The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock (1915)

Question 1

“Let us go then, you and I”

Answer 1

Imperative in “Let us go”
The imperative shows Prufrock’s desire for action. The action however is an ironic one as it is never able to reach its fulfilment. Notice how from the very beginning, he has a desire to “go” (for action). The word “go” can be thought of to be connoted as numb, lifeless and helpless due to the sense of stagnance. This quote also signifies the hesitation and mediation which contrasts with the imperative nature of the statement.

Second person address “you and I”
The reader is placed in a confidante with Prufrock. We are invited on an evening walk to accompany him and hear his thoughts and concerns. This emphasises his desire for companionship.

Question 2

“When the evening is spread out against the sky like a patient etherised upon a table”

Answer 2

Visual Imagery
The visual imagery here subverts the traditional Romantic imagery. This is not how the Romanticists would have described nature and scenery, as they usually associated nature with life and vitality. Right now, Prufrock is describing the time as neither night nor day, conveying a lack of certainty. Therefore, the quote subverts our traditional expectations by equating the evening sky to a sense of sickness, decay, mortality and a sick world.

Think about the contrast between the Romantic sentiments of nature and Modernist sentiments of nature.

Question 3

“Through certain half deserted streets”

Answer 3

Visual Imagery
Prufrock is depicted and casted as a persona who is a flaneur. The “half deserted streets” communicate a sense of emptiness, emphasising the difficulty to find people to start meaningful connections with.

Question 4

“Muttering Retreats” / “To prepare the faces that you meet” / “I know the voices with a dying fall” / “And I have known the eyes already, known them all”

Answer 4

Synecdoche
There is not another human figure in its entirety in this world but we get snippets of them. Through the use of synecdoche representing disembodied parts of a human, we get fragmentation. The connotations of the words highlight the superficiality, as it represents the idea that in order to interact in this world, you need to put on a facade, giving a sense of falseness. In this world, it is impossible to find a profound and meaningful connection. This emphasises how the presence of other people of the society is constantly in his mind, further highlighting the inability but desire to connect. Prufrock is fixated on the idea of seeming to be a perfect masculine figure but knows that his insecurity is that he is unable to become one, which is what prevents him from progressing towards his desires. “Formulated phrase” shows how he thinks that in order to be present and active in society, you must be able to craft everything perfectly.

Question 5

“Streets that follow like a tedious intent”

Answer 5

The streets are being portrayed as a hostile modern man that seems like it will be able to come and get us. This demonstrates how agency is stripped from the persona, emphasising the weak nature of the modern man to the streets as they will be “hunted for”. There is a sinister tone in “like a tedious argument of insidious intent”, further highlighting the mentality of Prufrock and his actions: the tendency to do nothing or remain unchanged – “inertia”.

Question 6

“In the room the women come and go”

Answer 6

Refrain
The use of refrain and the way it is repeated emphasises the transient and superficial relationship that is never able to be developed into something meaningful. The refrain is able to assist in punctuating the piece. The quote shows and contrasts Prufrock’s stagnancy as it depicts the rest of the world as moving forward, whereas Prufrock is still in a state of paralysis due to being too afraid to go. The reference to the “women” suggests a fleeting moment of connection but a transient relationship as it is never able to be developed further due to the inertia.

Question 7

“Talking of Michelangelo”

Answer 7

Juxtaposition
The reference to “Michelangelo” conveys how Eliot’s society had challenged the existing literary world. Within the poem, we are set in a dingy and gritty city, but there are still relevant references to high class literature and high class society. The juxtaposition creates dissonance where the sortedness of reality and city is emphasised by comparing it to something grand and beautiful (Michelangelo). The technique allows Eliot to emphasise a vapid and vain city that is seen as entirely superficial. For example, placing a golden statue in a bleak environment would make it seem extra beautiful – this same effect is created in the text”. Eliot doesn’t have a forgiving perspective on the rest of the world. Through comparing, you are trying to emphasise what is less. Therefore, by comparing Prufrock to Michelangelo, we can see that he is being emphasised as anti-heroic as Michelangelo is associated with masculinity and heroism.

Question 8

“Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, lingered upon the pools that stand in drains”

Answer 8

Extended Metaphor / Zoomorphic Imagery
City is painted like an ambiguous dreamlike place; part of it can be thought of as very fashionable and polite, but there’s also a brothel-like element, dirty and decrepit move away from good values. The harsh quality disassembles the readers’ emotions and negative image of the city, as if it is reduced and degraded into a state of meaningless omnipresence. The fog can be thought of as being referred to as a cat-like figure. The cat is symbolic of the duality within Prufrock – the yearning for movement, excitement and progression, but is contrasted with inertia and stagnancy. From this, we begin to see a recurring motif of sleep, death and mortality, carrying on from “the patient etherised..”. There is an underlying anxiousness around sickness, death, disease and decay, which all come together to help craft the modernist world. Eliot believes that the modern world is one that is harmful to us, and essentially says that we are all just like Prufrock, scared to be confronted.

Question 9

“The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, the yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes”

Answer 9

Personification
The yellow fog is personified and can be thought of as a metaphor for pollution, sorted dingy landscape, or dingy world. Notice how the fog is “active”; it is “rubbing” itself, depicting the city as a live animalistic one that seems uncontrollable and hostile. The emphasis is placed on the hostile, alienating, bleak and melancholy world, which impacts Prufrock by putting him in a state of hesitance where he is too afraid to act.

Question 10

“And indeed there will be time”

Answer 10

Repeated Motif
Time is a repeated motif all throughout the poem. Time running out is usually associated with death, so Prufrock is contending with this notion and that he is getting older, getting closer to death, but still hasn’t achieved his desires. His decisions are a continuous thought all through his mind. He is trying to avoid facing the reality and convincing himself that there is still time remaining, which further enhances the inaction as he gives excuses to not move forward. He puts himself in a state of social paralysis.

Question 11

“There will be time, there will be time”

Answer 11

Repetition
The soothing tone creates a false sense of security and relief. He is trying to comfort himself within a world where nothing is certain, but is desperate due to the reality of time running out. Dissonance is created every time Prufrock mentions time and what he is actually doing, as he resigns himself to know that time is passing and moving beyond him, emphasising his stagnancy and paralysis.

Question 12

“Before the taking of a toast and tea”

Answer 12

CONTEXTUAL LINK
This quote refers to the Victorian Propriety, as it connotes the sense of manners and tradition that had to be present at the time. This quote shows that there are profound questions that no one is able to express, and the link to the Victorian Propriety shows how Prufrock and his desires are all suppressed in this world.

Question 13

“My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin, my necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin” / “I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled”

Answer 13

Motif
The motif of the clothes emphasises the sense of confinement and restraint Prufrock is experiencing in the modern world. This highlights how the social order (CONTEXT) is confining him and trying to keep him in place, due to the Victorian sensibility for temperance and restraint. This provides insight into the idea of being confined by the high class society and being acquiesced by fads and trends. It further shows that Prufrock is focused on the insignificant and meaningless, emphasising his doubts and insecurities in this modern society. Once again, he is portrayed as the pathetic anti-hero.

Question 14

“And when I am formulated, sprawling on pin, when I am pinned and wriggling on the wall”

Answer 14

Visual Imagery
Prufrock equates himself to being powerless, seen through the quote “sprawling on a pin”. This quote emphasises how Prufrock does not have any agency or power and is constantly subjected to the wills of society that he just has to accept his fate and take it. In this quote, Prufrock reduces himself to something as tiny as an insect that is passively on the wall and doesn’t know how to get out, once again reiterating his inabilities. He lacks power, agency and control within his own actions and future. He makes it seem like things are happening to him, rather than him not doing anything.

Question 15

“To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways? And how should I presume?”

Answer 15

Rhetorical Question
The “butt-ends” is an allusion to cigarettes. This shows how Prufrock is never satisfied and equates his life to something that is so easily discarded, which is how he sees his existence. To him, his entire existence seems to be disposable and meaningless. Through the use of the rhetorical questions, Prufrock is confronting the audience with the same existential angst, anxiety and frustration that he feels. He is prompting the audience to also consider their own existence and perhaps how it may be similar to his own. From this, we are seeing a society that is paralysing the modern man and has placed Prufrock in a mental state that is struggling to contend with the world and in particular himself.

Question 16

“And I have known the arms already, known them all – arms that are braceleted and white and bare (but in the lamplight, downed with brown hair!) Is it perfume from a dress that makes me so digress? Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl”

Answer 16

Sensual Imagery/Synecdoche
There is a continued sense of yearning and intimacy. The synecdoche allows for further fragmentation of the representation of women and other people in general. shows Eliot’s seemingly brief interactions with the others but is portrayed as fleeting and meaningless. The fragmentation of the people help emphasise Prufrock’s mental isolation. This stanza centres a bit on the love aspect of the poem as it depicts the more conventionally romantic imagery such as “arms that along a table”. The focus of the poem turns a little sensual and sexual through the imagery of the women as Prufrock is being seduced by them.

Question 17

“Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets and watched the smoke that rises from the pipes of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?

Answer 17

Rhetorical Questions
Despite Prufrock being seduced by these images, more superficial interactions are created and he still doesn’t know what to do. There is a constant neurotic questioning of himself and his actions – he is very self conscious and stays within a state of pondering, and literally does not know how to move beyond it. The consecutive rhetorical questions can be thought of as a wistful or longing for the unrealised self. Prufrock has a very idealised version of himself but in the poem he never fulfils who he truly wants to be and never becomes the unrealised self. The connotations of this stanza help portray Prufrock as a flaneur as he is alienated and just watching the people pass by. Furthermore we see the urban decay within the poem, helping to build the overall atmosphere.

Question 18

“I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas”

Answer 18

Zoomorphic Imagery
Prufrock compares himself to a crab scuttling across the floor which we see as a reduction to a subhuman existence. Usually, you can associate a crab with the idea of fertility. The connotations of “scuttling” create a sense of the inescapable passage of time, which is what Prufrock sees his life to be like – very bleak, finds life to be inescapable, creating a sense of futility as he has resigned to his existence.

Prufrock is so unsure about himself and so lost in the modern world that his existence is not even a whole crab; just claws – disembodied. The paralleling between the crab and himself which turns up in rhapsody (emotional utterance). His inability to move forward is seen as “scuttling”, showing the negative connotations of it. Also a crab moves sideways, but not forwards. By comparing himself to a crab, his vision of modernity can be seen as a reduction to a subhuman existence (quote from axel kruise).

Question 19

“And the afternoon, the evening sleeps so peacefully! Soothed by long fingers, asleep…tired…or it malingers, stretched on the floor, here beside you and me”

Answer 19

Personification
Eliot personifies the afternoon and emphasises that the sense of urban life is inactive and stagnant (“sleeps peacefully”). Within Eliot’s modern world, there is a perpetual stagnancy. There is further fragmentation created through the sensual images of the women, which continue to provide fleeting moments of interaction and intimacy – more superficiality.

Question 20

“But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed”

Answer 20

Parallel Syntax
The repetition of the word “wept” emphasises and evokes a sense of Prufrock’s perpetual suffering that Prufrock alludes to. The parallel syntax also emphasises the monotony of the modern world where your existence is being mirrored all over again, and how in Prufrock’s mind, nothing is changing.

Question 21

“And would it have been worth it after all, after the cups, the marmalade, the tea, among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me”

Answer 21

Asyndeton/End-Stopped Lines/Imagery
The asyndeton and the end-stopped lines help build a sense of rhythm. Lots of end-stopped lines help show the monotony of his lifestyle, as it is repetitive and drags on. There is also an accumulation of imagery utilised here, where the imagery is associated with the Victorian Propriety and the higher class (all of the superficial manners, tea, porcelain, marmalade, etc). Prufrcok feels caged and trapped by all these things. This stanza builds momentum as Prufrock imagines and builds on all the things that he wants to do.

Question 22

“To have squeezed the universe into a ball to roll it onwards some overwhelming question, to say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead””

Answer 22

Juxtaposition in Tone
Lazarus is someone who Jesus brought back to life and was considered a miracle. Prufrock compares himself to Lazarus as he compares himself to great figures so that he can diminish his own self. He is saying that he wishes to be someone like Lazarus (someone with power and agency) yet he doesn’t know how to act. This creates a loss of tension and juxtaposition in tone as in the upper half of the stanza, Prufrock is imagining and fantasising about what he could do (the unrealised life) and then it is bathetic (second half of stanza) due to the realisation and seriousness of his existential problems, leaving him undermined and undercut, creating a massive shift in the tone. The poem has become more desperate as Prufrock begins to become more frustrated at his incapability to have a meaningful connection.

Question 23

“After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor”

Answer 23

Anaphora
This emphasises the monotony and how his life is not fulfilling. To Eliot, this is what life is; a series of meaningless images that accumulate to have no meaning.

Question 24

“It is impossible to say just what I mean!”

Answer 24

Exclamatory Remark
This shows the heighted frustration and desperation within Prufrock. He calls: a desperate cry for understanding and meaningful connection with someone but cannot find it within this modern world.

Question 25

“No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be”

Answer 25

Intertextual Allusion
Hamlet is a tragic hero who is tasked with the burden of avenging his father who he realised was killed by his uncle. The majority of Hamlet is spent by him vacillating between action and inaction, which can be paralleled to Prufrock’s actions. However, the difference lies in the fact that despite the sense of delay that is created by both characters, Hamlet eventually comes to the decision that he will act, whilst Prufrock is still stuck in a state of inertia.

Question 26

“Till the human voices wake us, and we drown”

Answer 26

Hyperbolic/Symbolic
The word “drown” is not literal. It is symbolic of the fact that he cannot have agency and control in the modern world, it feels that he is drowning. This quote is saying that he is coming back awake into the modern world, which is what causes him to drown as he cannot achieve his desires. Prufrock is stuck in a never ending cycle of modern life and is “drowning” as he cannot escape.