Shortened prufrock flash cards

Question 1

when was Prufrock published

Answer 1

1915

Question 2

What did Eliot do to modernize this poem

Answer 2

Eliot’s subversion of the dramatic monologue

Question 3

what is the topic of the first paragraph in prufrock

Answer 3

Alienation and the fragmentation of an individual’s perspective on their life’s purpose due to society’s spiritual vacuity

Question 4

what is the 1st quote of paragraph 1 in prufrock

Answer 4

Prufrock’s sense of displacement in the universe, “Do I dare/Disturb the universe?” which is made emphatic by the line break.

Question 5

what is the explanation of the 1st quote in paragraph 1 (2)

Answer 5

• highlights the paralysis from Prufrock’s insecurity about his inconsequentiality.
• Serving as a warning against the consequences of agency without the balance of divine will.

Question 6

what is the 2nd quote of paragraph 1 in prufrock

Answer 6

the bathetic, disjunctive images “Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter”,

Question 7

what is the explanation of the 2nd quote in paragraph 1

Answer 7

where the juxtaposition of the trivial baldness and the grave death highlights the tragic absurdity of the concerns that defines urban life.

Question 8

what is the 3rd quote of paragraph 1 in prufrock

Answer 8

By contrasting the metaphysical and physical with this Biblical allusion to John the Baptist , “I am no prophet”,

Question 9

what is the explanation of the 3rd quote in paragraph 1 (2)

Answer 9

• Eliot shows how modernity has reduced humanity from the soul of the universe to the mundane
• and proposes the loss of religious conviction as the reason behind the desolation of his generation.