Who is J. Alfred Prufrock? Thoroughly analyze his character and main qualities, using plenty of textual support to bolster your analysis. As usual, you are welcome to respond to your peers.
I found J.Alfred Prufrock to be a man giving up on life. He shows many instances of not caring about life. "For I have known them all already, known them all", shows that he thinks he already knows everything he needs to know and no longer wishes to learn or try at anything. Prufrock also repeats phrases like "And how should I presume?" and "And how should I begin" to show how he is questioning going on with life, and if it is ultimately worth it. He also says "I am no prophet" to show that he thinks he is worthless and can have no purpose or characteristics for others to admire. Prufrock also shows signs of frustration with his emotions towards life "It is impossible to say just what I mean!" I also see signs of Prufrock questioning the idea of suicide and ending his life rather than dealing with it. But along with his thoughts of suicide come the thoughts of how his death would affect others. "Do I dare disturb the universe?" "Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?" And along with his feelings of guilt also come a fear of death. "I have seen the eternal footman(death) hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid" After the questioning of his life and the constant fear of the future Prufrock ultimately chooses death. The last sentence is describing death, "Till human voices wake us, and we drown". I saw the drowning as Prufrock's ultimate choice of death, and his real "giving up" on life. Overall, I saw Prufrock as an older man having a "mid-life crisis". He is worried about getting older and what comes along with it, and he is debating on ending his life before the aging and slow death really begins.
Alfred J. Prufrock, in my opinnion, is a man who is suffering severe self doubt about his common way of life. I believe that Prufrock is a man who's biggest embarrassment and failure in life was the inability to find the love of a woman, and have a relationship. Throughout the poem, the author provides much evidence to lead the reader to this conclusion. For example,"one-night cheap hotels". This line is referring to the fact that Prufrock could never have an in fact stable relationship, but rather occasional acquaintances. "Let us go and make our visit" is referring to the situation in life that every person is faced with, the rejection by a person he or her "like". The author states that life will come, and events will happen, but it is inevitable to escape some feelings of rejection and failure. The reader really begins to see Prufrock's self doubt in the three stanzas where he says, "For I have known.. how should I presume" These stanzas are all depicting events ans accomplishments he has done and accomplished throughout his life and suggests that even despite that he does not know what he should do when it comes to women. The lines "And would it have been worth it, after all...if one, settling a pillow by her head, should say, 'that is not it, at all...'" These lines really help to depict the character's feelings. This shows that underlying question, is the love of a woman really worth the rejection and embarrassment? The last couple stanzas in the poem really tie Prufrock's thoughts together nicely. Prufrock begins to grow older and alone and truly begins to contemplate his decision to not find love for he did not want to face the pain of rejection. He talks of walking on the beach and seeing the mermaids in the distance but does not think they will "talk" to him. This is referring to the "dreams" he might possibly have had come true if he had tried to talk to a woman but yet rather let slip away. "Till voices wake us, and we drown" these last lines to the poem really depict how Prufrock let the fears of rejection crush his hopes and dreams of love. I also found the title to be quite ironic in this case because Prufrock never in fact did find love, he was too afraid of failing. And lastly, I thought the author used repetition amazingly in this poem to help express Prufrock as a character. By choosing to use constant repetition the reader really sees his insecurities, doubts, and questions he debated through his life. It also helps bring the whole poem together to show the consequences of Prufrock's actions, he was left alone.
I thought Alfred Prufrock was a distraught man. He is worried about life in front of him and wonders if he will ever have the courage to ask a woman on a date with him. He continually tells himself that there will be time later in life for a relationship and having a wife. He says, "there will be, there will be time to prepare a face to meet faces that you meet." He tells himself there is no point in rushing life along, there will be plenty of time for anything and everything. Along with telling himself that there will be enough time later in life, Prufrock is afraid that he will misinterpret a woman's behavior and that person will criticize him if he ever goes on a date with a lady. He says in the poem, " Would it have been worth while if one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl and turning toward the window, should say: 'that is not it at all, that is not what I meant, at all.'" He does not want to be embarrassed by another person ever. In the end, I think Alfred Prufrock is a very nervous, self conscious man that wishes he had the courage to go up to women and talk with them without the feeling that he is being judged. As he gets older, he realizes he must act if he wants to have a wife before he dies.
I saw Alfred Prufrock differently than Ashley and Nick did. I thought of him as a simple man who is not content with modeling his life after society's standards (“Till human voices wake us and we drown” – humans being symbolic of society as a whole). I also saw this message in the lines "For I have known them all already [...] how should I presume?" Between these lines the speaker is describing certain aspects of society which his has witnessed: the boring routine of everyday life (“I have known the evenings, mornings, and afternoons”), people giving up on their own life ("I know the voices dying with a dying fall"), people judging others on what they do and how they act (“The eyes that fix you in a formulating phrase”), the separation of classes based on wealth ("Arms that are braceleted and white and bare"). All of these concepts are followed by the line “how should I presume” which I took for him asking if these are the only examples he has to live by. I see Prufrock as a person who wants the freedom to do whatever he feels will make his life most enjoyable. I think one of his greatest fears is that what he does or has done won’t bring him the most out of his life, which is why he questions “and would it have been worth it, after all.” I do agree that he might be going through some small midlife crisis, but rather, instead of being hopeless, he has more of a wondering, questioning tone. He is speculating about his life choices, not criticizing them or wishing he would have changed them. I think he believes that fate is leading his life. “In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which in a minute will reverse.” Situations, beliefs, and ideas are constantly changing and nothing can stop them. What will be, will be. For the “love song” part of this poem I don’t believe he is actually pursuing someone; rather, he is bring a message to everyone, particularly the younger generation for which “there will be time” to do anything they want to do. I think he is warning them to dream and make the most of their life not caring what other people think of them, because when it comes down to it, life isn’t worth it unless you are happy. The fact that he refers to himself as Lazarus, a biblical reference, emphasizes that he wants to send this warning people as he looks back on his own life and sees what he personally found “worth it.” I think he is asking others to join him in this way of thinking.
I pictured Alfred Prufrock kind of like a hipster. He seemed to be very, very, very much against fitting the bill of the standards of society. One of the things that stood out to me, as Nina had pointed out, was “Till human voices wake us and we drown,” which really just says that the constant buzzing of humans and the ideals of society getting thrusted down Prufrock’s throat make him and everyone around him drown, just like water would make someone drown as well. Another line that stuck out was, “The eyes that fix you in a formulating phrase” only because it seems to fall in with the concept of knowing the role a person has in society and tailoring themselves to that role. This line really implies that the way other people see you is the way that you are going to live. If someone were to judge someone, the person being judged can really take that judging to heart, almost like a self fulfilling prophesy. It seems to be a big complain about judging, and that would make sense with the constant repetition of, “how should I presume” or similar lines which is just Prufrock questioning the motives of society. Basically, Prufrock just wants to live by his own rules. He seems to be very upset, almost afraid (shown when he says, “I was afraid”) of the way society is. He doesn’t like the molds that society has built for the people living in it. He almost seems suicidal when he says, “and would it have been worth it, after all,” because it seems to be questioning whether or not life, in the current state as it is, is really worth living. It seems like he is speaking to some sort of higher being maybe, even though it refers to “you” as if the reader was the recipient of the poem. He really seems to be stressing that life needs to be lived by everyone to their fullest, most honest way possible. Although the poem is title, “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, I don’t really think that the poem is a love song as you would see it. I think the one he loves is life, and his message. He wants to fix what has been wrong with the world, “there will be time” implies that he thinks that it can be done. He wants to reach people before it is too late. He really wants people to see him as himself and he expects others to do the same by acting as their selves. I liked this poem.
also, the Italian in the opening was hard to translate. The most important thing I got from it was that he "feels he hasnt been alive" which goes along with not really living life
I saw J. Alfred Prufrock as a man who is in love and puts on a confident show, but his inner insecurities keep him second-guessing on whether or not to propose to her. In the end, his second-guessing prevails and he ends up deciding to not propose. In the first stanza, he seems very confident; "let us go then" sounds like he's in charge and it is a definite decision to go somewhere with his love. Although he uses a grim expression "like a patient etherized upon a table" he reveals that, like a patient without a doctor, he'll die without the girl, and, like anesthesia, the love that he's feeling makes him feel numb. Now, how I reached the conclusion that he was planning on proposing to her was when he said, "overwhelming question". His repetition of "let us go" reveals a sense of nervousness - like the type of nervousness that someone may experience before a proposal. Further down in the poem, "Do I dare," reveals how his inner insecurities fuel his actions. The whole direction of the poem from this point on changed to how he doesn't want to regret the proposal and even trying to convince himself to get out of it. His "collar mounting firmly to the chin" shows how he's protecting his vital throat, just like how he's trying to protect his heart by second-guessing about proposing. The listing of periods that separate some of the stanzas further emphasize his indecisiveness on whether or not to propose. Such lines like "Would it have been worthwhile" emphasize this indecisiveness and his second-thoughts on the subject. He keeps flipping between proposing and not proposing. The last line reveals that he has made his decision to not risk getting hurt and not propose. "Till human voices wake us" shows that his human insecurities and second-guesses took control of his mind and over his feelings. "And we drown" reveal that although his love wants him to propose, it fails against his own mind and he ends up talking himself out of it.
First of all, the Italian at the beginning was from the book Inferno by Dante Alighieri. This has to do with the poem because it describes a travel through hell. Based on the poem, J. Alfred Prufrock has gone through somewhat of a living hell due to all his indecision and problems. To me, J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who has still yet to decide on what to do with his emotions and feelings toward starting a relationship. He is full of misleading comments that second guess previous statements. In the beginning, he is full of excitement for going somewhere with someone. He doesn't care where they go, as long as they are able to go together. THis shows a time when he is able to be part of a relationship and be with someone. But next, he talks about how he is on the outside, searching for a way into the relationships, which is described as a house. This shows contradiction in his mind and show the reader that he is undecided on what to do about relationships. Later on in the poem, Prufrock states that he has grown bald and skinny, perhaps from worrying about the relationships he might commit to. Prufrock also describes himself as being "pinned and wriggling on the wall." This is another sign that he is stuck where he is at and is unable to come to a complete decision about what to do. This seems to be the constant theme for what Prufrock thinks of his life at the moment. More toward the end of the poem, he states that he needs to make a decision faster because he has seen "the eternal Footman hold [his] coat and snicker." I took the eternal footman as death in that Prufrock needs to hurry on up with his decision because death is closing in on him. This fita with his growing bald and skinny. If Prufrock could pick someone to be with, he would be able to eliminate the stress from his life and live longer, saying that he would come back from the dead, like Lazarus, who Jesus resurected. In the end, he just goes back to questioning himself and whether it would have been worth it to have a relationship, or is he better off not having one. To me, it seems like he hass made a decision in the end to not do anything, and "drown" instead. Overall, Prufrock is a very confused man that is unable to make up his mind. He has been unable to form a relationship that could help him, so he decides to just not form one and die.
I found J. Alfred Prufrock to be a man who wishes to express his love to a woman, but is too afraid to put himself out there. For the first part of the poem, he describes his wish to find somebody to love. For example, he mentioned he is “like a patient etherized upon a table,” describing his apathy to life, almost like he lives in a type of stupor. He seems to base his meaning of life around this woman, as when he describes “in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.” I took this to mean that he has had many women in his life, but they always left him because they aspired to something better and he wants to be this ‘something better’ by wooing this woman and finding meaning in life. Throughout the course of the poem, he makes references to “there will be time” for “to wonder,” “to prepare a face to meet the faces to meet the faces that you meet,” and etc. I understood it as he has an idealistic future set out for himself, but yet he is too cowardly/ unconfident to go through with his plan. He believes that moment will always be there and, therefore, he does not have to face his fear at the moment. Along the similar lines, he mentions his “overwhelming question” where he proclaims his love to this woman. Throughout, the whole poem is him deciding if he wants to reveal his feelings for her. For example, he talks about the time to “life and drop a question on your plate,” but then immediately after describes his hesitation by saying that there is “time yet for a hundred indecisions and for a hundred visions and revisions.” Every time he gets close to taking that next step, he backs away in fear that his expression is not good enough. Unfortunately, this hesitation causes him to grow old during his years of indecision. He describes his “bald spot in the middle of [his] hair” that causes other people to say “how his hair is growing thin,” which in turn causes him to lose his confidence even more about revealing his feelings to her. Then, beginning in the eighth stanza, he again describes his fantasy of this ideal life with this woman when he say “I have known them all already, know them all.” He has planned out the entire course of his life with this woman and describes his dreams over the course of the next few stanzas. On the third page, he again describes his desire to tell the woman when he wonders if he “ha[s] the strength to force the moment to its crisis.” Part of his indecision comes from his low self-esteem and how he describes himself. He says he is “no prophet,” meaning that he is not an important man. From these facts, he was “afraid” to “squeeze the universe into a ball” and “roll it toward some overwhelming question.” By the end, he is too afraid to take any risk, fearing any consequences, no matter how minor, they might be. For example, he asks himself everyday if he “dare[s] to eat a peach” or “part his hair behind,” because he is afraid of other people’s judgment of him. In the end, he never tells the woman that he loves her, choosing to “grow old,” “wear the bottoms of [his] trousers rolled,” and live life safely.
He is a very cool black guy and he is my hero becuase he is like the bravest person that i know and he would never back down from a fight that's why me and him are like best buds. We like childhood friends and we did everything together. Also he is like true OG like me dawgs we hang awll day and do OG stuff you know what i b sayin dawg cept i no say dawg.
Although Nina makes a great point, I mainly agree with Josh A. I found Alfred Prufrock as an aging man, who fears expressing his love to a woman. However, due to his obvious age and weariness of life, the woman may have passed away, “arms braceleted and white and bare.” This one line really brought the connection to death. Braceleted and white and bare connects a wake, the body is presented beautifully, but they have that whiteness of death. Alfred Prufrock is very much old with not much left for himself to live for. “I have seen my head (grown slightly bald)” And during lines 49-62 he repeatedly used the expression “I have known”. The use of past tense implies that he has been through quite a lot, and, having seen and known all these things, he is also wise with his age. He sees that he no longer fits into his society without his lost love. This brings us back to his lover. From the very first line we can see that Prufrock is madly in love with this mystery woman, “Let us go then, you and I.” In the first stanza he is telling her to ‘Let us go away from here, away from the place where we don’t belong, even if it is in “saw dust restraints” or “one-night cheap hotels” or even dark streets, he’d rather anywhere with her than without her. Then he turns to the “yellow fog” and “yellow smoke”. The color yellow has always been associated with being a coward. This is what brought me to think that he regrets not taking a chance and professing his love. The fog and smoke rubbed against the window panes, and this is repeated throughout the poem. The window panes symbolized Prufrock’s imagination of what could’ve been. However, his cowardice (i.e. yellow fog) blurred it and took away what he dreamed of. Lines 70-72 reiterate this point by saying “of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?...” He then goes on to ask multiple “what if?” questions throughout line 87-110. This is simply saying would any of his life be worth it, if he had just gone up and professed his love to her, even if she rejected him? Would all this regret leave if only he had taken the chance? “And would it have been worth it, after all […] To have bitten off the matter with a smile [… even if she said] ‘That is not it at all’” Prufrock also makes a large point about time. He keeps repeating that they will have time to do this and do that. However, he is constantly contradicting himself. He talks about his age, how he "grows old . . I grow old..." and finally he ends with a statement of death "and we drown."
I somewhat agree with Josh A. I saw J. Alfred Prufrock as a middle aged man who wanted to express his love for woman but didn't have the confidence to do so. His life thus far had been a bore and he not done much with it, so he felt he had nothing to offer. At the beginning he talks of "an overwhelming question" that he does not want asked. He doesn't want this person to ask it because it brings up his past and he does not want to revisit his trials and failures. In the next stanza, he refers to "yellow fog" and "yellow smoke". I saw this as something in his life that bothered him constantly. He said it "licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, lingered upon the pools that stand in drains" which I saw as his indecision getting in the way of the happier things in his life. He then repeats over and over again how "there will be time". I took this as he needed to keep reassuring himself that he would have time to make decisions and have closure before he was too old. The speaker also refers to age and growing old multiple times throughout the poem. I took this as he feared growing old and fears that he will eventually run out of time to make up his mind about he can turn his life around. He says "how should I presume" multiple times, which I took as the speaker searching for a way to make his life worth something, an attempt to rejuvenate his boring life. Prufrock also has internal issues with his self confidence. He constantly worries what other will think of him. For example, he says"They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin'". He fears what others think of him and how they view him physically. Near the end of the poem, the reader can tell he is talking about a woman or a woman he hopes to find. He talks of telling her how he feels and wonders if all the efforts he put into her would be worth the rejection, heartbreak, and embarrassment she could potentially cause him. He finally decides against it, and dreams about her from afar not wanting to put himself out there and risk his feelings.
I believe that J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who regrets never going against the grain of society or trying to change anything. Because of this he has become numb and "etherized" to life. He has never experienced real love only "one-night cheap hotels" and views life as monotonous and "insidious." In lines 15-22 he mentions a yellow fog/smoke which can symbolize society the way it curls around and consumes everything within its reach. However, in the next stanza he talks about how "there will be time" to escape the smoke, and to "murder and create." He believes that at some point he will escape society and choose his own path. He then realizes though that time has run out for him "his hair is growing thin" and he still hasn't escaped like he had planned to. He ended up living the life society wanted him to which he "measured with coffee spoons." He blames his life on the judgmental society which can "pin you to a wall." This fear of judgement also lead to him being afraid to approach women. As he realizes that death is approaching he wonders if his life was worth while and decides that he wants to warn people, like Lazarus, not to live like he did, and in doing so, he will finally break from the mold of society and be the person he was striving to be all along. He only wishes that he could have escaped the "human voices" sooner so that he wasn't "drowning" his entire life. Prufrock is a man who regrets not making more out of his life, and wants to help others not make the same mistake.
J. Alfred Prufrock is an older man, presumably in his late forties or early fifties, who is reminiscing about his life. As he looks back at his life he realizes all of the mistakes he made and how he missed many chances at achieving greatness. He comes to the conclusion that there were many times when greatness was within his reach, but he could not quite grasp it saying, "[there will be a time, for hundreds of indecision's and revision.]" As Prufrock comes more and more to terms with the fact that he is aging, and that his window of opportunity is closing, he wonders "Do I dare turn back and descend the stair?" This is an attempt to turn back time and, perhaps, change his current reality. Prufrock, throughout the poem, strives to be a world-renowned man, like Michelangelo or Lazarus, but it shot down by his ow insecurities that people might say "but how his arms and legs are thin!" The fact that he has amounted to nothing hits him again after this and he wonders "Do I dare disturb the Universe?" Profrock feels that he has the potential to change the entire universe, and once more looks back at his missed opportunities saying how his whole life could have changed had he made a different "decision", or "revision" in the past. He sees his potential for wonder and awe and hears the "music from a farther room" and has "seen the moment of [his] greatness"but is "pinned and wriggling on the wall" unable to do anything because "[he was in short, afraid]" As an old man, with his white trousers rolled on the beach, Prufrock has admitted that "he is no prophet", "is not Prince Hamlet", and that he "should have been a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floor of the silent seas." He sees mermaids, but says "they will probably not sing to me" finally retiring the idea that anthing great will ever happen to him. He admits to "linger[ing] in the chambers of the sea" (his dreams) for too long and is woken up from his dreams of grandeur by "human voices."
In short: Prufrock is an aged man looking back at his life wishing that he could change the decisions he made, because he believes hey could have lead him to greatness.
Sidenote: The yellow smoke in the beginning of the poem, if I'm correct, represented his dispersing chance at redemption right? I know that traditionally, yellow is the color of redemption in literature. That's what I was told last year from Mrs.Malloy anyway. Discuss it please.
I think that J. Alfred Prufrock is mainly a guy who has gone through life without actually accomplishing what he wants to do. He also seems very insecure and indecisive as if he does not know what to do. It says that "the yellow fog rubs its back upon the window-panes" which I took to mean that Prufrock, being sort of like the fog, has only rubbed up against his goals, but has not actually accomplished them as it says, "lingered upon the pools that stand in drains" which shows that he is still hesitating to do anything. He seems to be convincing himself that "there will be time, there will be time" to do what he needs to do. I think that one of these things that he wants to do is meet a woman because it keeps mentioning seeing women etc. In actuality, however, there is not that much time left for Prufrock to do everything he wants because he keeps making references to how he is aging. Examples: "with a bald spot in the middle of my hair", "arms and legs are thin", "grown slightly bald", "my greatness flickers", and "I grow old". He is getting old, and time is running out for him, even if he does not want to think that it is and even if he still has not done what he wanted to do. He sees life as a boring routine, the same things everyday, meaning that he has "known them all already". He has "measured out my life with coffee spoons" which is a very dull, repetitive process that I think shows his views on life. I think he is also extremely lonely walking along the street just watching the "lonely men in shirt-sleeves" to whom I feel he relates. Prufrock is also very self-conscious about his aging shown when he says that he thinks people will say judgmental things about him.."They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!' ". He is not at all confident in himself, and I think this is part of the reason why he has thus far not pursued his goal and gone after these women (because he feels they will not like him). He self-consciousness is also shown through him saying, "eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase, and when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, when I am pinned and wriggling on the wall". This means that he thinks people are always judging him ("eyes that fix you") and he becomes very uncomfortable when they do ("wriggling"). Once again, to me, this is what has stopped him from going out and trying and taking a risk in doing what he wants because he is afraid of being rejected. Prufrock is always questioning himself and constantly asks the reader "how should I presume" and "would it have been worth it". He wants to know what he should do; should he try to spice up his life and take a risk with these women or stick to his boring life. The reason that he is indecisive is because he does not know if it is worth it to try and possibly get hurt in the process in order to reach his goal or if it would be better to play it safe but live with knowing that he never tried. "Would it have been worth while if one...should say: 'That is not it at all". He lives in fear of rejection and this is why, in the end, he never reaches his goal, growing old alone and then "drowning" in his failure.
I thought J. Alfred Prufrock was a man who has lost the one he loved, but did not realize it until he was older. He also is a person who argues with himself and moves from place to place as if he were searching for something. I took the line "the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes" as him not being sure on what he wants to as if he were in a fog. I saw the lines in the first stanza such as "of restless nights in one-night chep hotels" and "let us go, through certain half-deserted streets" as him being a wanderer. I thought that the lines "and I have known the arms already, known them all" and "stretched on the floor, here beside you and me" as him talking about someone he loved, but I think he lost her somehow because of the line "arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl." I took that line as him remembering when he left the one he was truly in love with, but did not realize it at the time. I thought that J. Alfred Prufrock was someone who argued with himself because of his many indecisions throughout the poem such as: "and would it have been worth it, after all," "would it have been worth while, to have bitten off the matter with a smile," and "lingered upon the pools that stand in drains." I took the last quote as him lingering on decisions that he has made in the past, but is now second guessing what he did in the past. I think because of these indecisions and fears, J. Alfred Prufrock moves from town to town in search of peace of mind and rest. Even though he himself does not believe he can truly find it as long as he has his memory.
Why don't we just write essays instead? Cuz thts what it seems like everyone's doing. Go Josh Allen for saying what I've been thinking. However, i didnt think like that the whole time. So, Zach and I decided that the first stanza was about him cheating on his wife or something with a mistress, who he has been seeing for quite some time now. All of the talk of cheap hotels and half-deserted streets makes me think of a run-down, dirty town. And tht's where he takes his mistress to do the dirty and be alone together. And the fog, I thought, was meant to set the mood some more of that ghetto-typish town. But i was wrong. It can mean other things, but that is not correct. The yellow color could represent unyielding the cowardice of Prufrock, or a past tht he wants to forget yet still haunts his thoughts. Anyway, Prufrock, like Josh and RaeAnna said, is a dude who wants a relationship but is to ascared to lay it on the line and make a move. He describes himself as growing old, balding, and too skinny, showing tht he has little to no confidence in his looks. He is a middle-aged man who is past his prime (which im not even sure he'd consider "prime"). He keeps going on about how unworthy he is of a female counterpart. In line 45, he asks "Do I dare Disturb the universe," as in, "it is not natural for a man like me to be happy with a woman, so why even try?" Also, the end part with the mermaids in which he says he is not worthy of their song is important. Another thing about him, that i found, is that he has not had a very pleasant life. Lines 49-61 describe it, in general terms. The first stanza describes how his life has been long and boring, and is now unafraid of death. The 2nd stanza shows that he has been taken advantage of or abused. So much that in line 60 he asks how he can begin to forget about his misfortunes. Another thing i notice is that he sees himself as a lesser being than the others around him. This is especially evident starting at line 111. He says that he is not meant to be a main character in a woman's life. He is nothing more than a background character, sometimes appreciated yet easily forgotten. He is also, "at times, the fool." He is also an extremely indecisive guy. He repeats the words "would it have been worth it" or something like that over and over again. He's not even 100% sure whether or not he wants a relationship. Another thing that i think is that he has some sort of relationship with a girl who sees him as a friend. It's been like tht for a long time and he wants for the situation to change, but he cant decide whether or not he wants to risk ruining whatever it is they have. That's why he says repeatedly "that's not what I meant at all." He's afraid of saying something and then getting rejected. In short, he is an aged man, far past his prime, who resents never being able to work up the courage to start a relationship. He is also not the most respected man and has a history of abuse. The window of opportunity is closing, and he is too afraid of what might or might not happen to take action. He is also a gangsta
J. Alfred Prufrock is definitely a man with low confidence. He lacks the ability to communicate his love for a woman due to his questioning whether it will go wrong or not. He says “I am no prophet” and “I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be.” He has accepted that he is nothing special and because of this he thinks the woman he desires won’t have similar feelings towards him. I see “In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo” meaning all of the women in his life he has been attracted to coming and going, talking about great things such as the famous Italian painter, sculptor, poet, etc. He thinks he can never live up to someone such as Michelangelo, so he shouldn’t bother trying. He still wants this woman, but instead of facing her, he thinks “And indeed there will be time”. He puts it off to the future, thinking that since he doesn’t have the confidence now he will acquire it later on in life and experience marriage. However, later in the poem we find out he is aging, skinny and “a bald spot in the middle of my hair”. He has not successfully achieved his goals of possibly getting married. He sees himself older, having not done anything at all and letting all “the women come and go”. Prufrock shows his self-scrutiny it the poem, worrying that every little action he does will make him seem pathetic. “Do I Dare?... Disturb the universe?” He questions if he can actually come out on top and can’t decide if acting as he wants to will do anything. I can also see Prufrock as Nina described, not able to fit in with society. “The eyes that fix you in a formulating phrase” could mean he doesn’t want to be judged, but everyone in the world is going to judge you somehow. Of course, you have him asking “how should I presume?”, wondering if he should fit in with society, or instead do his own thing. I can see it being both ways, him not being able to fit in with society and not being able to build up the courage to talk to a woman. They both can connect in ways and relate to show how Prufrock seemed like a very isolated man who desired partnership but couldn’t see himself fitting in with society.
I think that Prufrock is a man that is too insecure and depressed to continue living. He is constantly stating that he is older and "has a bald spot in the middle of my hair", or "[he] has seen the moment of [his] greatness flicker". This proves that he is insecure about his age. He also keeps to himself and is very self conscious. He questions, "Do I dare? Do I dare?" and doesn't want to bother anyone or "disturb the universe". When he describes himself in the yellow fog stanza, I believe he is talking about himself and how he is not worthy to go into the house almost like an animal. He "lingered upon the pools that stand in drains" which I picture as nasty water obviously and covered in "soot that falls from chimneys". He notices that he is not good or clean enough to go inside the house so he ended up "curling once about the house, and fell asleep". Prufrock also doesn't want to go on living or is at least questioning it. He repeats "So how should I presume?" and "How should I begin". This depression may stem from a dead lover since he describes a woman that had "arms that lie along a table" or "covered in a shawl". He was so moved by that it "made me so digress". The memory of her made him stray off topic. And he repeats the presume and begin line. Prufrock has a difficult time getting up in the morning and I get the impression he hates to wake up and is always tired/depressed since he "measures out [his] life with coffee spoons" implying that he counts how many times he has to wake up in his life like its a bad thing. Overall, he is an againg man that is not important since he is "not a prophet" and "should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas". Prufrock is an emotional wreck that is too insecure to even truly interact with people.
J. Alfred Prufock is an extremely introspective and moody man, who's lack of self-confidence and security has led him to believe that he is a man not capable of greatness, "I am not Prince Hamlet", or for that matter not capable of accomplishing alot of the things he wants to. He constantly questions what others will think of him using the line "They will say:" repeatedly and uses the metaphor of "eyes", saying "eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase." This fear of bold action culminates in his expierences with his lover. J. Alfred wonders about this woman and keeps asking himself "Do I dare?" he cannot act on his feelings and is reminiscing through the poem "would have it been worth it" to do something about his relationship. The most interesting aspect is the fact that Prufock recognizes his own flaws and shortcomings. He has no illusions about his character and admits "I was afraid". Yet no matter what his self-reflection reveals he can not overcome his inability to express his true feelings and states "It is impossible to say just what I mean!" From line 120 to the end Prufock really gets into his past failures and how even at the end of his life he still lacks confidence and what I call "swag". Prufock accepts himself and who he is but it is obvious to the reader that he does not love himself, and this is a major complication in why his relationship does not work out. In the end his dreams ride out like "waves" that he watches from a distance and can never connect to. The moody, introspective tone of this poem is not exactly what a reader would envision of a typical love song. This poem does not reveal much about the romantic relationship but more why Prufock can not find the love he wants to achieve. At first I just saw this as a self-reflecting man who has given up on life and T.S. Elliot telling his story, but as I examined it closer I believe that he is almost poking fun at this man and how sad it is that although he completely recgonizes his shortcomings he does nothing to change them. He conveys to the reader especially with lines "I grow old.. I grow old.. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled" this emotion of acceptance and regret almost that the reader can take as an attempt for sympathy, or light humor on how pathetic J. Alfred Prufock had become.
After reading the poem I agree with Raeanna and the others that say Prufrock is a middle aged man who still does not know how to express his feelings. The author constantly tells the reader how awkward Prufrock is, and the first hint to that is Prufrock's name. His name is a combination of the words prude and frock, which immediatly give the reader a view of a weak, feminine person. Throughout the poem, the reader seens more and more things that make them doubt Prufrocks masculity and knowledge of how to act around women. The lines that state "In the room the women come and go0 talking of Michelangelo" (13-14), show the unablilty of Prufrock to act upon any emotions. he sees the woman passing by and observes them, but he does not mingle with them. The author also continues to talk about the weakness of Prufrock when he says "his arms and legs are thin" (44) and, notably, "his hair is growing thin" (41). Prufrock is a weak, but smart man, who does not know how to act in th presense of women. He doubts his ability to lure women, and even being in their presence frightens him. He says "mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me" (124-125). Through these lines, Prufrock explains that he feels he is not good enough for the women he desires. He has constant doubts and finds all the faults in himself. Through the whole poem, he just discusses how much he pitites himself and how he wishes he could win the attention of a woman. But over all, he is not satisfied with himself and is so anxious around women to ever be able to find anyone for him.
I agree that J. Alfred Prufrock is an extremely insecure and indecisive man. He doesn't believe that he could ever achieve love because he is not "Michelangelo". He wants to finf love but he is too nervous to approach anyone. He questions himself "'Do I dare?'" constantly. He claims to make "decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse" meaning that he makes decisions but then constantly goes back on those decisions and changes his mind. I think he is so indecisive because he is insecure. He cares too much what other think of him. He shosw this in his thoughts of what others will say about his aging, like "'How his hair is growing thing'". He also claims "I have known the eyes already, known them all" meaning that he has been judged plenty of times before. He is also regretful of not striving harder to find love. He says he "should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling acroww the floors of silent seas" meaning he should have been reaching for something more instead of being content being alone. At the end of the poem he stops trying to decide what he wants and gives up showing how weak he is.
Shockingly, I found J. Alfred Prufrock to be a man concerned with what life has given him and the opportunities he disregarded and ignored to take. Though this idea seems way out there, I believe that the use of the woman character in the poem was not literally a women, she was the metaphoric meaning of life. In the poem, the speaker refers to the presence of a women quite often. Yet, I conclude this prescience to be that of life. Such as the repetition of the line, "In the room the women come and go". Here I believe that the women leaving and entering represents life in the sense that sometimes it goes your way and other times it doesn't. Such as the women go in towards the room, his way, and leaving, not going his way. It seems to me as if J. Alfred Prufrock did not live the life he planned on, but he seems, to me, proud of what he has done. In the poem, He says the line, “Do I dare?" Yet, this is not well explained in the poem, rather it is open ended for the reader to decide. I believe that what he dares not do is take chances in life and capitalize on opportunities that come his way. The poem then goes on to say, “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair" Here, Prufrock is ageing and at the same time not gaining the successes that I believe he once wanted. Instead it goes on to say," My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin My necktie rich and modest" Here Prufrock, though not the man he thought he would become, still takes pride in what he does and that is work hard. This is best shown through the use of the cloths he is wearing, which he takes pride in. As the poem continues, there is a reference to his ageing qualities, such as gray and thinning hair, yet there is a line that says," But in the lamplight, downed with brown hair." I believe this lamplight to be the successes he has had and it makes him proud, such as his hair becoming that of a brown color, which I believe to represent what his youth, which when your in your youth you are proud to be young, and that was successes seeking and proud. Prufrock continues on to describe how he feels through the use of, “Asleep...tired...or it malinger" Malingers means feign illness to escape duty, and I believe his duty was to go to work everyday and work hard, yet he grew tired and restless of working that he wanted to escape what he was doing and live in peace for the rest of his life. The poem also continuously asserts the question, "And would it have been worth it, after all" I believe Prufrock to be thinking to himself, if I did not go for opportunities and not gain the successes that I once wanted, is that really a bad thing. Sure it would have been nice, but would life be that much better. The question is would going for the opportunities in his past have been worth it? Towards the end of the poem, Prufrock goes on stating, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell progress, start a scene or two Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool" Here, Prufrock is simply saying, that, no he is not a great man with a great position, but he is a great man with great ideas and advising his superior workers, such as his boss. And it seems that in this line Prufrock is proud of what he has accomplished, even though he could have accomplished more. Finally, at the end of the poem Prufrock says, "Till Human voices wake us, and we drown." I believe what Prufrock is saying is that all the hard work and the people who have greater success than others will simply be forgotten after they pass on. Here, I believe Prufrock comes to the realization that once a person passes on, whether successful or not, will merely be forgotten and will be judged on the hard work they have done, not the successes they gained, such as money and wealth
J. Alfred Prufrock is a very insecure middle aged man. He does not feel he has accomplished enough in his life and everything is very dull to him (“Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:”). Prufrock’s life seems static, there is little change in his every day surroundings (“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons:”) and this lack of change leads him to believe he is useless in society. I do not see Prufrock as someone that wants to stand out as an individual, but rather as a person that wants to conform. He is constantly worried about the way people will view him (“Shall I part my hair behind?”) and cannot take rejection (“That is not what I meant at all.”). He would rather hide than be put in the spotlight and have a chance to be judged. His shyness really hinders him in his decisions and he would rather not take risks in life in fear of being rejected (“Do I Dare?”). The interesting thing is even though Prufrock is so unhappy with his life and even talks about his thoughts to commit suicide in stanza 12 all he does is weep and pray about life, he never tries to change anything. This is just another example of how his shyness hinders him from living his life to the potential. He is also afraid to fail at anything. “Would it be worthwhile,” he wonders, if he does not understand the way the woman he falls in love with feels. Would it have been worth the time and the effort if he is risking rejection the whole time? Overall, Prufrock is so afraid of society’s view on him, and he is so shy he will never truly accomplish anything in his life. He is not strong enough to change his life, or to end it, and will always remain the static character that he is. He will forever remain in a state of second guessing himself and will never have the guts to ask a woman to be with him.
I agree with Lydia that Prufrock is an insecure middle aged man. To me, he seems like someone who spent his life in isolation and lacks the confidence to actually speak to the women of his desires, yet still envisions conversations with her. He tells himself he will have time to actually befriend her, despite his aging (["They will say: "How his hair is growing tihn!"]). I took the yellow smoke as his regrets in life. It obstructs his once possibly happier memories (window-panes) and even begins to consume his whole mind (the street). He cannot make himself take a risk, telling himself "And time yet for a hundred indecisions". The reason he never took a risk in love earlier in his life was his insecurity, and he know regrets that and tries to gather the courage to break from society now, asking himself "Do I dare disturb the universe?". He seems to have an understanding of his desire, possibly through literature, which he shows when he says "I have known them already". However, he has had no real physical interaction, since the strongest memory to him is just the scent of perfume. The smoke through the pipes represents him trying to filter his negative past so he can move on. He confesses to himself the reason he is unhappy was "in short, I was afraid." He then seems unsure of whether or not he should have taken those risks, asking "And would it have been worth it, after all". He feels he is doomed to this state for the remainder of his life, moving on to the point where the biggest issue in his life isn't his loneliness, but rather if he'll part his hair behind, or if he will eat a peach.
I believe that J Alfred Prufrock is a man going through a midlife crisis in a way and is having inner arguments about how he has lived his life and about the unfulfillment he has had in his life, and he doesnt quite know what to do about it. At the beggining of the poem Prufrock is just describing the first half of his life as it was unfulfilled. "Restless nights in one-night cheap hotels", this line symbolizes his life as him expiriencing a lot of things but all of those things basically mean nothing and are worthless, or cheap like one night hotels. And by saying "let us go and make our visit" it shows he wants to go back and look at the past and see why he was so unfulfilled with his life. I agree with Angel that the color yellow in a way symbolizes redemption, like in the third paragraph of the first page, when the yellow fog " rubs its back on the window panes". Windows are something that are to be looked through, and his case he is looking into the past for redemption which is the yellow fog. Also his constant reference to the night is a common reminder that the end of something is coming, whether it be the end of his life, or the end of the first half of his life, and time for redemption. At the beggining of the second page you begin to see Prufrock more uncertain about the rest of his life and maybe wanting to end it instead of trying to change things. "Do I dare, disturb the universe?" and the constant repetition of Do I dare represents his worry of what him trying to change things will do, which prompts him to the ideas of maybe killing himself and just getting rid of those ideas.
Overall I feel Prufrock is just a common man in his midlife, thinking about what he has done and wondering if there is anything he can do about it, whether it is killing himself or looking back for redemption. Then at the end of the poem it seems that he comes to the decision that he will try to live a better life and not think about the troubles in his past. He will live that good life until "human voices wake us, and we drown". Which means he will go on living a more carefree life and redeeming himself until a voice of reason comes and brings him back down drowning him and therefore ending his life.
I saw J. Alfred Prufrock as a man who had very little confidence but was in love and wanted to talk to her but did not have the courage to talk to her. He also feels that he still had time to make a connection with the women he loved. In the first stanza he talks about how he wants to go “When the evening is spread out against the sky.” This made me think that he wants to go somewhere with the women he loves and tell her how he feels like when it is night time and we see the truth of the sky when the sun is not out. He then continues to talk about other activities that overall lead to “an overwhelming question” of “What is it?” Not wanting to reflect on the answer to the question his thoughts change and he talks about how “There will be time, there will be time” to talk to her and make the connection that he seeks. “And I have known the arms already, known them all-/ Arms that are bracelet white and bare/ Is it perfume from a dress/ That makes me so digress? And should I them presume?/ And how should I begin?” In this stanza he is saying that he has already been loved by one women and that means he knows how to love another but he is not sure how to handle his emotions. He is also unsure how to present his emotions in a way that would allow him to be loved back by this women he is speaking of. He wants to go through all the normal motions of a relationship but is unsure if it “would have been worth it” in then end. He is not sure if he goes through all the motions if he will be happy and with the women he loves or if he will just grow old and lonely. “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each./ I do not think they will sing to me.” We are again shown here in lack in confidence with himself and his fear that the women he loves will not love him back.
J. Alfred Prufrock is a very very logical man who thinks that he can plan every thing out. He that kind of guy who would never act without thoroughly and completely analyzing a situation. This man is arrogant to a certain degree to. which is why he kept on putting off situations that he was unable to analyze thoroughly and plan out. Not everything in life can be planned out, which is a realization that Prufrock is unable to come to grips with because of his neurosis. This man convinces himself that any action that he cannot maintain full control over, or at least anticipate will end is his complete failure and ruin. Because of this he can't face any sort of spontaneous spur-of-the-moment events without second guessing he unplanned out course of action. This prevents him from succeeding as a lover. With love, it is nearly impossible to anticipate the outcome, and since he cannot anticipate the outcome of his relationship, he is unable to move his relationship with his lover in any direction whatsoever because he is paralyzed by his fear that it won't work out. He keeps on telling himself that he has time, and that he shouldn't worry because all he needed in order to plan it was more time. He convinces himself that to act at the moment would be foolish and presumptuous, comparing action in that moment to playing god or messing with fate. He escapes his fear by belittling himself as unable to make decisions without premeditation. A man like Prufrock will never find love, because love is spontaneous and you can't plan for love. I think that the most telling line of the poem is "Have strength to force the moment to its crisis" because it shows how he believes that any non planned-out decision will inevitably fail, which is why he wasn't able to get intimate with a girl.
I believe the Prufrock is a very insecure man. He is struggling with his own emotions and going through what some might refer to as a "mid-life crisis." The poem is titled "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" however, I believe that this love was not with a woman. Prufrock was in love with the idea of life or the 'perfect' life. He reflects upon the things he has done and seen and almost obsesses over them and the way he believes things should be. He continuously questions what he could have done differently. He wonders whether or not he fits in with the status-quo. "Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?" He also keeps pushing himself to move forward with the repetition of "So how should I presume?" or 'how should I continue?" Profrock continuously compares himself to others and his surroundings. Upon completion, this poem piqued my curiosity about T.S. Eliot as a poet and human, and after doing research on him I found that quite a few of his poems are based on the human psyche. This made me realize that Prufrock could have been emotionally damaged by something in his life that made him have some sort of obsession with wanting to fit in. There was a lot of times in the poem that Prufrock mentions "Do I dare?" "I've known them all" "Should I (do this)?" Prufrock constantly reminds himself that he could have done things differently and he questions his past actions. He realizes that he did not live a life full of greatness, "I am no prophet- and here's no great matter" but he also takes into account that his life was not completely awful, "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker." He also realizes that the greatness he had is starting to fade because he is aging. "With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-" As he is aging and looking toward the future, he wants to make the right decisions. He also wants to take the time to enjoy the beauty but he also reminds himself that the beauty is not there for him, because he is not as great as a prince. "I do not think they (mermaids) will sing to me."
I agree with Ashley; I think the man was talking about love, but not that of a woman. He seems to be more obsessed with habits of people and the ideas of life, which enthrall him to the point of almost insanity over it. However, while he does seem to be acutely aware of his surroundings, he doesn't seem to want to take a part in them. He says that "[he] has known the eyes already, known them all-" and "I have known the arms already, known them all... and should I then presume?" suggesting that the life he had previously had seen much of the world and he had no desire to participate in it again. He seemed to be a very speculative man, as his whole poem kept coming back to the "overwhelming question" of the poem, which could be many situations. The poem leads in an almost complete circle, starting with "Let US go then, YOU and I.. Let US go.." you get the picture. The only thing is, "us" is barely mentioned in the other parts of the poem, but "You" and "I" are mentioned frequently. "Us" is brought back in at the end of the poem, where it states that "human voices will wake US" (131). This again shows the state of Pruncock's unstable mind as he writes in the stream of consciousness, letting us as readers into his bare thoughts, which reveal his musings over a period of time. Pruncock seems to extremely afraid of getting old or decaying without first amounting to a notable something. He wants to win, but he is too hesitant to try, "Do I dare, do I dare," he says, wanting an answer for himself. He doesn't want to "disturb the universe," a which shows he had a very sad opinion of himself, which also probably doesn't bolster his self-confindence. Over all, he seems like he wants to give readers advice, but cannot tell them directly.
Though I still think I could argue that Prufrock is cheating, like Tyler and I originally thought, I feel that other concepts are more prevalent like his fear of conforming to society. The bad news is that society will eventually devours him anyway. This notion of fear to assimilate comes up pretty early in the poem. Line eight, "streets that follow like a tedious arguement," exposes his moral dilemma. The "streets" are his choices for life. To either take the path of society or the "one less traveled" (Robert Frost-The Road Not Taken). It is not long before an answer is revealed when he speaks of society's "insidious intent" (line 9). The next notable observation is the mentioning of "fog" and then "smoke." In my opinion, these are two different things, in two different places, and with two different meanings for yellow. The fog is Prufrock and the smoke is society. The reason I believe this is due to what each rub against the window. The fog "rubs it's back" (line 15). Now this is Prufrock who is on the inside of the house, and is so yellow or too afraid to look out at society that he turns his back on it to prevent any eye contact that could weaken his resolve to stay separate from it. The smoke, or society, is on the outside and knocking to get it. It becomes obvious here that he has a negative view on society for it is called smoke and it "rubs it's MUZZLE" (line 16) on the window. Smoke has an undesirable connotation because it is associated with fire, which is the form of torture in Hell. In other words, he is calling society a pathway to Hades. Also, saying that a muzzle was poking at the window makes it sound like an animal was trying to break in. When an animal starts sticking it's snout into different places, it is looking for something and probably something to eat, and in this case it is Prufrock. The animal wants to get in and consume Prufrock and make him like the rest of the disgusting, yellow society. Another reason that I think that the smoke and fog are two different things is because the author did not say smoke or fog in both occurrences. Had he meant for them to mean the same thing, he would have said smoke and smoke or fog and fog. The fact that there are two different words means he wanted them to be dissimilar. Prufrock also knows the "arms already," (line 62) or the tricks to pull him in to society. The arms are "white and bare" (line 63) to show the supposed beauty of society, but "in the lamplight ... hair" (line 64) can be seen. This unattractive, hairy arm is what society truly is and that is why Prufrock has no desire to be part of it. It is very evident that Prufrock has a fear of society and it's "hairy arm" based on his actions. When he needs to go somewhere, it is "at dusk through narrow streets" (line 70). The fact that he goes at night tells the reader that he is hiding. It is easier to see things in the light and day, like the hair, than in the dark. His freakishness, according to society, will less likely be spotted in this approach. It is also the road he takes. A "narrow street", goes back to his desire to be his own man and not ran by society. In a literal meaning, though, he is not as likely to be seen if he goes down a narrow street since less people travel on them.
Unfortunately, all of Pruford's efforts are in vain, for he is "drown" (line 131) by society. Though society does not kill the actual living being that is Prufrock, it destroys who he is. The drowning, in this case is Prufrock's individuality. It is evident, though, that he had given in earlier. He says he has "grow[n] old" (line 120) and that he just "lingered" (line 130) at the beach "till human voices" (line 131), or society, came to get him. As one grows in age, it becomes more difficult to do what used to be possible. It is apparent that Prufrock has hit that point in life and has to give up any chance of staying apart from society. He no longer has the strength to carry on. In the end, what the poem was trying to convey is that individuality cannot last forever.
Sorry that I had to post twice. It sayed that my whole blog was too long.
I believe that J. Alfred Prufrock is very depressed in general, but mainly about that of a girl. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker makes it seem as though Prufrock is daydreaming about the perfect date. He is imagining this scene, until eventually he very hastily comes out of this state, and thinks that there will be "time for hundred visions and revisions" (line 33). This is Mr. Prufrock saying that he may as well just give up actually attempting to meet/find a woman, because he can make it easier and just think her up, that way she can't harm him with his words. It seems as though he is a very sensitive person. The tone of the poem changes drastically when he starts talking about how he gets chastised by others because his "hair is growing thin" (line 41). He also speaks of how his "arms and legs are thin" (line 44). He is sharing his characteristics of imperfection to get sympathy from the reader and to change the tone to get more of an empathetic response from the audience. Whenever he goes from talking about maybe "asking someone out," he goes straight to how they have a potential of hurting him. Then, he starts to explain that finding someone might not even be as good as everyone believes. He goes through several lines of posing questions such as these around line 90. In the end, Mr. Prufrock is just reiterating that he is peculiar in some ways, but that isn't a bad thing-- it's who he is. "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be" (line 111). Then he speaks of how the prince, which he is not, is a tool, referring to the proverb that people do crazy things in love. He is not going to do such things because he isn't that type of person. Then, lastly, Mr. Prufrock is just reminiscing about whether or not people will "sing to him" (line 125). Therefore, I believe that Mr. Prufrock is just a lonely man that wants to find someone, but does not have the gall to attempt such a feat. He is not confident in himself enough to put himself out there, he is only confident to know that he is not like everyone else. Therefore, it is a description of a reminiscing man, swaying on a fence (figuratively), trying to decide what to do.
I completely agree with Alli. Alfred Prufrock did sound like a man who had already gone through life and experienced quite a bit. His constant talk of time, and using so much past tense gives the feeling of how much he had been through. He uses "there will be time" heavily in a few lines, which makes me wonder if he is trying to convince the reader, himself, or his lover, but it also puts emphasize on how time is an issue.His age is shown when he talks about "the bald spot in the middle of my hair" and how his hair, legs and arms are growing thinner, and when he repeats "i grow old...i grow old." As far as who the poem is addressed to, I also agree that he is talking to his lover. The first line of the poem is "let us go then, you and I" and the reader wonders who the "you" is. He wants to go and be with this person. He uses "let us go" three times in the first few stanzas alone. This also makes me wonder if he is alone in his age and if his lover has in fact passed on. The poems tone itself is a bit dark, and the imagery explains dark places. Fog, smoke, evening, October night, murder, are all words that he uses, leading the reader to think that this is a dark, dismal time for him. Going back to his talk of time, i also agree that he contradicts himself. He has heavy repetition with the word time, but at the same time, he makes it obvious that he is becoming old and fragile. His use of past tense and the repetitiveness of "Known them all" leads the reader to think that he has been alive long enough to say that he can not gain anymore knowledge. But i agree that his repetition does make him sound as if he is insecure about his life.
I believe that J. Alfred Prufrock is a depressing individual that has had many struggles in his life to make him that way. In many ways, though, his depression might be centered around poverty, a former love, and a very low self esteem. In the first stanza of the poem, Prufrock talks about how he had to spend "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels" and "sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells" (6-7). This shows that he was probably too poor to have a home for his own and had to rely on cheap hotels and bad restaurants to live. I believe the issues of poverty do not stop there but continue to grow and influence all of the decisions he made with his life that drove him more and more into a state of depression. Another issue addressed in the first stanza is one of a woman, maybe a wife or a lover, that constantly asks "what is it" (11). In a way, the woman is portrayed more like a secret lover that Mr. Prufrock is hiding by staying at only cheap hotels and always on the move. She is mentioned constantly throughout the poem, so I believe that she is either the main part of his concern or a large part of it. As the story of his life progresses, he comes to a part of when they are in a shop drinking tea and eating an assortment of food. With this, he becomes quite paranoid about what other people think of him. When he turns to leave, he believes that they might think "how his hair is growing thin" or even that his "arms and legs are thin" (41, 44). He seems to really stress out about comments that were not made to him but always believes that they were said. Those parts are also surrounded by brackets to show the reader that they might not be there at all but in Mr. Prufrock's mind. This self-conscientious paranoia even trickles down into his love life when he says that the woman he is with is beautiful except for her arms that are "downed with light brown hair" (64). With his self-conscious thoughts, Mr. Prufrock probably has to think of others the same way he believes society to see him so he can receive some satisfaction in his life. It all boils down to the repetition throughout the poem. The lines Prufrock repeats are all deal with a struggle within his mind about one thing or another. He has spent his whole life with these problems surrounding him and invading his mind, and that is probably the best reason for his depression. Though the outside cause of a woman in his life might have cause some, I believe that most of his depressing tendencies stems from the struggles within himself influenced by his environment. If he had not been so poor and lived a different life, maybe he would have not had that much depression.
After reading this poem I pictured J. Alfred Prufrock s a nervous middle aged man, with more than enough insecurities. Why wouldn’t he be insecure when “They say; “How his hair is growing thin!” and “But how his arms and legs are thin!”? This clear aging of his body has left him terrified of rejection so he refuses to put himself out there in order to find love. When he says “I have known them all ready, known them all” Prufrock is saying that he feels as if he already knows all the women available but still he has no one to share the rest of his life with. At least he’s optimistic at the beginning of the poem when he states that “there will be time” “to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”. Although this tone does not carry put through the rest of the poem I feel like if Prufrock had just one pleasant experience with love that optimism would return. Unfortunately he feels that he could never be a woman’s “Prince Hamlet” and decides to simply “grow old” without anyone by his side. J. Alfred Prufrock’s extremely low self-esteem left him a cranky old man with no one to love. So sad.
In the physical and very basic sense, I feel J. Alfred Prufrock is an average man, speaking to a potential lover. Yet going far beyond that, it becomes apparent throughout the poem, of all of Prufrock’s deep rooted insecurities about himself, the best words to describe it would be that he feels “second-best.” You can see him second guess himself, through the repeated phrases of things like “Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis” and “would it have been worthwhile.” He feels like his heart is telling him to go for this girl, and attempt to make her his, but everything he has been programmed to believe in his brain based on everyone else’s perceptions of him, and opinions of him, keep him back because he feel like he’s on a much lower level. His inadequacies cause him to believe that everything comes back to his fault, and even eludes to that if him and this woman did manage to work out for some reason, that everything that would end up going wrong would still be his fault, how he adds in the tidbit of “settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl, and turning towards the window.” It shows how he feels that people have constantly put him down, talking about girls that he had been with before, like when he says “i have known the arms already, known them all” and then his elders that have looked down at him as well, like when he adds in “i have known the eyes already, known them all.” The most obvious explanation of his pain comes through the plain statement of “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be.” BAsed on his constant mention of time throughout the poem, it appears he is going through a midlife crisis. It may sound strange but I actually really related to J. Alfred Prufrock as a character, because we both have such a low self esteem and both have bad luck with relationships and it would seem apparently for him as well. Reading this was for the most part easy, because it was so easy to connect with the emotions he was trying to explain through this character because I have experienced them as well.
I think that J.Alfred Prufrock is a man that is reaching the point where he knows he is going to die soon because his hair is thinning and he is growing thinner, and something is bothering him. I also believe that he has cheated on his wife/significant other multiple times and is just now realizing he should tell her, but he isnt sure if he should or not. I drew this conclusion because he talked about "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels" and he does not want people to ask "what is it?" because he is with the woman that he is cheating on his wife with. Prufrock is sitting there having a relationship with this woman and the whole time "yellow fog [rubs] its back upon the window-panes". I think this symbolizes the happiness that he could feel but being with another woman tarnishes it so it is just sitting at the window pane "[licking] its tongue into the corners of the evening" almost daunting him while he is with his woman and it is behind "window-panes" so it can never reach him. It also becomes covered in "the soot that falls from chimneys" which I see as every woman he has cheated on his wife with has tarnished and broken down that happiness even more.But Prufrock doesnt worry about the smoke because he says "indeed there will be time" because it shows at this point he is young and doesnt care what happens. Almost like an addict he thinks there will always be time to do what he wants and he can stop when he wants. Another part that I believe eludes to the idea of cheating is when he says "in the room women come and go talking of Michaelangelo". This is showing that he is still finding woman to cheat on his wife with, but the woman are constnantly talking about younger men. This is when Prufrock realizes that he is older but still says "there will be time". People begin to say "his hair is growing thin" and "his arms and legs are thin" as well. At this point Prufrock wants to tell his wife but he doesnt know "how [he] should presume". In the ned he tells his wife nothing adn becomes a pair of "ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas". What's significant about Prufrock is that he never feels any truely deep remorse for what he is doing. Sometimes he gets upset that he hasn't told his wife, but he never really says that he regrets he did anything. He eludes to the fact that he wishes he felt bad about it that "[it] is not it at all" but he never does. Towards the end Prufrock stops saying "there is time, there is time" because he realizes he is old. He is so aware of it that it is repeated two times. At the end of the poem Prufrock is at peace and is wearing "white flannel trousers" on a beach. The white flannel trousers symbolize his thoughts that he is innocent and pure and he is ready for death. However, because he is on a beach he has never touched the water and been reborn or purififed, he was never washed away of his sins. Even as he is about to die Prufrock hears "the mermaids singing, each to each" this means that even as he is about to die HE IS STILL THINKING OF HIS MISTRESSES!! Prufrock ends the poem by saying that when he is in his fantasy land with mermaid, aka when he is cheating on his wife, everything is happy; but the happiness ends when he as to return to his wife and return to the real world. In the end Prufrock was just a dirty old man that never lived a truthful life.
After reading this poem a few times I continually got the feeling that Prufrock was just a normal guy who thought himself to be at the end of his time. Prufrock says that there is still time though. He says that there would be time to make "a hundred visions and revisions" saying that if his life is ending that there will still be time to fix things and make changes. Even to create new things before time has run out. However, even though he still has time it appears that Prufrock seen all that he needs to have seen. He repeats the line "and I have known..known them all" in a tricolon. Using the word "known" gives a definite feeling to the sentences and says that he has gotten a definite knowledge of all the people he has met or maybe even that he hasn't met. This tells he reader that there is nothing left for him to see inthe world. Yet, with that, Prufrock wonders if life would have been worth it had different things had changed. He repeats "and would it have been worth it, after all" and lists things that might have changed in his life. In these lists he wonders if life would have been worth it had there hade been a love for him ("after the skirts that trail along the floor"). In the end though he recollects his childhood and fantasy (the references to the mermaids and oceans) and realizes that once adulthood awakes you from this childhood there is only so much time left. He comes to terms with being older and rolls the bottoms of his trousers. After this reflection of his life I see Prufrock as someone normal who just wishes things could have been different.
J. Alfred Prufrock is a middle aged man looking back on his life and regrets never breaking the norm of modern society. The yellow in the poem represents his redemption throughout his life. The smog represents society. The poem is not a love poem but it is also not a poem about him being a god. Prufrock tries to find the things he has not already found in his life but in the end he finds out that he can't find them and cannot gain resection for them afterall.
I found J.Alfred Prufrock to be a man giving up on life. He shows many instances of not caring about life. "For I have known them all already, known them all", shows that he thinks he already knows everything he needs to know and no longer wishes to learn or try at anything. Prufrock also repeats phrases like "And how should I presume?" and "And how should I begin" to show how he is questioning going on with life, and if it is ultimately worth it. He also says "I am no prophet" to show that he thinks he is worthless and can have no purpose or characteristics for others to admire. Prufrock also shows signs of frustration with his emotions towards life "It is impossible to say just what I mean!" I also see signs of Prufrock questioning the idea of suicide and ending his life rather than dealing with it. But along with his thoughts of suicide come the thoughts of how his death would affect others. "Do I dare disturb the universe?" "Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?"
ReplyDeleteAnd along with his feelings of guilt also come a fear of death. "I have seen the eternal footman(death) hold my coat, and snicker, and in short, I was afraid" After the questioning of his life and the constant fear of the future Prufrock ultimately chooses death. The last sentence is describing death, "Till human voices wake us, and we drown". I saw the drowning as Prufrock's ultimate choice of death, and his real "giving up" on life. Overall, I saw Prufrock as an older man having a "mid-life crisis". He is worried about getting older and what comes along with it, and he is debating on ending his life before the aging and slow death really begins.
Alfred J. Prufrock, in my opinnion, is a man who is suffering severe self doubt about his common way of life. I believe that Prufrock is a man who's biggest embarrassment and failure in life was the inability to find the love of a woman, and have a relationship. Throughout the poem, the author provides much evidence to lead the reader to this conclusion. For example,"one-night cheap hotels". This line is referring to the fact that Prufrock could never have an in fact stable relationship, but rather occasional acquaintances. "Let us go and make our visit" is referring to the situation in life that every person is faced with, the rejection by a person he or her "like". The author states that life will come, and events will happen, but it is inevitable to escape some feelings of rejection and failure. The reader really begins to see Prufrock's self doubt in the three stanzas where he says, "For I have known.. how should I presume" These stanzas are all depicting events ans accomplishments he has done and accomplished throughout his life and suggests that even despite that he does not know what he should do when it comes to women. The lines "And would it have been worth it, after all...if one, settling a pillow by her head, should say, 'that is not it, at all...'" These lines really help to depict the character's feelings. This shows that underlying question, is the love of a woman really worth the rejection and embarrassment? The last couple stanzas in the poem really tie Prufrock's thoughts together nicely. Prufrock begins to grow older and alone and truly begins to contemplate his decision to not find love for he did not want to face the pain of rejection. He talks of walking on the beach and seeing the mermaids in the distance but does not think they will "talk" to him. This is referring to the "dreams" he might possibly have had come true if he had tried to talk to a woman but yet rather let slip away. "Till voices wake us, and we drown" these last lines to the poem really depict how Prufrock let the fears of rejection crush his hopes and dreams of love. I also found the title to be quite ironic in this case because Prufrock never in fact did find love, he was too afraid of failing. And lastly, I thought the author used repetition amazingly in this poem to help express Prufrock as a character. By choosing to use constant repetition the reader really sees his insecurities, doubts, and questions he debated through his life. It also helps bring the whole poem together to show the consequences of Prufrock's actions, he was left alone.
DeleteI thought Alfred Prufrock was a distraught man. He is worried about life in front of him and wonders if he will ever have the courage to ask a woman on a date with him. He continually tells himself that there will be time later in life for a relationship and having a wife. He says, "there will be, there will be time to prepare a face to meet faces that you meet." He tells himself there is no point in rushing life along, there will be plenty of time for anything and everything.
ReplyDeleteAlong with telling himself that there will be enough time later in life, Prufrock is afraid that he will misinterpret a woman's behavior and that person will criticize him if he ever goes on a date with a lady. He says in the poem, " Would it have been worth while if one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl and turning toward the window, should say: 'that is not it at all, that is not what I meant, at all.'" He does not want to be embarrassed by another person ever.
In the end, I think Alfred Prufrock is a very nervous, self conscious man that wishes he had the courage to go up to women and talk with them without the feeling that he is being judged. As he gets older, he realizes he must act if he wants to have a wife before he dies.
I saw Alfred Prufrock differently than Ashley and Nick did. I thought of him as a simple man who is not content with modeling his life after society's standards (“Till human voices wake us and we drown” – humans being symbolic of society as a whole). I also saw this message in the lines "For I have known them all already [...] how should I presume?" Between these lines the speaker is describing certain aspects of society which his has witnessed: the boring routine of everyday life (“I have known the evenings, mornings, and afternoons”), people giving up on their own life ("I know the voices dying with a dying fall"), people judging others on what they do and how they act (“The eyes that fix you in a formulating phrase”), the separation of classes based on wealth ("Arms that are braceleted and white and bare"). All of these concepts are followed by the line “how should I presume” which I took for him asking if these are the only examples he has to live by. I see Prufrock as a person who wants the freedom to do whatever he feels will make his life most enjoyable. I think one of his greatest fears is that what he does or has done won’t bring him the most out of his life, which is why he questions “and would it have been worth it, after all.” I do agree that he might be going through some small midlife crisis, but rather, instead of being hopeless, he has more of a wondering, questioning tone. He is speculating about his life choices, not criticizing them or wishing he would have changed them. I think he believes that fate is leading his life. “In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which in a minute will reverse.” Situations, beliefs, and ideas are constantly changing and nothing can stop them. What will be, will be.
ReplyDeleteFor the “love song” part of this poem I don’t believe he is actually pursuing someone; rather, he is bring a message to everyone, particularly the younger generation for which “there will be time” to do anything they want to do. I think he is warning them to dream and make the most of their life not caring what other people think of them, because when it comes down to it, life isn’t worth it unless you are happy. The fact that he refers to himself as Lazarus, a biblical reference, emphasizes that he wants to send this warning people as he looks back on his own life and sees what he personally found “worth it.” I think he is asking others to join him in this way of thinking.
I pictured Alfred Prufrock kind of like a hipster. He seemed to be very, very, very much against fitting the bill of the standards of society. One of the things that stood out to me, as Nina had pointed out, was “Till human voices wake us and we drown,” which really just says that the constant buzzing of humans and the ideals of society getting thrusted down Prufrock’s throat make him and everyone around him drown, just like water would make someone drown as well. Another line that stuck out was, “The eyes that fix you in a formulating phrase” only because it seems to fall in with the concept of knowing the role a person has in society and tailoring themselves to that role. This line really implies that the way other people see you is the way that you are going to live. If someone were to judge someone, the person being judged can really take that judging to heart, almost like a self fulfilling prophesy. It seems to be a big complain about judging, and that would make sense with the constant repetition of, “how should I presume” or similar lines which is just Prufrock questioning the motives of society. Basically, Prufrock just wants to live by his own rules. He seems to be very upset, almost afraid (shown when he says, “I was afraid”) of the way society is. He doesn’t like the molds that society has built for the people living in it. He almost seems suicidal when he says, “and would it have been worth it, after all,” because it seems to be questioning whether or not life, in the current state as it is, is really worth living. It seems like he is speaking to some sort of higher being maybe, even though it refers to “you” as if the reader was the recipient of the poem. He really seems to be stressing that life needs to be lived by everyone to their fullest, most honest way possible. Although the poem is title, “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, I don’t really think that the poem is a love song as you would see it. I think the one he loves is life, and his message. He wants to fix what has been wrong with the world, “there will be time” implies that he thinks that it can be done. He wants to reach people before it is too late. He really wants people to see him as himself and he expects others to do the same by acting as their selves. I liked this poem.
ReplyDeletealso, the Italian in the opening was hard to translate. The most important thing I got from it was that he "feels he hasnt been alive" which goes along with not really living life
DeleteWell my translation is somewhat off. It says that a person ate his almonds.
DeleteI saw J. Alfred Prufrock as a man who is in love and puts on a confident show, but his inner insecurities keep him second-guessing on whether or not to propose to her. In the end, his second-guessing prevails and he ends up deciding to not propose.
ReplyDeleteIn the first stanza, he seems very confident; "let us go then" sounds like he's in charge and it is a definite decision to go somewhere with his love. Although he uses a grim expression "like a patient etherized upon a table" he reveals that, like a patient without a doctor, he'll die without the girl, and, like anesthesia, the love that he's feeling makes him feel numb. Now, how I reached the conclusion that he was planning on proposing to her was when he said, "overwhelming question". His repetition of "let us go" reveals a sense of nervousness - like the type of nervousness that someone may experience before a proposal.
Further down in the poem, "Do I dare," reveals how his inner insecurities fuel his actions. The whole direction of the poem from this point on changed to how he doesn't want to regret the proposal and even trying to convince himself to get out of it. His "collar mounting firmly to the chin" shows how he's protecting his vital throat, just like how he's trying to protect his heart by second-guessing about proposing. The listing of periods that separate some of the stanzas further emphasize his indecisiveness on whether or not to propose. Such lines like "Would it have been worthwhile" emphasize this indecisiveness and his second-thoughts on the subject. He keeps flipping between proposing and not proposing. The last line reveals that he has made his decision to not risk getting hurt and not propose. "Till human voices wake us" shows that his human insecurities and second-guesses took control of his mind and over his feelings. "And we drown" reveal that although his love wants him to propose, it fails against his own mind and he ends up talking himself out of it.
First of all, the Italian at the beginning was from the book Inferno by Dante Alighieri. This has to do with the poem because it describes a travel through hell. Based on the poem, J. Alfred Prufrock has gone through somewhat of a living hell due to all his indecision and problems. To me, J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who has still yet to decide on what to do with his emotions and feelings toward starting a relationship. He is full of misleading comments that second guess previous statements. In the beginning, he is full of excitement for going somewhere with someone. He doesn't care where they go, as long as they are able to go together. THis shows a time when he is able to be part of a relationship and be with someone. But next, he talks about how he is on the outside, searching for a way into the relationships, which is described as a house. This shows contradiction in his mind and show the reader that he is undecided on what to do about relationships. Later on in the poem, Prufrock states that he has grown bald and skinny, perhaps from worrying about the relationships he might commit to. Prufrock also describes himself as being "pinned and wriggling on the wall." This is another sign that he is stuck where he is at and is unable to come to a complete decision about what to do. This seems to be the constant theme for what Prufrock thinks of his life at the moment. More toward the end of the poem, he states that he needs to make a decision faster because he has seen "the eternal Footman hold [his] coat and snicker." I took the eternal footman as death in that Prufrock needs to hurry on up with his decision because death is closing in on him. This fita with his growing bald and skinny. If Prufrock could pick someone to be with, he would be able to eliminate the stress from his life and live longer, saying that he would come back from the dead, like Lazarus, who Jesus resurected. In the end, he just goes back to questioning himself and whether it would have been worth it to have a relationship, or is he better off not having one. To me, it seems like he hass made a decision in the end to not do anything, and "drown" instead. Overall, Prufrock is a very confused man that is unable to make up his mind. He has been unable to form a relationship that could help him, so he decides to just not form one and die.
ReplyDeleteI found J. Alfred Prufrock to be a man who wishes to express his love to a woman, but is too afraid to put himself out there. For the first part of the poem, he describes his wish to find somebody to love. For example, he mentioned he is “like a patient etherized upon a table,” describing his apathy to life, almost like he lives in a type of stupor. He seems to base his meaning of life around this woman, as when he describes “in the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo.” I took this to mean that he has had many women in his life, but they always left him because they aspired to something better and he wants to be this ‘something better’ by wooing this woman and finding meaning in life. Throughout the course of the poem, he makes references to “there will be time” for “to wonder,” “to prepare a face to meet the faces to meet the faces that you meet,” and etc. I understood it as he has an idealistic future set out for himself, but yet he is too cowardly/ unconfident to go through with his plan. He believes that moment will always be there and, therefore, he does not have to face his fear at the moment. Along the similar lines, he mentions his “overwhelming question” where he proclaims his love to this woman. Throughout, the whole poem is him deciding if he wants to reveal his feelings for her. For example, he talks about the time to “life and drop a question on your plate,” but then immediately after describes his hesitation by saying that there is “time yet for a hundred indecisions and for a hundred visions and revisions.” Every time he gets close to taking that next step, he backs away in fear that his expression is not good enough. Unfortunately, this hesitation causes him to grow old during his years of indecision. He describes his “bald spot in the middle of [his] hair” that causes other people to say “how his hair is growing thin,” which in turn causes him to lose his confidence even more about revealing his feelings to her. Then, beginning in the eighth stanza, he again describes his fantasy of this ideal life with this woman when he say “I have known them all already, know them all.” He has planned out the entire course of his life with this woman and describes his dreams over the course of the next few stanzas. On the third page, he again describes his desire to tell the woman when he wonders if he “ha[s] the strength to force the moment to its crisis.” Part of his indecision comes from his low self-esteem and how he describes himself. He says he is “no prophet,” meaning that he is not an important man. From these facts, he was “afraid” to “squeeze the universe into a ball” and “roll it toward some overwhelming question.” By the end, he is too afraid to take any risk, fearing any consequences, no matter how minor, they might be. For example, he asks himself everyday if he “dare[s] to eat a peach” or “part his hair behind,” because he is afraid of other people’s judgment of him. In the end, he never tells the woman that he loves her, choosing to “grow old,” “wear the bottoms of [his] trousers rolled,” and live life safely.
ReplyDeleteHe is a very cool black guy and he is my hero becuase he is like the bravest person that i know and he would never back down from a fight that's why me and him are like best buds. We like childhood friends and we did everything together. Also he is like true OG like me dawgs we hang awll day and do OG stuff you know what i b sayin dawg cept i no say dawg.
ReplyDeletesignd, TRUE OG
Yo dawg, i know what u b sayin. It's like, u and J. Alfred Prufrock be dem home boys and stuff. u know, u a rlly intelligible an sightful guy.
Deletefasho!
DeleteAlthough Nina makes a great point, I mainly agree with Josh A. I found Alfred Prufrock as an aging man, who fears expressing his love to a woman. However, due to his obvious age and weariness of life, the woman may have passed away, “arms braceleted and white and bare.” This one line really brought the connection to death. Braceleted and white and bare connects a wake, the body is presented beautifully, but they have that whiteness of death. Alfred Prufrock is very much old with not much left for himself to live for. “I have seen my head (grown slightly bald)” And during lines 49-62 he repeatedly used the expression “I have known”. The use of past tense implies that he has been through quite a lot, and, having seen and known all these things, he is also wise with his age. He sees that he no longer fits into his society without his lost love.
ReplyDeleteThis brings us back to his lover. From the very first line we can see that Prufrock is madly in love with this mystery woman, “Let us go then, you and I.” In the first stanza he is telling her to ‘Let us go away from here, away from the place where we don’t belong, even if it is in “saw dust restraints” or “one-night cheap hotels” or even dark streets, he’d rather anywhere with her than without her. Then he turns to the “yellow fog” and “yellow smoke”. The color yellow has always been associated with being a coward. This is what brought me to think that he regrets not taking a chance and professing his love. The fog and smoke rubbed against the window panes, and this is repeated throughout the poem. The window panes symbolized Prufrock’s imagination of what could’ve been. However, his cowardice (i.e. yellow fog) blurred it and took away what he dreamed of. Lines 70-72 reiterate this point by saying “of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?...” He then goes on to ask multiple “what if?” questions throughout line 87-110. This is simply saying would any of his life be worth it, if he had just gone up and professed his love to her, even if she rejected him? Would all this regret leave if only he had taken the chance? “And would it have been worth it, after all […] To have bitten off the matter with a smile [… even if she said] ‘That is not it at all’”
Prufrock also makes a large point about time. He keeps repeating that they will have time to do this and do that. However, he is constantly contradicting himself. He talks about his age, how he "grows old . . I grow old..." and finally he ends with a statement of death "and we drown."
I somewhat agree with Josh A. I saw J. Alfred Prufrock as a middle aged man who wanted to express his love for woman but didn't have the confidence to do so. His life thus far had been a bore and he not done much with it, so he felt he had nothing to offer. At the beginning he talks of "an overwhelming question" that he does not want asked. He doesn't want this person to ask it because it brings up his past and he does not want to revisit his trials and failures. In the next stanza, he refers to "yellow fog" and "yellow smoke". I saw this as something in his life that bothered him constantly. He said it "licked its tongue into the corners of the evening, lingered upon the pools that stand in drains" which I saw as his indecision getting in the way of the happier things in his life. He then repeats over and over again how "there will be time". I took this as he needed to keep reassuring himself that he would have time to make decisions and have closure before he was too old. The speaker also refers to age and growing old multiple times throughout the poem. I took this as he feared growing old and fears that he will eventually run out of time to make up his mind about he can turn his life around. He says "how should I presume" multiple times, which I took as the speaker searching for a way to make his life worth something, an attempt to rejuvenate his boring life. Prufrock also has internal issues with his self confidence. He constantly worries what other will think of him. For example, he says"They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin'". He fears what others think of him and how they view him physically. Near the end of the poem, the reader can tell he is talking about a woman or a woman he hopes to find. He talks of telling her how he feels and wonders if all the efforts he put into her would be worth the rejection, heartbreak, and embarrassment she could potentially cause him. He finally decides against it, and dreams about her from afar not wanting to put himself out there and risk his feelings.
ReplyDeleteI believe that J. Alfred Prufrock is a man who regrets never going against the grain of society or trying to change anything. Because of this he has become numb and "etherized" to life. He has never experienced real love only "one-night cheap hotels" and views life as monotonous and "insidious." In lines 15-22 he mentions a yellow fog/smoke which can symbolize society the way it curls around and consumes everything within its reach. However, in the next stanza he talks about how "there will be time" to escape the smoke, and to "murder and create." He believes that at some point he will escape society and choose his own path. He then realizes though that time has run out for him "his hair is growing thin" and he still hasn't escaped like he had planned to. He ended up living the life society wanted him to which he "measured with coffee spoons." He blames his life on the judgmental society which can "pin you to a wall." This fear of judgement also lead to him being afraid to approach women. As he realizes that death is approaching he wonders if his life was worth while and decides that he wants to warn people, like Lazarus, not to live like he did, and in doing so, he will finally break from the mold of society and be the person he was striving to be all along. He only wishes that he could have escaped the "human voices" sooner so that he wasn't "drowning" his entire life. Prufrock is a man who regrets not making more out of his life, and wants to help others not make the same mistake.
ReplyDeleteJ. Alfred Prufrock is an older man, presumably in his late forties or early fifties, who is reminiscing about his life. As he looks back at his life he realizes all of the mistakes he made and how he missed many chances at achieving greatness. He comes to the conclusion that there were many times when greatness was within his reach, but he could not quite grasp it saying, "[there will be a time, for hundreds of indecision's and revision.]" As Prufrock comes more and more to terms with the fact that he is aging, and that his window of opportunity is closing, he wonders "Do I dare turn back and descend the stair?" This is an attempt to turn back time and, perhaps, change his current reality. Prufrock, throughout the poem, strives to be a world-renowned man, like Michelangelo or Lazarus, but it shot down by his ow insecurities that people might say "but how his arms and legs are thin!" The fact that he has amounted to nothing hits him again after this and he wonders "Do I dare disturb the Universe?" Profrock feels that he has the potential to change the entire universe, and once more looks back at his missed opportunities saying how his whole life could have changed had he made a different "decision", or "revision" in the past. He sees his potential for wonder and awe and hears the "music from a farther room" and has "seen the moment of [his] greatness"but is "pinned and wriggling on the wall" unable to do anything because "[he was in short, afraid]"
ReplyDeleteAs an old man, with his white trousers rolled on the beach, Prufrock has admitted that "he is no prophet", "is not Prince Hamlet", and that he "should have been a pair of ragged claws, scuttling across the floor of the silent seas." He sees mermaids, but says "they will probably not sing to me" finally retiring the idea that anthing great will ever happen to him. He admits to "linger[ing] in the chambers of the sea" (his dreams) for too long and is woken up from his dreams of grandeur by "human voices."
In short: Prufrock is an aged man looking back at his life wishing that he could change the decisions he made, because he believes hey could have lead him to greatness.
Sidenote: The yellow smoke in the beginning of the poem, if I'm correct, represented his dispersing chance at redemption right? I know that traditionally, yellow is the color of redemption in literature. That's what I was told last year from Mrs.Malloy anyway.
Discuss it please.
I think that J. Alfred Prufrock is mainly a guy who has gone through life without actually accomplishing what he wants to do. He also seems very insecure and indecisive as if he does not know what to do.
ReplyDeleteIt says that "the yellow fog rubs its back upon the window-panes" which I took to mean that Prufrock, being sort of like the fog, has only rubbed up against his goals, but has not actually accomplished them as it says, "lingered upon the pools that stand in drains" which shows that he is still hesitating to do anything. He seems to be convincing himself that "there will be time, there will be time" to do what he needs to do. I think that one of these things that he wants to do is meet a woman because it keeps mentioning seeing women etc. In actuality, however, there is not that much time left for Prufrock to do everything he wants because he keeps making references to how he is aging. Examples: "with a bald spot in the middle of my hair", "arms and legs are thin", "grown slightly bald", "my greatness flickers", and "I grow old". He is getting old, and time is running out for him, even if he does not want to think that it is and even if he still has not done what he wanted to do.
He sees life as a boring routine, the same things everyday, meaning that he has "known them all already". He has "measured out my life with coffee spoons" which is a very dull, repetitive process that I think shows his views on life. I think he is also extremely lonely walking along the street just watching the "lonely men in shirt-sleeves" to whom I feel he relates.
Prufrock is also very self-conscious about his aging shown when he says that he thinks people will say judgmental things about him.."They will say: 'How his hair is growing thin!' ". He is not at all confident in himself, and I think this is part of the reason why he has thus far not pursued his goal and gone after these women (because he feels they will not like him). He self-consciousness is also shown through him saying, "eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase, and when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, when I am pinned and wriggling on the wall". This means that he thinks people are always judging him ("eyes that fix you") and he becomes very uncomfortable when they do ("wriggling"). Once again, to me, this is what has stopped him from going out and trying and taking a risk in doing what he wants because he is afraid of being rejected.
Prufrock is always questioning himself and constantly asks the reader "how should I presume" and "would it have been worth it". He wants to know what he should do; should he try to spice up his life and take a risk with these women or stick to his boring life. The reason that he is indecisive is because he does not know if it is worth it to try and possibly get hurt in the process in order to reach his goal or if it would be better to play it safe but live with knowing that he never tried. "Would it have been worth while if one...should say: 'That is not it at all". He lives in fear of rejection and this is why, in the end, he never reaches his goal, growing old alone and then "drowning" in his failure.
I thought J. Alfred Prufrock was a man who has lost the one he loved, but did not realize it until he was older. He also is a person who argues with himself and moves from place to place as if he were searching for something. I took the line "the yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes" as him not being sure on what he wants to as if he were in a fog. I saw the lines in the first stanza such as "of restless nights in one-night chep hotels" and "let us go, through certain half-deserted streets" as him being a wanderer. I thought that the lines "and I have known the arms already, known them all" and "stretched on the floor, here beside you and me" as him talking about someone he loved, but I think he lost her somehow because of the line "arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl." I took that line as him remembering when he left the one he was truly in love with, but did not realize it at the time. I thought that J. Alfred Prufrock was someone who argued with himself because of his many indecisions throughout the poem such as: "and would it have been worth it, after all," "would it have been worth while, to have bitten off the matter with a smile," and "lingered upon the pools that stand in drains." I took the last quote as him lingering on decisions that he has made in the past, but is now second guessing what he did in the past. I think because of these indecisions and fears, J. Alfred Prufrock moves from town to town in search of peace of mind and rest. Even though he himself does not believe he can truly find it as long as he has his memory.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't we just write essays instead? Cuz thts what it seems like everyone's doing. Go Josh Allen for saying what I've been thinking. However, i didnt think like that the whole time. So, Zach and I decided that the first stanza was about him cheating on his wife or something with a mistress, who he has been seeing for quite some time now. All of the talk of cheap hotels and half-deserted streets makes me think of a run-down, dirty town. And tht's where he takes his mistress to do the dirty and be alone together. And the fog, I thought, was meant to set the mood some more of that ghetto-typish town. But i was wrong. It can mean other things, but that is not correct. The yellow color could represent unyielding the cowardice of Prufrock, or a past tht he wants to forget yet still haunts his thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Prufrock, like Josh and RaeAnna said, is a dude who wants a relationship but is to ascared to lay it on the line and make a move. He describes himself as growing old, balding, and too skinny, showing tht he has little to no confidence in his looks. He is a middle-aged man who is past his prime (which im not even sure he'd consider "prime"). He keeps going on about how unworthy he is of a female counterpart. In line 45, he asks "Do I dare Disturb the universe," as in, "it is not natural for a man like me to be happy with a woman, so why even try?" Also, the end part with the mermaids in which he says he is not worthy of their song is important.
Another thing about him, that i found, is that he has not had a very pleasant life. Lines 49-61 describe it, in general terms. The first stanza describes how his life has been long and boring, and is now unafraid of death. The 2nd stanza shows that he has been taken advantage of or abused. So much that in line 60 he asks how he can begin to forget about his misfortunes.
Another thing i notice is that he sees himself as a lesser being than the others around him. This is especially evident starting at line 111. He says that he is not meant to be a main character in a woman's life. He is nothing more than a background character, sometimes appreciated yet easily forgotten. He is also, "at times, the fool."
He is also an extremely indecisive guy. He repeats the words "would it have been worth it" or something like that over and over again. He's not even 100% sure whether or not he wants a relationship. Another thing that i think is that he has some sort of relationship with a girl who sees him as a friend. It's been like tht for a long time and he wants for the situation to change, but he cant decide whether or not he wants to risk ruining whatever it is they have. That's why he says repeatedly "that's not what I meant at all." He's afraid of saying something and then getting rejected.
In short, he is an aged man, far past his prime, who resents never being able to work up the courage to start a relationship. He is also not the most respected man and has a history of abuse. The window of opportunity is closing, and he is too afraid of what might or might not happen to take action. He is also a gangsta
btw, should we be writing these long, essay-like responses or should we be writing multiple, shorter ones rebounding ideas off one another?
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ReplyDeleteJ. Alfred Prufrock is definitely a man with low confidence. He lacks the ability to communicate his love for a woman due to his questioning whether it will go wrong or not. He says “I am no prophet” and “I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be.” He has accepted that he is nothing special and because of this he thinks the woman he desires won’t have similar feelings towards him. I see “In the room the women come and go Talking of Michelangelo” meaning all of the women in his life he has been attracted to coming and going, talking about great things such as the famous Italian painter, sculptor, poet, etc. He thinks he can never live up to someone such as Michelangelo, so he shouldn’t bother trying. He still wants this woman, but instead of facing her, he thinks “And indeed there will be time”. He puts it off to the future, thinking that since he doesn’t have the confidence now he will acquire it later on in life and experience marriage. However, later in the poem we find out he is aging, skinny and “a bald spot in the middle of my hair”. He has not successfully achieved his goals of possibly getting married. He sees himself older, having not done anything at all and letting all “the women come and go”. Prufrock shows his self-scrutiny it the poem, worrying that every little action he does will make him seem pathetic. “Do I Dare?... Disturb the universe?” He questions if he can actually come out on top and can’t decide if acting as he wants to will do anything. I can also see Prufrock as Nina described, not able to fit in with society. “The eyes that fix you in a formulating phrase” could mean he doesn’t want to be judged, but everyone in the world is going to judge you somehow. Of course, you have him asking “how should I presume?”, wondering if he should fit in with society, or instead do his own thing. I can see it being both ways, him not being able to fit in with society and not being able to build up the courage to talk to a woman. They both can connect in ways and relate to show how Prufrock seemed like a very isolated man who desired partnership but couldn’t see himself fitting in with society.
ReplyDeleteI think that Prufrock is a man that is too insecure and depressed to continue living. He is constantly stating that he is older and "has a bald spot in the middle of my hair", or "[he] has seen the moment of [his] greatness flicker". This proves that he is insecure about his age. He also keeps to himself and is very self conscious. He questions, "Do I dare? Do I dare?" and doesn't want to bother anyone or "disturb the universe".
ReplyDeleteWhen he describes himself in the yellow fog stanza, I believe he is talking about himself and how he is not worthy to go into the house almost like an animal. He "lingered upon the pools that stand in drains" which I picture as nasty water obviously and covered in "soot that falls from chimneys". He notices that he is not good or clean enough to go inside the house so he ended up "curling once about the house, and fell asleep".
Prufrock also doesn't want to go on living or is at least questioning it. He repeats "So how should I presume?" and "How should I begin". This depression may stem from a dead lover since he describes a woman that had "arms that lie along a table" or "covered in a shawl". He was so moved by that it "made me so digress". The memory of her made him stray off topic. And he repeats the presume and begin line. Prufrock has a difficult time getting up in the morning and I get the impression he hates to wake up and is always tired/depressed since he "measures out [his] life with coffee spoons" implying that he counts how many times he has to wake up in his life like its a bad thing.
Overall, he is an againg man that is not important since he is "not a prophet" and "should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas". Prufrock is an emotional wreck that is too insecure to even truly interact with people.
J. Alfred Prufock is an extremely introspective and moody man, who's lack of self-confidence and security has led him to believe that he is a man not capable of greatness, "I am not Prince Hamlet", or for that matter not capable of accomplishing alot of the things he wants to. He constantly questions what others will think of him using the line "They will say:" repeatedly and uses the metaphor of "eyes", saying "eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase." This fear of bold action culminates in his expierences with his lover.
ReplyDeleteJ. Alfred wonders about this woman and keeps asking himself "Do I dare?" he cannot act on his feelings and is reminiscing through the poem "would have it been worth it" to do something about his relationship. The most interesting aspect is the fact that Prufock recognizes his own flaws and shortcomings. He has no illusions about his character and admits "I was afraid". Yet no matter what his self-reflection reveals he can not overcome his inability to express his true feelings and states "It is impossible to say just what I mean!"
From line 120 to the end Prufock really gets into his past failures and how even at the end of his life he still lacks confidence and what I call "swag". Prufock accepts himself and who he is but it is obvious to the reader that he does not love himself, and this is a major complication in why his relationship does not work out. In the end his dreams ride out like "waves" that he watches from a distance and can never connect to.
The moody, introspective tone of this poem is not exactly what a reader would envision of a typical love song. This poem does not reveal much about the romantic relationship but more why Prufock can not find the love he wants to achieve. At first I just saw this as a self-reflecting man who has given up on life and T.S. Elliot telling his story, but as I examined it closer I believe that he is almost poking fun at this man and how sad it is that although he completely recgonizes his shortcomings he does nothing to change them. He conveys to the reader especially with lines "I grow old.. I grow old.. I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled" this emotion of acceptance and regret almost that the reader can take as an attempt for sympathy, or light humor on how pathetic J. Alfred Prufock had become.
After reading the poem I agree with Raeanna and the others that say Prufrock is a middle aged man who still does not know how to express his feelings. The author constantly tells the reader how awkward Prufrock is, and the first hint to that is Prufrock's name. His name is a combination of the words prude and frock, which immediatly give the reader a view of a weak, feminine person. Throughout the poem, the reader seens more and more things that make them doubt Prufrocks masculity and knowledge of how to act around women. The lines that state "In the room the women come and go0 talking of Michelangelo" (13-14), show the unablilty of Prufrock to act upon any emotions. he sees the woman passing by and observes them, but he does not mingle with them. The author also continues to talk about the weakness of Prufrock when he says "his arms and legs are thin" (44) and, notably, "his hair is growing thin" (41). Prufrock is a weak, but smart man, who does not know how to act in th presense of women. He doubts his ability to lure women, and even being in their presence frightens him. He says "mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me" (124-125). Through these lines, Prufrock explains that he feels he is not good enough for the women he desires. He has constant doubts and finds all the faults in himself. Through the whole poem, he just discusses how much he pitites himself and how he wishes he could win the attention of a woman. But over all, he is not satisfied with himself and is so anxious around women to ever be able to find anyone for him.
ReplyDeleteI agree that J. Alfred Prufrock is an extremely insecure and indecisive man. He doesn't believe that he could ever achieve love because he is not "Michelangelo". He wants to finf love but he is too nervous to approach anyone. He questions himself "'Do I dare?'" constantly. He claims to make "decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse" meaning that he makes decisions but then constantly goes back on those decisions and changes his mind. I think he is so indecisive because he is insecure. He cares too much what other think of him. He shosw this in his thoughts of what others will say about his aging, like "'How his hair is growing thing'". He also claims "I have known the eyes already, known them all" meaning that he has been judged plenty of times before. He is also regretful of not striving harder to find love. He says he "should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling acroww the floors of silent seas" meaning he should have been reaching for something more instead of being content being alone. At the end of the poem he stops trying to decide what he wants and gives up showing how weak he is.
ReplyDeleteShockingly, I found J. Alfred Prufrock to be a man concerned with what life has given him and the opportunities he disregarded and ignored to take. Though this idea seems way out there, I believe that the use of the woman character in the poem was not literally a women, she was the metaphoric meaning of life.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, the speaker refers to the presence of a women quite often. Yet, I conclude this prescience to be that of life. Such as the repetition of the line, "In the room the women come and go". Here I believe that the women leaving and entering represents life in the sense that sometimes it goes your way and other times it doesn't. Such as the women go in towards the room, his way, and leaving, not going his way. It seems to me as if J. Alfred Prufrock did not live the life he planned on, but he seems, to me, proud of what he has done.
In the poem, He says the line, “Do I dare?" Yet, this is not well explained in the poem, rather it is open ended for the reader to decide. I believe that what he dares not do is take chances in life and capitalize on opportunities that come his way. The poem then goes on to say, “With a bald spot in the middle of my hair" Here, Prufrock is ageing and at the same time not gaining the successes that I believe he once wanted. Instead it goes on to say," My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin My necktie rich and modest" Here Prufrock, though not the man he thought he would become, still takes pride in what he does and that is work hard. This is best shown through the use of the cloths he is wearing, which he takes pride in.
As the poem continues, there is a reference to his ageing qualities, such as gray and thinning hair, yet there is a line that says," But in the lamplight, downed with brown hair." I believe this lamplight to be the successes he has had and it makes him proud, such as his hair becoming that of a brown color, which I believe to represent what his youth, which when your in your youth you are proud to be young, and that was successes seeking and proud.
Prufrock continues on to describe how he feels through the use of, “Asleep...tired...or it malinger" Malingers means feign illness to escape duty, and I believe his duty was to go to work everyday and work hard, yet he grew tired and restless of working that he wanted to escape what he was doing and live in peace for the rest of his life.
The poem also continuously asserts the question, "And would it have been worth it, after all" I believe Prufrock to be thinking to himself, if I did not go for opportunities and not gain the successes that I once wanted, is that really a bad thing. Sure it would have been nice, but would life be that much better. The question is would going for the opportunities in his past have been worth it?
Towards the end of the poem, Prufrock goes on stating, "No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell progress, start a scene or two Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool" Here, Prufrock is simply saying, that, no he is not a great man with a great position, but he is a great man with great ideas and advising his superior workers, such as his boss. And it seems that in this line Prufrock is proud of what he has accomplished, even though he could have accomplished more.
Finally, at the end of the poem Prufrock says, "Till Human voices wake us, and we drown." I believe what Prufrock is saying is that all the hard work and the people who have greater success than others will simply be forgotten after they pass on. Here, I believe Prufrock comes to the realization that once a person passes on, whether successful or not, will merely be forgotten and will be judged on the hard work they have done, not the successes they gained, such as money and wealth
J. Alfred Prufrock is a very insecure middle aged man. He does not feel he has accomplished enough in his life and everything is very dull to him (“Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:”). Prufrock’s life seems static, there is little change in his every day surroundings (“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons:”) and this lack of change leads him to believe he is useless in society. I do not see Prufrock as someone that wants to stand out as an individual, but rather as a person that wants to conform. He is constantly worried about the way people will view him (“Shall I part my hair behind?”) and cannot take rejection (“That is not what I meant at all.”). He would rather hide than be put in the spotlight and have a chance to be judged.
ReplyDeleteHis shyness really hinders him in his decisions and he would rather not take risks in life in fear of being rejected (“Do I Dare?”). The interesting thing is even though Prufrock is so unhappy with his life and even talks about his thoughts to commit suicide in stanza 12 all he does is weep and pray about life, he never tries to change anything. This is just another example of how his shyness hinders him from living his life to the potential. He is also afraid to fail at anything. “Would it be worthwhile,” he wonders, if he does not understand the way the woman he falls in love with feels. Would it have been worth the time and the effort if he is risking rejection the whole time? Overall, Prufrock is so afraid of society’s view on him, and he is so shy he will never truly accomplish anything in his life. He is not strong enough to change his life, or to end it, and will always remain the static character that he is. He will forever remain in a state of second guessing himself and will never have the guts to ask a woman to be with him.
I agree with Lydia that Prufrock is an insecure middle aged man. To me, he seems like someone who spent his life in isolation and lacks the confidence to actually speak to the women of his desires, yet still envisions conversations with her. He tells himself he will have time to actually befriend her, despite his aging (["They will say: "How his hair is growing tihn!"]). I took the yellow smoke as his regrets in life. It obstructs his once possibly happier memories (window-panes) and even begins to consume his whole mind (the street). He cannot make himself take a risk, telling himself "And time yet for a hundred indecisions". The reason he never took a risk in love earlier in his life was his insecurity, and he know regrets that and tries to gather the courage to break from society now, asking himself "Do I dare disturb the universe?". He seems to have an understanding of his desire, possibly through literature, which he shows when he says "I have known them already". However, he has had no real physical interaction, since the strongest memory to him is just the scent of perfume. The smoke through the pipes represents him trying to filter his negative past so he can move on. He confesses to himself the reason he is unhappy was "in short, I was afraid." He then seems unsure of whether or not he should have taken those risks, asking "And would it have been worth it, after all". He feels he is doomed to this state for the remainder of his life, moving on to the point where the biggest issue in his life isn't his loneliness, but rather if he'll part his hair behind, or if he will eat a peach.
ReplyDeleteI believe that J Alfred Prufrock is a man going through a midlife crisis in a way and is having inner arguments about how he has lived his life and about the unfulfillment he has had in his life, and he doesnt quite know what to do about it.
ReplyDeleteAt the beggining of the poem Prufrock is just describing the first half of his life as it was unfulfilled. "Restless nights in one-night cheap hotels", this line symbolizes his life as him expiriencing a lot of things but all of those things basically mean nothing and are worthless, or cheap like one night hotels. And by saying "let us go and make our visit" it shows he wants to go back and look at the past and see why he was so unfulfilled with his life.
I agree with Angel that the color yellow in a way symbolizes redemption, like in the third paragraph of the first page, when the yellow fog " rubs its back on the window panes". Windows are something that are to be looked through, and his case he is looking into the past for redemption which is the yellow fog. Also his constant reference to the night is a common reminder that the end of something is coming, whether it be the end of his life, or the end of the first half of his life, and time for redemption.
At the beggining of the second page you begin to see Prufrock more uncertain about the rest of his life and maybe wanting to end it instead of trying to change things. "Do I dare, disturb the universe?" and the constant repetition of Do I dare represents his worry of what him trying to change things will do, which prompts him to the ideas of maybe killing himself and just getting rid of those ideas.
Overall I feel Prufrock is just a common man in his midlife, thinking about what he has done and wondering if there is anything he can do about it, whether it is killing himself or looking back for redemption. Then at the end of the poem it seems that he comes to the decision that he will try to live a better life and not think about the troubles in his past. He will live that good life until "human voices wake us, and we drown". Which means he will go on living a more carefree life and redeeming himself until a voice of reason comes and brings him back down drowning him and therefore ending his life.
I saw J. Alfred Prufrock as a man who had very little confidence but was in love and wanted to talk to her but did not have the courage to talk to her. He also feels that he still had time to make a connection with the women he loved. In the first stanza he talks about how he wants to go “When the evening is spread out against the sky.” This made me think that he wants to go somewhere with the women he loves and tell her how he feels like when it is night time and we see the truth of the sky when the sun is not out. He then continues to talk about other activities that overall lead to “an overwhelming question” of “What is it?”
ReplyDeleteNot wanting to reflect on the answer to the question his thoughts change and he talks about how “There will be time, there will be time” to talk to her and make the connection that he seeks. “And I have known the arms already, known them all-/ Arms that are bracelet white and bare/ Is it perfume from a dress/ That makes me so digress? And should I them presume?/ And how should I begin?” In this stanza he is saying that he has already been loved by one women and that means he knows how to love another but he is not sure how to handle his emotions. He is also unsure how to present his emotions in a way that would allow him to be loved back by this women he is speaking of. He wants to go through all the normal motions of a relationship but is unsure if it “would have been worth it” in then end. He is not sure if he goes through all the motions if he will be happy and with the women he loves or if he will just grow old and lonely. “I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each./ I do not think they will sing to me.” We are again shown here in lack in confidence with himself and his fear that the women he loves will not love him back.
J. Alfred Prufrock is a very very logical man who thinks that he can plan every thing out. He that kind of guy who would never act without thoroughly and completely analyzing a situation. This man is arrogant to a certain degree to. which is why he kept on putting off situations that he was unable to analyze thoroughly and plan out. Not everything in life can be planned out, which is a realization that Prufrock is unable to come to grips with because of his neurosis. This man convinces himself that any action that he cannot maintain full control over, or at least anticipate will end is his complete failure and ruin. Because of this he can't face any sort of spontaneous spur-of-the-moment events without second guessing he unplanned out course of action. This prevents him from succeeding as a lover. With love, it is nearly impossible to anticipate the outcome, and since he cannot anticipate the outcome of his relationship, he is unable to move his relationship with his lover in any direction whatsoever because he is paralyzed by his fear that it won't work out. He keeps on telling himself that he has time, and that he shouldn't worry because all he needed in order to plan it was more time. He convinces himself that to act at the moment would be foolish and presumptuous, comparing action in that moment to playing god or messing with fate. He escapes his fear by belittling himself as unable to make decisions without premeditation. A man like Prufrock will never find love, because love is spontaneous and you can't plan for love. I think that the most telling line of the poem is "Have strength to force the moment to its crisis" because it shows how he believes that any non planned-out decision will inevitably fail, which is why he wasn't able to get intimate with a girl.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Prufrock is a very insecure man. He is struggling with his own emotions and going through what some might refer to as a "mid-life crisis."
ReplyDeleteThe poem is titled "The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" however, I believe that this love was not with a woman. Prufrock was in love with the idea of life or the 'perfect' life. He reflects upon the things he has done and seen and almost obsesses over them and the way he believes things should be. He continuously questions what he could have done differently. He wonders whether or not he fits in with the status-quo. "Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?" He also keeps pushing himself to move forward with the repetition of "So how should I presume?" or 'how should I continue?" Profrock continuously compares himself to others and his surroundings.
Upon completion, this poem piqued my curiosity about T.S. Eliot as a poet and human, and after doing research on him I found that quite a few of his poems are based on the human psyche. This made me realize that Prufrock could have been emotionally damaged by something in his life that made him have some sort of obsession with wanting to fit in. There was a lot of times in the poem that Prufrock mentions "Do I dare?" "I've known them all" "Should I (do this)?" Prufrock constantly reminds himself that he could have done things differently and he questions his past actions. He realizes that he did not live a life full of greatness, "I am no prophet- and here's no great matter" but he also takes into account that his life was not completely awful, "I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker." He also realizes that the greatness he had is starting to fade because he is aging. "With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-" As he is aging and looking toward the future, he wants to make the right decisions. He also wants to take the time to enjoy the beauty but he also reminds himself that the beauty is not there for him, because he is not as great as a prince. "I do not think they (mermaids) will sing to me."
I agree with Ashley; I think the man was talking about love, but not that of a woman. He seems to be more obsessed with habits of people and the ideas of life, which enthrall him to the point of almost insanity over it. However, while he does seem to be acutely aware of his surroundings, he doesn't seem to want to take a part in them. He says that "[he] has known the eyes already, known them all-" and "I have known the arms already, known them all... and should I then presume?" suggesting that the life he had previously had seen much of the world and he had no desire to participate in it again. He seemed to be a very speculative man, as his whole poem kept coming back to the "overwhelming question" of the poem, which could be many situations. The poem leads in an almost complete circle, starting with "Let US go then, YOU and I.. Let US go.." you get the picture. The only thing is, "us" is barely mentioned in the other parts of the poem, but "You" and "I" are mentioned frequently. "Us" is brought back in at the end of the poem, where it states that "human voices will wake US" (131). This again shows the state of Pruncock's unstable mind as he writes in the stream of consciousness, letting us as readers into his bare thoughts, which reveal his musings over a period of time.
ReplyDeletePruncock seems to extremely afraid of getting old or decaying without first amounting to a notable something. He wants to win, but he is too hesitant to try, "Do I dare, do I dare," he says, wanting an answer for himself. He doesn't want to "disturb the universe," a which shows he had a very sad opinion of himself, which also probably doesn't bolster his self-confindence. Over all, he seems like he wants to give readers advice, but cannot tell them directly.
Though I still think I could argue that Prufrock is cheating, like Tyler and I originally thought, I feel that other concepts are more prevalent like his fear of conforming to society. The bad news is that society will eventually devours him anyway.
ReplyDeleteThis notion of fear to assimilate comes up pretty early in the poem. Line eight, "streets that follow like a tedious arguement," exposes his moral dilemma. The "streets" are his choices for life. To either take the path of society or the "one less traveled" (Robert Frost-The Road Not Taken). It is not long before an answer is revealed when he speaks of society's "insidious intent" (line 9).
The next notable observation is the mentioning of "fog" and then "smoke." In my opinion, these are two different things, in two different places, and with two different meanings for yellow. The fog is Prufrock and the smoke is society. The reason I believe this is due to what each rub against the window. The fog "rubs it's back" (line 15). Now this is Prufrock who is on the inside of the house, and is so yellow or too afraid to look out at society that he turns his back on it to prevent any eye contact that could weaken his resolve to stay separate from it. The smoke, or society, is on the outside and knocking to get it. It becomes obvious here that he has a negative view on society for it is called smoke and it "rubs it's MUZZLE" (line 16) on the window. Smoke has an undesirable connotation because it is associated with fire, which is the form of torture in Hell. In other words, he is calling society a pathway to Hades. Also, saying that a muzzle was poking at the window makes it sound like an animal was trying to break in. When an animal starts sticking it's snout into different places, it is looking for something and probably something to eat, and in this case it is Prufrock. The animal wants to get in and consume Prufrock and make him like the rest of the disgusting, yellow society.
Another reason that I think that the smoke and fog are two different things is because the author did not say smoke or fog in both occurrences. Had he meant for them to mean the same thing, he would have said smoke and smoke or fog and fog. The fact that there are two different words means he wanted them to be dissimilar.
Prufrock also knows the "arms already," (line 62) or the tricks to pull him in to society. The arms are "white and bare" (line 63) to show the supposed beauty of society, but "in the lamplight ... hair" (line 64) can be seen. This unattractive, hairy arm is what society truly is and that is why Prufrock has no desire to be part of it.
It is very evident that Prufrock has a fear of society and it's "hairy arm" based on his actions. When he needs to go somewhere, it is "at dusk through narrow streets" (line 70). The fact that he goes at night tells the reader that he is hiding. It is easier to see things in the light and day, like the hair, than in the dark. His freakishness, according to society, will less likely be spotted in this approach. It is also the road he takes. A "narrow street", goes back to his desire to be his own man and not ran by society. In a literal meaning, though, he is not as likely to be seen if he goes down a narrow street since less people travel on them.
Unfortunately, all of Pruford's efforts are in vain, for he is "drown" (line 131) by society. Though society does not kill the actual living being that is Prufrock, it destroys who he is. The drowning, in this case is Prufrock's individuality. It is evident, though, that he had given in earlier. He says he has "grow[n] old" (line 120) and that he just "lingered" (line 130) at the beach "till human voices" (line 131), or society, came to get him. As one grows in age, it becomes more difficult to do what used to be possible. It is apparent that Prufrock has hit that point in life and has to give up any chance of staying apart from society. He no longer has the strength to carry on. In the end, what the poem was trying to convey is that individuality cannot last forever.
ReplyDeleteSorry that I had to post twice. It sayed that my whole blog was too long.
I believe that J. Alfred Prufrock is very depressed in general, but mainly about that of a girl. At the beginning of the poem, the speaker makes it seem as though Prufrock is daydreaming about the perfect date. He is imagining this scene, until eventually he very hastily comes out of this state, and thinks that there will be "time for hundred visions and revisions" (line 33). This is Mr. Prufrock saying that he may as well just give up actually attempting to meet/find a woman, because he can make it easier and just think her up, that way she can't harm him with his words. It seems as though he is a very sensitive person. The tone of the poem changes drastically when he starts talking about how he gets chastised by others because his "hair is growing thin" (line 41). He also speaks of how his "arms and legs are thin" (line 44). He is sharing his characteristics of imperfection to get sympathy from the reader and to change the tone to get more of an empathetic response from the audience. Whenever he goes from talking about maybe "asking someone out," he goes straight to how they have a potential of hurting him. Then, he starts to explain that finding someone might not even be as good as everyone believes. He goes through several lines of posing questions such as these around line 90. In the end, Mr. Prufrock is just reiterating that he is peculiar in some ways, but that isn't a bad thing-- it's who he is. "I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be" (line 111). Then he speaks of how the prince, which he is not, is a tool, referring to the proverb that people do crazy things in love. He is not going to do such things because he isn't that type of person. Then, lastly, Mr. Prufrock is just reminiscing about whether or not people will "sing to him" (line 125). Therefore, I believe that Mr. Prufrock is just a lonely man that wants to find someone, but does not have the gall to attempt such a feat. He is not confident in himself enough to put himself out there, he is only confident to know that he is not like everyone else. Therefore, it is a description of a reminiscing man, swaying on a fence (figuratively), trying to decide what to do.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Alli. Alfred Prufrock did sound like a man who had already gone through life and experienced quite a bit. His constant talk of time, and using so much past tense gives the feeling of how much he had been through. He uses "there will be time" heavily in a few lines, which makes me wonder if he is trying to convince the reader, himself, or his lover, but it also puts emphasize on how time is an issue.His age is shown when he talks about "the bald spot in the middle of my hair" and how his hair, legs and arms are growing thinner, and when he repeats "i grow old...i grow old." As far as who the poem is addressed to, I also agree that he is talking to his lover. The first line of the poem is "let us go then, you and I" and the reader wonders who the "you" is. He wants to go and be with this person. He uses "let us go" three times in the first few stanzas alone. This also makes me wonder if he is alone in his age and if his lover has in fact passed on. The poems tone itself is a bit dark, and the imagery explains dark places. Fog, smoke, evening, October night, murder, are all words that he uses, leading the reader to think that this is a dark, dismal time for him. Going back to his talk of time, i also agree that he contradicts himself. He has heavy repetition with the word time, but at the same time, he makes it obvious that he is becoming old and fragile. His use of past tense and the repetitiveness of "Known them all" leads the reader to think that he has been alive long enough to say that he can not gain anymore knowledge. But i agree that his repetition does make him sound as if he is insecure about his life.
ReplyDeleteI believe that J. Alfred Prufrock is a depressing individual that has had many struggles in his life to make him that way. In many ways, though, his depression might be centered around poverty, a former love, and a very low self esteem. In the first stanza of the poem, Prufrock talks about how he had to spend "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels" and "sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells" (6-7). This shows that he was probably too poor to have a home for his own and had to rely on cheap hotels and bad restaurants to live. I believe the issues of poverty do not stop there but continue to grow and influence all of the decisions he made with his life that drove him more and more into a state of depression.
ReplyDeleteAnother issue addressed in the first stanza is one of a woman, maybe a wife or a lover, that constantly asks "what is it" (11). In a way, the woman is portrayed more like a secret lover that Mr. Prufrock is hiding by staying at only cheap hotels and always on the move. She is mentioned constantly throughout the poem, so I believe that she is either the main part of his concern or a large part of it.
As the story of his life progresses, he comes to a part of when they are in a shop drinking tea and eating an assortment of food. With this, he becomes quite paranoid about what other people think of him. When he turns to leave, he believes that they might think "how his hair is growing thin" or even that his "arms and legs are thin" (41, 44). He seems to really stress out about comments that were not made to him but always believes that they were said. Those parts are also surrounded by brackets to show the reader that they might not be there at all but in Mr. Prufrock's mind. This self-conscientious paranoia even trickles down into his love life when he says that the woman he is with is beautiful except for her arms that are "downed with light brown hair" (64). With his self-conscious thoughts, Mr. Prufrock probably has to think of others the same way he believes society to see him so he can receive some satisfaction in his life.
It all boils down to the repetition throughout the poem. The lines Prufrock repeats are all deal with a struggle within his mind about one thing or another. He has spent his whole life with these problems surrounding him and invading his mind, and that is probably the best reason for his depression. Though the outside cause of a woman in his life might have cause some, I believe that most of his depressing tendencies stems from the struggles within himself influenced by his environment. If he had not been so poor and lived a different life, maybe he would have not had that much depression.
After reading this poem I pictured J. Alfred Prufrock s a nervous middle aged man, with more than enough insecurities. Why wouldn’t he be insecure when “They say; “How his hair is growing thin!” and “But how his arms and legs are thin!”? This clear aging of his body has left him terrified of rejection so he refuses to put himself out there in order to find love. When he says “I have known them all ready, known them all” Prufrock is saying that he feels as if he already knows all the women available but still he has no one to share the rest of his life with. At least he’s optimistic at the beginning of the poem when he states that “there will be time” “to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet”. Although this tone does not carry put through the rest of the poem I feel like if Prufrock had just one pleasant experience with love that optimism would return. Unfortunately he feels that he could never be a woman’s “Prince Hamlet” and decides to simply “grow old” without anyone by his side. J. Alfred Prufrock’s extremely low self-esteem left him a cranky old man with no one to love. So sad.
ReplyDeleteIn the physical and very basic sense, I feel J. Alfred Prufrock is an average man, speaking to a potential lover. Yet going far beyond that, it becomes apparent throughout the poem, of all of Prufrock’s deep rooted insecurities about himself, the best words to describe it would be that he feels “second-best.” You can see him second guess himself, through the repeated phrases of things like “Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis” and “would it have been worthwhile.” He feels like his heart is telling him to go for this girl, and attempt to make her his, but everything he has been programmed to believe in his brain based on everyone else’s perceptions of him, and opinions of him, keep him back because he feel like he’s on a much lower level. His inadequacies cause him to believe that everything comes back to his fault, and even eludes to that if him and this woman did manage to work out for some reason, that everything that would end up going wrong would still be his fault, how he adds in the tidbit of “settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl, and turning towards the window.” It shows how he feels that people have constantly put him down, talking about girls that he had been with before, like when he says “i have known the arms already, known them all” and then his elders that have looked down at him as well, like when he adds in “i have known the eyes already, known them all.” The most obvious explanation of his pain comes through the plain statement of “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be.” BAsed on his constant mention of time throughout the poem, it appears he is going through a midlife crisis. It may sound strange but I actually really related to J. Alfred Prufrock as a character, because we both have such a low self esteem and both have bad luck with relationships and it would seem apparently for him as well. Reading this was for the most part easy, because it was so easy to connect with the emotions he was trying to explain through this character because I have experienced them as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that J.Alfred Prufrock is a man that is reaching the point where he knows he is going to die soon because his hair is thinning and he is growing thinner, and something is bothering him. I also believe that he has cheated on his wife/significant other multiple times and is just now realizing he should tell her, but he isnt sure if he should or not. I drew this conclusion because he talked about "restless nights in one-night cheap hotels" and he does not want people to ask "what is it?" because he is with the woman that he is cheating on his wife with. Prufrock is sitting there having a relationship with this woman and the whole time "yellow fog [rubs] its back upon the window-panes". I think this symbolizes the happiness that he could feel but being with another woman tarnishes it so it is just sitting at the window pane "[licking] its tongue into the corners of the evening" almost daunting him while he is with his woman and it is behind "window-panes" so it can never reach him. It also becomes covered in "the soot that falls from chimneys" which I see as every woman he has cheated on his wife with has tarnished and broken down that happiness even more.But Prufrock doesnt worry about the smoke because he says "indeed there will be time" because it shows at this point he is young and doesnt care what happens. Almost like an addict he thinks there will always be time to do what he wants and he can stop when he wants. Another part that I believe eludes to the idea of cheating is when he says "in the room women come and go talking of Michaelangelo". This is showing that he is still finding woman to cheat on his wife with, but the woman are constnantly talking about younger men. This is when Prufrock realizes that he is older but still says "there will be time". People begin to say "his hair is growing thin" and "his arms and legs are thin" as well. At this point Prufrock wants to tell his wife but he doesnt know "how [he] should presume". In the ned he tells his wife nothing adn becomes a pair of "ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas". What's significant about Prufrock is that he never feels any truely deep remorse for what he is doing. Sometimes he gets upset that he hasn't told his wife, but he never really says that he regrets he did anything. He eludes to the fact that he wishes he felt bad about it that "[it] is not it at all" but he never does. Towards the end Prufrock stops saying "there is time, there is time" because he realizes he is old. He is so aware of it that it is repeated two times. At the end of the poem Prufrock is at peace and is wearing "white flannel trousers" on a beach. The white flannel trousers symbolize his thoughts that he is innocent and pure and he is ready for death. However, because he is on a beach he has never touched the water and been reborn or purififed, he was never washed away of his sins. Even as he is about to die Prufrock hears "the mermaids singing, each to each" this means that even as he is about to die HE IS STILL THINKING OF HIS MISTRESSES!! Prufrock ends the poem by saying that when he is in his fantasy land with mermaid, aka when he is cheating on his wife, everything is happy; but the happiness ends when he as to return to his wife and return to the real world. In the end Prufrock was just a dirty old man that never lived a truthful life.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this poem a few times I continually got the feeling that Prufrock was just a normal guy who thought himself to be at the end of his time. Prufrock says that there is still time though. He says that there would be time to make "a hundred visions and revisions" saying that if his life is ending that there will still be time to fix things and make changes. Even to create new things before time has run out. However, even though he still has time it appears that Prufrock seen all that he needs to have seen. He repeats the line "and I have known..known them all" in a tricolon. Using the word "known" gives a definite feeling to the sentences and says that he has gotten a definite knowledge of all the people he has met or maybe even that he hasn't met. This tells he reader that there is nothing left for him to see inthe world. Yet, with that, Prufrock wonders if life would have been worth it had different things had changed. He repeats "and would it have been worth it, after all" and lists things that might have changed in his life. In these lists he wonders if life would have been worth it had there hade been a love for him ("after the skirts that trail along the floor"). In the end though he recollects his childhood and fantasy (the references to the mermaids and oceans) and realizes that once adulthood awakes you from this childhood there is only so much time left. He comes to terms with being older and rolls the bottoms of his trousers. After this reflection of his life I see Prufrock as someone normal who just wishes things could have been different.
ReplyDeleteJ. Alfred Prufrock is a middle aged man looking back on his life and regrets never breaking the norm of modern society. The yellow in the poem represents his redemption throughout his life. The smog represents society. The poem is not a love poem but it is also not a poem about him being a god. Prufrock tries to find the things he has not already found in his life but in the end he finds out that he can't find them and cannot gain resection for them afterall.
ReplyDeleteIt's 7:29. Any postings after this are late. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for the thoughtful responses!!