A simple explanation of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock By TS Eliot.
A simple explanation of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock By TS Eliot.
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock By TS Eliot
TS Eliot:
Eliot is considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He was an American Modernist writer. He was a poet, playwright and critic. He received the Nobel prize in literature in 1948.
This poem is written in Dramatic monologue, which means that only the speaker is speaking. Eliot used the stream of consciousness technique to express fragmented thoughts of Prufrock. In this poem, Eliot represented the peculiar personality of modern man.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse
A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,
Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.
Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo
Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,
Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
At the beginning of the poem, he uses an epigraph from Dantes's Divine Comedy the “Inferno”. In these lines, the character of Guido Di Montefeltro who is in hell told Dante that he will not tell his story to anyone, who, he thinks, would return from this atrocious place to earth. Guido is a kind of reserved person who does not want to share his sins with anyone on earth because he cared about his status.
Eliot uses these lines in order to compare the characters of Guido and Prufrock. Unlike Guido, Prufrock is not a sinner, but he is hesitating to share his feeling with people. He is imprisoned on earth and was burning in his inner fire.
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question…
Oh, do not ask, "What is it?"
Let us go and make our visit.
The speaker of the poem, Prufrock, is addressing the reader or an unidentified listener to walk with him and listen to him. He describes the sky with a beautiful simile, he says that the sky is like an anaesthetic patient lying on the table. He walks through the streets which are less crowded. Prufrock expressed his inner feeling that how he spends many restless nights. It shows that he is suffering from something. The ‘cheap hotels’ are representing the places where prostitutes treat their clients. Oyster-shells are there, which were believed to be a natural aphrodisiac. The restaurants are covered with sawdust to absorb the beverages spilt on the ground which would make sweeping the floor easy. The streets are endless like never-ending arguments. And he says that this situation will compel the reader to ask an overwhelming question. But, Prufrock suppresses the question and continues his walk.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
Prufrock is now in a room where there are paintings of the Italian Painter Michelangelo, there are a lot of women coming in and out of the room and they are talking about and praising Michelangelo. He feels frustrated because he considers himself someone unimportant which is why he says that women are not talking about him.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
He is still in the room and watching outside the window. The setting of this poem is London, which was a modernised city at that time. There were a lot of factories, which resulted in pollution. He describes the fog or haze lingering outside the window. He uses personification to personify fog like a cat. He says that fog is rubbing its back and nose upon a windowpane like a cat. In the evening the fog sits in a corner just like a cat licks its tongue in a corner. The fog stands waiting above drains and pools the black smoke from the chimney falls upon it and mixes with it. It moves down as a cat jumps from a terrace. As the night is cold, so, the fog curls or bends around the houses and falls into sleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In these lines, we became aware of the procrastinating nature of Prufrock. He says that there is time for every activity like there is time for spreading smoke gradually. He claims there will be time for makeup, time for killing and time labour and labour and productivity; time for asking a question and making a decision and revising that decision. Here, he is hesitating to ask a question from his beloved that's why he says that there is enough time. Therefore, he decides that first he will take tea and toast and then he will decide what to do.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
In these lines, he continues the same idea. He is thinking that surely he has a lot of time to think, but then he asks a question to himself, shall he do it ?, shall he approach and ask her?, Suddenly, he decides to go back. We come to know that he is in a room upstairs. He descends down the stairs thinking about the people present in the room. Here, we came to know that Prufrock like a modern is very scrupulous. He thinks that his hairs are not perfect, because it has a blad spot and they are thin. Although, he is dressed very perfectly, wearing a coat and tie fixed with a pin. But, still, he is nervous he believes that people will argue about his thin arms and legs. He again thinks about his decision about whether he should do it or not. He compares proposing to his beloved with disturbing the universe, “Do I dare/ Disturb the universe?”. He says that there is a lot of time, in one minute he will make a decision and in another minute he will revise that decision.
For I have known them all already, known them all—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
In these lines, Prufrock presents himself as an experienced person. He argues that he knows about the nature of people. He claims that he has spent a lot of time thinking about morning and evening, and about himself; he has even measured how many spoons of coffee he has taken, which means he lives in solitude. He has heard the diminishing voices of couples talking with each other. He has heard the dying music coming from his father's room. Again he ponders whether shall he propose to her or not?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The 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,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
The gaze of people is irritating to him. He says that he knows these eyes which people fix upon others when you are going to speak. He further says that people look at me just like a scientist, who catches an insect pins it, puts it in a glasshouse to preserve it and looks at it. In this condition, Prufrock says, he won't be able to say it. How in this condition he will tell everything to his beloved. Again he ponders whether shall he propose to her or not?
And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
Prufrock says that he knows these arms of women and the jewellery they are wearing on their arms. He knows the clean bare and white arms and how they look in the yellow lamp light, a thin layer of light brown hair is visible. He says that his attention is distracted toward these women, but he doesn't know why? Is it the perfume on the woman's dress? Or the arms that lie on the naked or wrapped in a shawl. He is looking for various excuses but then asks the same question from himself, shall he approach her or not? Should he begin?. The confusion in Profrock’ss personality is obvious he is still confused about what to do.
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? …
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
Now, he is confused about how to start his conversation. What should he tell first? Should he tell her how he came here and what he saw? Shall he describe to her the lonely man standing out of the windows? He wished to have claws like crabs, he would have escaped with the help of these claws from there.
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep… tired… or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet—and here's no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
He again presents the beautiful imagery of the sky. He says that the evening and afternoon are sleeping so peacefully. He uses personification to describe the key; he says that it seems as if the evening and afternoon have been caressed by someone. They look tired and asleep or they might be just pretending. Just like I and you are pretending. He again ask a question from himself shall he eat something to gain strength and then ask her after having tea? He claims that he has prayed and fasted, to ask his beloved. He gave a reference to the Biblical prophet John the Baptist, who would make people Christian. He was killed by the king at the wish of his foster daughter and served his head on a plate to her. So, he says that I have seen myself getting bald and brought in the plate like John the Baptist, but I am not a prophet. He has seen the greatest time of his life and did nothing . he has even seen the angel of death and he was terrified to see it.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: "I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all"—
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: "That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all."
In these lines, he says that would it be worth it after having tea, and gossip between you and me and to stop an irritating matter by just smiling. He compares his asking of the question with a rolling of the universe into a ball and the rebirth of Lazarus. Lazarus was a virtuous man who after death went to heaven. Dives, a rich man who went to hell requested Prophet Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to inform his people to live a virtuous life. He fears that if he asks her the question and she replies that she has been misunderstood.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
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 continues that would it be beneficial after spending time in the sunsets, walking in the streets, and having a discussion over tea about a novel, and after she dragged her skirt would it be worth, and many other things we did? He accepts that it is impossible for him to express his thoughts. He wishes to have a magic lantern on which he could display his neves and feelings. He again says that would it be worth it if she while settling a pillow or removing her shawl; standing near the window says that she has been misunderstood, would it be worth it?
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
He compares himself and says that he is not hamlet because hamlet was a prince and he is no prince; rather he is like the attendant Polonius. Like him, he can work, advise a prince; he is respectful, helpful, happy to work, he can speak beautifully, he is a bit strange, sometimes he can do the work of a clown and can entertain the prince.
I grow old… I grow old…
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
He accepts that he has grown old now. But, he thinks that he should roll up the bottoms of his trouser to appear more fashionable. He thinks shall part his hair backwards. Does he eat a peach? Or wear white trousers and walk on the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
In these he imagines mermaids singing to each other, but he thinks they won't sing to him. He has seen them moving towards the sea. They swim with waves having white hair which signifies old age. The water is white and black. He spends time with them in the narrow chambers. They were wearing red and brown wreaths, but unfortunately, he was woken by human voices and his plan remains unsuccessful.
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