EA T1 Prufrock Quotes

Question 1

And for a hundred visions and revisions / Before the taking of a toast and tea.

Answer 1

(micro) parallelism, enjambment, fragmentation quickens pace (supports stream of conc.)

(macro) stream of consciousness + metaphysical imagery alludes to futility of time… contrast between the desperate and complex internal world of his persona with the banal ritual and routine of his high society he belongs to and finds stifling

Question 1

In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo.

Answer 1

(micro) cultural reference to an ideal Romantic image of masculinity shows superficiality of society,

(macro) non-sequitur rhyming couplet amidst larger stanzas creates contrasting external movement to the inertia of the persona and the objective correlative to the bland, industrial world

Question 2

I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

Answer 2

(micro) animalistic imagery, zoomorphism, metonymic allusion to crabs which represent stagnation since they can’t move forward or backwards (crabs also have protective shell)

→ social inertia creates a longing for more primal mode of living which offers protection