his life.

INTERPRETIn your opinion, why does Prufrock emphasize having time for the activities mentioned in lines 26–48? Prufrock asks, “Do I dare / Disturb the universe?” What might he mean by that question?

Prufrock’s doubts that he can “begin” or “presume” suggest that he lacks confidence that his declaration of love will be accepted. His life is so carefully measured out with coffee spoons that he fears ending up like the “lonely men in shirt-sleeves.” He thinks he might as well be something with claws living on the ocean floor.

RECALL

Reread lines 49–74. How does Prufrock describe himself and his life?

Despite correctness of dress, Prufrock sees himself as pathetic, self-conscious, and insecure; he feels he is one of the living dead because of inaction and indecision.

INTERPRETWhat does Prufrock’s description of his life and what he has known suggest about his self-image and the way he has conducted his life?

What, in your opinion, is Prufrock’s “overwhelming question”? Why does he expect the woman to react in a certain way, and what does this suggest about his relationship with women?

Prufrock debates whether to pose a great question.

RECALL

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the next question.INTERPRET

Reread lines 79–110. What does Prufrock debate with himself?

The question could be a proposal or a question about life’s meaning. Fear and inarticulateness make him expect that the woman might deliberately misunderstand him.

What do lines 111–131 suggest about how Prufrock sees himself and his future? In your opinion, what does the poem’s final line mean?

He is not a leading character like Hamlet but an “attendant lord” like the pompous Polonius.

RECALL

Click the mouse button or press the Space Bar to display the next question.INTERPRET

Reread lines 111–121. How does Prufrock characterize himself?

He sees himself growing older and more pathetic. Though the mermaids’ voices attract his romantic side, his other self–imprisoned in a world of inaction and self-doubt–fears responding to them.

EVALUATE AND CONNECT

In lines 15–22, Eliot compares the movements of the fog to those of a cat. In your opinion, how does this extended metaphor contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Like Prufrock, a cat is silent, watchful, and often alone. The metaphor mirrors Prufrock’s isolation and intensifies his despair.

Prufrock says there will be time “To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet.” For what occasions do you prepare a “face” and why?

You prepare a face to meet strangers, friends, or the public, which often differs from your face when alone.

Do you think the title of the poem fits its content? Explain.

Possible answer: Although Eliot’s love song is not conventional, the title fits because the poem is about a love song never sung.

In what ways does the poem express Eliot’s belief that society had become spiritually and morally empty?

Note the sordid street scenes, the emptiness of the women “talking of Michelangelo,” Prufrock’s correct appearance but empty soul, the meaningless tea parties, and peoples’ reluctance to address great questions.

Does Prufrock seem like a real person with real problems? Explain.

Possible answers: • No, Prufrock is an exaggeration of life’s

dark side. • Yes, his world-weariness and despair

are familiar, a symbol of the decay of states, people, and religious faith.

• An allusion is a short reference to a person, a place, an event, or another work of literature.

LITERARY ELEMENTS

• Writers use allusions to express an idea or to clarify its meaning.

• For example, in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Eliot includes an allusion to Michelangelo in order to indicate that the people discussing this great artist are well educated and from the middle or upper classes. The reader might even picture well-dressed women wandering about a room with a museum-like atmosphere.

LITERARY ELEMENTS

To which biblical characters does Eliot refer in lines 82–83 and 94–95? Check the footnotes, if necessary.

He refers to John the Baptist and Lazarus.

LITERARY ELEMENTS

In your opinion, why does he allude to these biblical characters?

Prufrock contrasts their significance with his own insignificance.

LITERARY ELEMENTS

Choose one of the allusions in lines 82–83, 94–95, or 111–119, and explain how it contributes to the poem’s meaning.

John the Baptist was a prophet; Lazarus, a man raised from the dead. Prufrock is unable to communicate, much less prophesy; far from being resurrected, he is one of the living dead. Prufrock suggests that he most closely resembles Polonius, a foolish attendant to the main characters of life’s drama.

Men and WomenA major theme in Eliot’s poetry is the inability of a man and woman to communicate with each other. With a partner, look through “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to find all the passages that explore this theme. Read over each passage carefully and discuss its meaning. Then, together, write two or three paragraphs explaining the theme of communication. Support your conclusions using details from the poem.

imperative

indicative

Eliot refers to death.

Death is often personified in literature. Here the “Eternal Footman” holds the speaker’s coat because death waits for him, ready for the departure.

The allusion attempts to create broad appeal by referring to the mortality that all humans must face, and it lends an epic, classical tone through the personification of death.

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